We need you in the front row of the sampling revolution. Garritan instruments herald a new way of playing and performing with software musical instruments.
FREE Interactive OnlineJazz Course
A FREE online course with interactive score excerpts that allow the learner to simultaneously listen and visually follow.
Does the world really need a new sampled piano? In a word, yes. This is the only virtual piano with Steinway's name and approval. Hearing is believing.
The Authorized Steinway & Sons Virtual Model D - Release Imminent
Steinway & Sons, maker of the world's finest pianos, and Garritan, makers of the world's finest music soundware, announce a new venture to create a series of Authorized Steinway Piano sample-based software instruments. The Authorized Steinway Piano sample library is a new software instrument that accurately captures the sound of a Steinway & Sons Model D concert grand piano with unprecedented authenticity and musicality. The library will offer a variety of listening perspectives.
Garritan Releases Personal Orchestra ReFill for Propellerhead Reason as a Downloadable Product
Garritan Personal Orchestra Reason ReFill is now available
for download! The GPO Refill is a lighter version of Garritan's flagship
product that takes special advantage of the capabilities of Reason. GPO Refill expands the composer working palette with realistic orchestral instruments providing the signature GPO sound
FREE Updates Now Available for Personal Orchestra and Jazz & Big Band
The Kontakt 2 Player / Intel-Mac compatible versions of the Personal Orchestra and Jazz & Big Band libraries are now available. These new versions are available as a free download to all registered users. All new boxed versions of Personal Orchestra and Jazz & Big Band will include the Kontakt 2 Player.
Garritan Personal Orchestra is an affordable, easy-to-use & complete orchestral library - strings, brass, woodwinds, keyboards and percussion - the highest quality collection of orchestral instruments ever sampled.
The world's first and only Jazz and Big Band library. Over 50 jazz instruments including a saxes, trumpets and trombones (with mutes), a complete rhythm section (3 drum kits), guitars, jazz piano, electric piano, woodwinds, basses, Latin percussion and more.
At the NAMM, we'll be showing our new sampler, the ARIA Sample Player. Developed in conjunction with Plogue Technologies, this new sample player is 64 bit capable and has innovative new features. Come visit us at the NAMM show to get a demonstration of this exciting new sampler. Stay tuned...
Announcing: Finale 2008 Bundles Garritan Instruments
MakeMusic! has chosen to bundle a Finale edition of
Garritan Personal Orchestra with all versions of Finale 2006,
2007, and 2008. Finale integrates the Native Instruments
Kontakt Player and includes the popular and award-winning
sounds from Personal Orchestra, Jazz & Big Band, Concert
& Marching Band and General MIDI.
"Garritan Pocket Orchestra" is bundled with Cakewalk's flagship product Sonar 7 as well as Home Studio XL and Dimension Pro. SONAR 7 gives you everything you need to turn your PC into a complete music production studio.
Sibelius 5 comes with Sibelius Sounds Essentials, a new collection of over 150 sounds specially selected mainly from the Garritan libraries. Sibelius also sells the Sibelius World Instruments and the Sibelius Choir which are selected from Garritan Libraries.
Announcing: Mackie bundles Garritan Personal Orchestra in Mackie Products
A special edition of Garritan Personal Orchestra is bundled with Mackie Tracktion 3 and a whole range of Mackie products. Mackie Tracktion is the acclaimed revolutionary, easy-to-use music production application that contains everything most people will ever need to professionally record and mix music on a Mac or PC.
Berklee College of Music is proud to announce the release, in collaboration with Gary Garritan, of the Garritan Personal Orchestra: Berklee Edition. Designed specifically for Berklee students, faculty, and curriculum, and available as part of the bundles for Berklee's tech-heavy majors.
Video of Personal Orchestra Synced to a Real Orchestra
Here is a VIDEO of an orchestra playing Knights and Magic by Richard Birdsall. What you see is an orchestra playing but what you hear is Personal Orchestra.
We welcome you to become a part of the Garritan Community. It's a fabulous place and the perfect way to find the latest news and announcements, ask questions, browse, share your thoughts, impart knowledge, learn, interact with other Garritan users, and share your music.
EXPLORING JAZZ ARRANGING
A FREE online course based upon Chuck Israels' new book. Chuck Israels has worked with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, and was the bassist with the Bill Evans Trio. In this Interactive Edition interactive score excerpts are provided which allow the learner to simultaneously listen and visually follow. A hardcover book/DVD will be available for sale after the course.
Open To All without Charge! "Principles of Orchestration", based on Rimsky-Korsakov's classic text is now online. In this interactive edition you will be able to simultaneously hear and see examples where audio follows the score. Online professors help moderate the course. New courses are also starting soon. These courses are offered free of charge at the Northern Sounds forum.
