Time to Score

The tools for music composition are growing by leaps and bounds. As film and TV composers started to use racks of samplers in the 80’s to create mock-ups of their scores, we read the trade mags with a bit of gear lust, looking at pics of racks of hardware samplers, loaded up with way expensive sample libraries, and very few sounds loaded per machine. As the years have progressed, the composition world has largely shifted to using computers with software-based sample libraries. One of the benefits of computer use is the large amount of memory that can be had, enabling the loading up of lots of sounds. There are some terrific orchestral libraries available now, their samples require a large amount of memory, and they are priced high enough, in some instances, to dwarf the cost of the CPU.

A few manufacturers have released “smaller” libraries (for those of us with a smaller budget!) at a price point that one would normally associate with light versions of software. The product at hand, the Garritan Personal Orchestra, is anything but light, except in the crunch (or lack thereof) it puts on the wallet. Not only does it contain a very complete pallet of orchestral sounds, but there are extra goodies included: a version of Steinberg Cubasis VST for PC, GenieSoft’s Overture SE scoring software (Mac/PC), the GPO Studio Host Application (sets up an 8 instance GPO rack for use with notation programs such as Overture, Finale, or Sibelius), Ambience Reverb (a reverb plug-in designed for GPO), MIDI File Translator (converts the velocity info of a MIDI file to Mod Wheel data, very handy as you will see), and Glissando Harp Packets.

Installation

GPO comes with 4 cds; 3 containing the library, 1 with extra goodies that will be discussed later. Installation is easy: another Native Instrument KONTAKT Player based instrument. I say that with affection, as I use quite a few instruments in that format, and am very pleased with the sound quality of each. KONTAKT Player sounds very good, the registration procedure takes a few minutes (if done on line), and you are quickly on your way to creating orchestral masterpieces. I use a G4 Dual 1.25Ghz Mac with 2 gigs of memory, with a MOTU 828mkII audio interface. Garritan Orchestral Libraries recommends the use of either a Pentium 4/Athlon/Celeron 1.8Ghz machine with no less than 1 gig of ram, or a Mac with OSX or higher, having no less than a G4 733mhz, and the same memory requirement. Anything else can of course be tried out, but these recommendations from the manufacturer are reasonable in light of the CPU drag that many instances of KONTAKT Player can create, plus the memory usage by the samples.

Many times orchestral composers want to boot up a “full palette” of sounds, so having some beef on the CPU and memory side is a good thing. GPO can be loaded up on a laptop for composing on the go, or performing in public. Since laptops generally have a more limited memory allowance, the number of instances of the KONTAKT Player will be smaller than that of a desktop computer. In any case, many programs have “freeze” functions to allow more instrument and track usage, so you should have no problems with an adequately powered laptop. No matter what choice of computer, you need 2 gigs of hard drive space to hold the samples.

Getting Started

I use the GPO as a plug-in for Logic Pro version 6.4. The first piece I worked on was an orchestral fanfare type soundtrack for a video game company. The result had 27 tracks, with 13 of those using GPO instances; I mixed down most of the others as audio to keep the CPU meter below 75 percent. Even then, I had instantiated a couple of instances of the CPU hungry Emagic Space Designer, as well as a host of other effects plug-ins, and a couple of Arturia minimoogVs (they can eat up the CPU power quite a bit). Prior to using GPO, most of my orchestral samples came from using an assortment of hardware workstations and modules with the suitable plug-in cards. Wow, what a difference! The GPO sounds are very 3 dimensional, and sound very acoustic. Generally speaking, keyboard ROM samples give you a decent attack simulating an instrument, and then the rest is more in the electronic realm. The GPO sounds, on the other hand, breathed life into the composition; I wasn’t feeling like I created an electronic sounding piece, nor did the client.

Working with KONTAKT Player is a simple affair; the control panel is laid out logically, and you hardly need to tweak anything to start composing. There are basic MIDI setup chores, plus a series of knobs that are preset to affect certain parameters (including random tuning on some instruments) depending on the sound. If you want to edit the patches more extensively, I recommend purchasing the full-blown version of KONTAKT, which can load up 16 sounds per instance (the Player loads 8). KONTAKT is a very deep program; lots of cool edits, parameter routings, effects, etc., can be had. On to the business at hand…

For those new to traditional orchestral scoring, the manual provides a wealth of information on the instrument families, from the pitch ranges to the general characteristics of each, to their location on a typical concert stage. The manual gives us information concerning several of the instruments sampled: Stradivarius and Gagliano violins, Montagnana cellos (all made in the seventeenth century), Wurlitzer Concert Harp, and a Steinway 9 ft. grand piano, among them. There is lots of detail on the samples and performance practices necessary for realistic results. I keep the manual at hand; it is a great reference tool, easy to read.

