Garritan and Make Music have announced the imminent release of Personal Orchestra 5 at this year's NAMM show in Anaheim.
Currently slated for release on 1st February, Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 features a complete orchestra with strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion and keyboards and is five times larger than its predecessor with more than 500 instruments now included.
New additions include:

• 77 new section string articulations and 24 new solo string articulations with new techniques, special effects, and body instrument resonances.
• 6 additional choir groups with 24 patches, including boys' and children's choirs as well as sopranos, altos, tenors and basses.
• Updated brass instruments from the renowned ProjectSAM.
• Two new concert grand pianos: a legendary 9' Model D and a 7' Model B.
• Completely new harp instruments with harp pedaling emulation, a custom organ console for expanded pipe organ control, more than 16 new impulse response presets, and much more.

GPO 5 also incorporates Sonic Morphing, an innovative technology that produces seamless dynamics ranging from the very quietest pianissimo to the loudest, most audacious forte sounds – with a continuous variety of timbre changes along the way.
"A press release simply cannot convey the magnitude of GPO 5," said Gary Garritan, MakeMusic's director of instrumental sciences. "The original Personal Orchestra revolutionized virtual orchestration and became the industry standard. I'm excited that this new GPO 5 is a huge leap forward and will continue this revolution in a major way."
GPO 5 will be available as a boxed USB or a download from 1st February 2016 priced £99.00. An Upgrade path will also be available for GPO 4 users priced £37.95. Pre-orders now being taken.
For full details and audio demos visit: www.timespace.com/product/GPO5
At the NAMM show? Visit the Make Music booth and check out GPO 5 for yourself (Hall A, booth #6210).

Hey, now this has me interested.  GPO4 is meh, but this seems like it's addressing many of the shortcomings.

Never been a fan of Garritan myself. They have always been pretty much the bottom end of library choices. Now with a lot of things going subscription and being easier for people to afford, I wonder how they will stand up?

Yeah, GPO is usable but has never been as "present" or "deep" sounding as other libraries for my tastes.   Then again, it's also much older than most other libraries.   
 
But if it does anything near what the marketing states; i.e., if I can create something remotely similar to the way the demo sounds, at that upgrade price I'm in!    I'm putting $50 aside...
 

And what about upgrading Garritan Instant Orchestra?

If GPO4 to 5 is only $37.95 euros that's like $41+ and seems pretty cheap to upgrade, but that might be just the Pre-order deal.
Nothing is showing about GPO5, yet ,on the Garritan page on the Make Music site.
https://store.makemusic.com/Store/default.aspx?tab=garritan&_ga=1.258866190.589433241.1453419445
 
 
Michael

Can't wait! I still use GPO for many instruments, especially winds and percussion. I need to replace Vienna Special Edition, although it sounds great, it just cause too many problems (crashes, doesn't time-mesh well, takes forever to load). GPO does blend well, and even the strings are usable for reinforcement. Any improvement will be most welcome.

GPO was my first complete orchestra library... I purchased it based on their first offering, Garritan Orchestral Strings. They were two very different products, and it isn't like I expected the exact same quality, but the difference was really disappointing!
 
I still own GOS, and Strad and Gofriller. I keep a copy of Kontakt 2 Player for the two solo instruments, I've pretty much given up on GOS.

IF - and I am very skeptical - they can deliver even most of GOS and the two solo instruments I'll upgrade, but I'm not holding my breath!
 
 

pentimentosound
If GPO4 to 5 is only $37.95 euros that's like $41+ and seems pretty cheap to upgrade, but that might be just the Pre-order deal.
Nothing is showing about GPO5, yet ,on the Garritan page on the Make Music site.
https://store.makemusic.com/Store/default.aspx?tab=garritan&_ga=1.258866190.589433241.1453419445
 
 
Michael

If any reference to GPO5 was in that link, its gone now

pentimentosound If GPO4 to 5 is only $37.95 euros that's like $41+ and seems pretty cheap to upgrade, but that might be just the Pre-order deal. [snip]

For a U.S. purchaser, you would order it excluding VAT, and the price is EUR 31.62. That's $34.14 in today's exchange rate.
I just saw a post on the Garritan forum that says the upgrade price here in the U.S. will be $49.95. That's still a good price.