I just played with the GPO in Dimension... and maybe it's because I didn't set something up right, but it sounded on-par with TTS-1. Granted, TTS-1 is pretty good for a GM replacement... but GPO was very un-inspiring at first glance. I've never been completely impressed by what I heard of Garritan, but usually they were much better than what came with Sonar 7...

GPO was designed to build up an orchestra part one instrument at a time. The individual instruments will therefore sound a little thin on their own. I've actually brought other sample sets in and mixed them with the GPO instruments to give it some extra depth. It takes some work though, no doubt about it.

If you're looking for an instant string section (for example), the NI or Vienna samples might be more to your liking (much more expensive).

HTH

Paul

Day-um! You guys are a tough room.

I just went to the Garritan site and clicked the "Demo" link in the section "Announcing: Cakewalk bundles Garritan Pocket Orchestra in SONAR Home Studio XL & Dimension Pro." Sounds pretty nice to me. That crescendo towards the middle almost had me reaching for the Kleenex. I'll go so far as to say that if you told me this was a soundtrack for a major film, and I didn't know better, I'd believe it.

The only thing that made me go "hmm" was at the very end, the strings were a little naked and ever-so-slightly loop-ish.

In addition to being able to layer instruments, GPO uses the Mod Wheel for volume (for ww, brass. & strings).

Real instruments constantly change their volume. You should 'ride' the Mod Wheel while playing to make them
sound more expressive.

Velocity on ww, brass, & strings controls the attack type (legato/staccato), NOT the volume.

Velocity on all the other instruments (piano, harp, organ, percussion, string pizz, etc.) DOES control volume.

For it's price category, GPO offers a lot.

It's a pity the full version and the lite version can both be abbreviated to GPO... That was NOT clever... I read through this topic but I am having a hard time understanding if someone talks about the full (Personal) edition or the lite (Pocket) edition. The guy who made up those names should be fired.

Anway, I own the Personal edition, but I'm looking forward to the Pocket one, but mainly for background stuff (violins during the chorus and that kind of stuff). About the demo's on the site: you have to spend a lot of time editing a lot of MIDI and (more importantly) you have to know how a real orchestra plays (function of each instrument and also the technique for them) in order to get realistic results. I found getting nice results with Personal rather cumbersome/tiresome. I've only made one piece with it (Longing) and that was it... I think I will use Pocket more often, as a replacement for the TTS-1.

I have a plethora of orchestral plug-ins and some of the sounds on the Pocket Orchestra are pretty nice. I like the long/short bows on the string section. the horns and winds are pretty bad though compared to my VSL and Quantum Leap libs but they cost $1000 each so there you go.

If you want really nice string sounds, might I suggest Dimension Pro? I was taken aback by the realism in the string samples (I wonder what developer they came from???). IN fact, all of the sounds on DImension Pro are solid. It's my go-to library for everything now (except for heavy orchestral stuff where I rely on VSL and EWQL).

Dave

When I listen to the demos on the Garritan site, they sound OK. Does that mean the lite version is intentionally inferior to the full product?

Well geez, those examples are pretty highly produced pieces of work.
I thought the Pocket patches were pretty damn good but for sure you'd need to hear 'em in a mix, like most stuff.

I was bummed out at the absence of a piano.

I don't see a good piano in any of the softsynths.

WSS

I have Dim LE and GPO with the TTS-1 Synth and to be honest my favourite one is TTS -1. I only use Dim pro if I cannot get the bass sounds that I need and try to phase them in to what going on around the other synths. Unfortunatley I have not used GPO as I do not recall them standing out at all. I will try them agian and see but as it is not memorable to me.

The GPO samples on the Cakewalk Dimension Pro site sound pretty good to me, but maybe they've been massaged extensively to sound that way. Or maybe it's just me.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/DimensionPro/ then click on "Listen to Sound Samples" on the left. In the popup window, drop down "Dimension Songs" and click on "Garritan Pocket Orchestra."

Is this the same thing you all are listening to?

I feel depressed anytime anyone asks me to listen to something over the net as I am on Dial up at home and broadband at work has no stereo input bit of a shame that!

Fortunately I will be joining you guys in the braodband league this weekend so. Fingers and toes crossed.