So often my inclination is to disregard (at first) the manual and dive right into music making. Upon opening the box, the first thing that came to my attention was a note from Gary Garritan reminding the user about authorization, and pointing out the importance of using the Mod Wheel in performance; the same info appears in the manual. This was excellent. The sounds are programmed to respond volume-wise to the Mod Wheel; think of a string player bearing down on the bow, or a brass player blowing harder. The use of velocity is for providing various articulations and accents, and the sustain pedal is used to achieve legato in stringed instruments, to choke off the sustain of pitched percussion instruments, plus the usual piano application. I spent countless hours in past years drawing the release times of individual MIDI notes in the matrix editor of Logic when using other libraries; now, with some practice, I am able to achieve that fluid sound with considerably less matrix editing.

I have used a Yamaha VL7 with a Yamaha BC3 breath controller for solo reed sounds quite often, and was a little dubious about using a sample (without a VL layer) for that application. (The physical modeling in the VL7, much like their VL70M module and VL expansion cards for Motif Series and other Yamaha synths, is amazing.) I mapped the VL7’s controller 2 (breath control) to controller 1 (mod wheel), and proceeded to play the various clarinets, oboes, etc., very lyrically, with much expression. Ditto for brass sounds; a breath controller makes these types of samples come alive, and the user will adapt to it very quickly. I did the same mapping job in my Yamaha S80 and achieved the same results. Yamaha synthesizers and controllers have breath controller ports, as do Kurzweil K-Series synths. A third party solution can be had by interfacing a small box from MIDI Solutions and a BC3 with any MIDI keyboard. Besides the expression factor, one thing I noticed was the samples in GPO responded smoothly to the BC3. I have remapped breath control to a lot of MIDI instruments over the years, and have been pretty successful, although occasionally there can be glitches that show up in the MIDI data. Not so in this case, I can’t wait to work on another woodwind/brass piece! In the past, I avoided those types of parts like the plague when using workstation ROM samples, the GPO instruments come alive for me in these instances now.

Speaking Of Good Sounds…

GPO will not disappoint. One of the real tests of an instrument is its playability factor. When I was in retail, over and over again I would observe the customers as they went from instrument to instrument, trying to find the perfect match for their musical bent. A keyboardist may be drawn to a “special effects” sound when first turning on a board, but as he/she begins to play through the patches (I mean really play, not the classic “one note samba” per patch that so often happens), the sounds and feel of a particular instrument will come alive for an individual. As I began to journey through the instrument family in GPO, I wanted to play, and play…and play. The urge to start sequencing followed, and with some performance practice, the ideas started flowing.

When you click on “Load”, a menu appears giving the choice of “dry” or “wet” versions of the instruments. The wet versions are bathed in a basic hall reverb. I opted for dry instruments, and used the Logic Space Designer and/or Platinum Verb for my work. But wait! There is a programmable reverb to be had: GPO comes with the Ambience Reverb plug-in, which I put in the G4’s Library/Audio/Plug-ins/Components/ directory (Windows users have a setup.exe). The Ambience Reverb offers a lot of parameters to tweak, and sounds very good. You can go dense and cavernous, to very subtle.

The instrument families are organized thus: brass, harps, keyboards, percussion, pipe organ, section strings, solo strings, and woodwinds. Each of these subdivide as needed (brass sections of French Horns, trombones, trumpets, tubas), and are further divided into solo instruments, and ensemble instruments. Brass instruments also contain an “overlay”, which gives you a forte version of the instrument to layer with the primary brass instrument, making a nice, fat, section.

The string sections are quite detailed, with separate sections for both solo and ensemble strings. Each section (bass, cello, viola, violin) has a KS (key switch) version, with keys E1, F1, G1, and A1 assigned respectively to tremolo, half step trill, whole step trill, and pizzicato. The solo strings offer choice of violin brands: Stradivarius, Guarneri, Gagliano, and their groupings in ensembles. The ability to affect the articulation with velocity, expression with the mod wheel, legato/non-legato with the pedal, makes for a very liberating performance.

The woodwinds are pure sounding, have rich timbres, and seem to breathe, without the warbly pitch factor associated with detuned oscillators, or typical electronic flutes and such using heavy LFO settings. As I mentioned earlier, the usage of a Breath Controller with these types of sounds makes for a pretty realistic experience. One nice touch is the inclusion of solo flute with vibrato, and one without.

The Steinway piano is very playable, and I found that it sat well in mixes with dense pads, as well as a 50’s piece emulating the style of Jerry Lee Lewis (I added a little extra EQ to make it sound more brittle for that one). The harps really have depth, and a very 3D quality, and you can cut off the release part of the sound with the sustain pedal. Again, I recommend the reading of the manual. There is an excellent overview of the orchestra section, and reading about an instrument such as the harp will give you a foundation for approaching its part in your composition. An extra goodie: GPO comes with harp MIDI files (or “packets”), for use with the harp glissandi programs. These files have scales and glissandi done in all major and minor keys, and when cut and pasted into the harp tack, a convincing performance is a click away. The harp glissandi programs are set up to have the tones of the scale on all the white keys; make a glissando in the sequence (watch out for hang nails!), and paste in the appropriate MIDI file. This reminded me of working with the Groove Control templates in Spectrasonics CD ROMs.

Percussion sounds are usually the best part of a “hardware” keyboard’s sample ROM, in that the attack part needs to be nailed, the rest is of less consequence. Enough memory is allocated to the GPO percussion to create full-bodied, vibrant sounds, and they just sparkle. The bass drum has one of the KONTAKT Player’s knobs assigned to the fundamental frequency control, and if you have a beefy subwoofer, go to town, but be careful! This feature is typical of GPO, allowing the user to craft his/her sounds and performances to make the composition at hand come alive. There are lots of cymbals to choose from, with substantial decay times, and a comprehensive selection of mallet-type and metallic instruments.

The pipe organ selection is nice, offering 13 different (and I mean different, not a couple of basic organ sounds with minor tweaks) sounds, in both the dry and wet varieties. Pipe organ is a difficult instrument to get right, in that part of the experience is the movement of the air through the massive pipes. The GPO gives us a good run for the money here, and the tone of the instrument at the bottom of the keyboard is rewarding in that the harmonics are clearly heard, verses an attempt at creating bigness by making the low end murky and boomy.

The GPO also has an assortment of multi settings, creating different ensembles. There are brass ensembles, string ensembles, a woodwind quintet, and combinations of different instrument families, enough variety to give some inspiration for ensemble building of your own. The ensemble making potential is excellent here, with a variety of solo instruments per section, different ensemble patches, etc. KONTAKT Player allows the loading of 8 sounds, so creating an ensemble out of, say, 8 solo violins (especially mixing the violin brands, and doing some detuning), or 8 trumpets…you get the idea.

More Than “Just A Library…”

Software bundles are a common item in the computer and music store market. GPO comes with extra programs that put the icing on the cake, so to speak. If it came with its outstanding library of sounds alone, GPO would be worth far more than its MSRP of $249.00, but you also get Steinberg Cubasis VST (PC only), the Ambience Reverb, GenieSoft Overture SE (notation program), the MIDI File Translator Program, and the GPO Studio Host Program. Cubasis VST is a nice addition for the first-time-sequencing PC user; Mac users can use GPO with Garage Band, included in all G5, iMac, and Powerbook purchases. The Ambience Reverb sounds great, and was created with the orchestral sounds in mind.

Overture SE started its life as an Opcode program. For years I used Opcode’s Studio Vision in my scoring work, and have many fond remembrances of overnighters, scrambling to make deadlines. When I opened up the matrix editor of Overture, there it was! Well, actually, more likely a retooling of Opcode’s EZ Vision, but memories were rehashed, nonetheless. Overture was very easy to use, has a menu devoted to the use of GPO; a no brainer, “EZ” time. Its graphics aren’t as elegant as Finale of Sibelius, but they do the job and look fine. I didn’t need to set up any special groove or quantize function to capture the rhythm of my playing; the note values were what they were supposed to be.

The GPO Studio Host Program sets up a rack of 8 KONTAKT players and works as a VST plug-in with Overture, Finale, Sibelius, or other notation programs. I used it in tandem with Overture and Sibelius; booted up the GPO Studio first, load up the sounds, booted up Sibelius, a couple of adjustments made in the Devices and Mixer pages, and I was off and running.

The MIDI File Translator Program is a handy little utility that will convert any MIDI file to one in which the velocity note-on info is converted to Mod Wheel data. Given the importance of Mod Wheel data to GPO, this will help the interpretation of most MIDI files. Further editing for that data will still be necessary, but you won’t have seemingly silent tracks the first time you play the file.

Summary and Conclusion

The art of sampling opened the door many years ago for composers to be able to make their ideas known to the population at large. As advances in technology have come along, the possibilities of trying to nail the sound of acoustic instruments have become greater, and we now have a plethora of outstanding sample libraries from which to choose. The use of KONTAKT Player in GPO means that PC and Mac users, whether with SONAR, Cubase SX, Logic, DP, etc., can add this library to their arsenal, without having to own a particular sampler program or hardware piece, and then load the sounds till the memory fills up, or the CPU overloads. GPO users will be able to keep going as they change their computers out over time; no need to worry about a hardware sampler being discontinued. The Garritan website is a treasure trove of FAQs, tutorials for different DAWs, links to forums, etc. I had a question in the breath controller department, went to the GPO forum, and found the answer. There is just a wealth of info at the forum alone. Gary Garritan maintains contact with customers on the forum, and is reachable by phone. I would say the user of this library wouldn’t have to feel alone when in the midst of a programming mystery, and that is a good thing.

The obvious factor that sets GPO apart from the rest of the pack is the variety of instrument sounds and articulations, as well as the inclusion of other extra programs, for the price. Yet, once you start playing with the sounds, it is obvious that GPO is anything but a beginner or lite version of anything. Add to that the ability to manipulate the controls in a variety of ways, and you can have a very musical experience creating your art. Gary Garritan obviously knows orchestral sounds; the Garritan Orchestral Strings is a highly honored sample library, and Garritan Orchestral Libraries can be heard on countless pop recordings, plus TV shows such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, “Monk”, and “Sex and the City”. Gary has now brought to the student and professional alike the opportunity to own a world-class library at a very affordable price. And that is a very good thing.

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