There are thousands of user demos on our Demos Page and the Garritan Forum. These demos are not professionally produced (in order to make a more favorable impression) but produced by users like yourself, in real world use. The Garritan Community boasts perhaps one of the largest communities of contemporary composers, creating breathtakingly innovative and groundbreaking modern music. From Award Winning composers to hobbyists, to students, to performers; people who work in notation and those who use sequencers -- this wonderful community is daily building an incredible body of music unlike any other.
The Garritan GuestMap (by Google Maps) allows you to show where
you are on the World GuestMap and you can also leave a message.
You can click on other users' locations and read their message.
U2 in Concert with Personal Orchestra Backstage Tour!
Last year, U2 wound up their North America tour. The final show drew over over 20,000 people. We were honored to hear the sounds of Garritan Personal Orchestra used throughout the show. Here is an account of our experience complete with pictures of the concert and a rare backstage tour.
The Garritan Wiiki is a shared resource created and maintained by users of Garritan libraries. The Wiki is open to everyone who wants to share their knowledge and experiences with their peers. Everyone can contribute and edit content! Please feel free to register and be involved.
Competition Winning Works Performed by Real Orchestra!
The winners of the First Annual GPO Orchestration Competition have been announced. The four winners had their work performed live by the Moravian Symphony Orchestra and Broadcast Live Worldwide on the Internet! Information on next years competition will be announced soon!
Wendy Carlos is one of the most important composers living today. She has been at the forefront of innovation in electronic music since the 1960s. Her enormously successful album Switched-On-Bach was perhaps the first album to demonstrate the use of synthesis as a genuine musical instrument. Wendy has won numerous awards (including three Grammys) and composed music for blockbuster films. Wendy has some very neat things on her site .
December 15th marks the last concert of Céline Dion's 'A New Day' Show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Earlier this year, we were honored to be invited by Dion's keyboardist, Yves Frulla, to see the show and take a backstage tour. "A New Day' has been one of the most successful concert show in history and certainly the most popular in Vegas. Garritan Strings were used for the show.
Los Angeles Ballet Dances The Nutcracker Ballet to Garritan Personal Orchestra
Last year, the Los Angeles Ballet, the city's own professional ballet company, presented twelve performances of the Nutcracker Ballet. The premiere took place at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills with twelve performances across Los Angeles. Twenty-two real musicians performed in this traditional, yet original, production along with 33 'virtual' players provided by Garritan Personal Orchestra.
Free Holiday Album - A Garritan Community Christmas, Vol. 4
Once again, the Garritan Community Christmas album is available. Feel free to listen to the 19 holiday pieces on the Garritan Community Christmas Player, download the MP3s and print out the album art. This music is a collaborative album in the spirit of giving for the holiday made, recorded and mixed by the Garritan community of users. There are a limited number of compact discs available too.
Steinway & Sons, maker of the world's finest pianos, and Garritan, makers of the world's finest music soundware, announce a new venture to create a series of Authorized Steinway Piano sample-based software instruments. The Authorized Steinway Piano sample library is a new software instrument that accurately captures the sound of a Steinway & Sons Model D concert grand piano with unprecedented authenticity and musicality. The library will offer a variety of listening perspectives. 
Garritan Personal Orchestra Reason ReFill is now available
for download! The GPO Refill is a lighter version of Garritan's flagship
product that takes special advantage of the capabilities of Reason. GPO Refill expands the composer working palette with realistic orchestral instruments providing the signature GPO sound
The Kontakt 2 Player / Intel-Mac compatible versions of the Personal Orchestra and Jazz & Big Band libraries are now available. These new versions are available as a free download to all registered users. All new boxed versions of Personal Orchestra and Jazz & Big Band will include the Kontakt 2 Player.
Featuring Trumpets, Trombones, Cornets, Winds, Euphoniums, Baritones,
Tenor Horns, Mellophones, Saxophones, Sousaphones, Drumline, Marching
percussion and more. Create Realistic-Sounding Marching Band, Concert
Band, Wind Ensemble and other Band Arrangements quickly and easily.
Garritan Personal Orchestra is an affordable, easy-to-use & complete orchestral library - strings, brass, woodwinds, keyboards and percussion - the highest quality collection of orchestral instruments ever sampled. 
The world's first and only Jazz and Big Band library. Over 50 jazz instruments including a saxes, trumpets and trombones (with mutes), a complete rhythm section (3 drum kits), guitars, jazz piano, electric piano, woodwinds, basses, Latin percussion and more. 
MakeMusic! has chosen to bundle a Finale edition of
Garritan Personal Orchestra with all versions of Finale 2006,
2007, and 2008. Finale integrates the Native Instruments
Kontakt Player and includes the popular and award-winning
sounds from Personal Orchestra, Jazz & Big Band, Concert
& Marching Band and General MIDI. 
"Garritan Pocket Orchestra" is bundled with Cakewalk's flagship product Sonar 7 as well as Home Studio XL and Dimension Pro. SONAR 7 gives you everything you need to turn your PC into a complete music production studio. 
Sibelius 5 comes with Sibelius Sounds Essentials, a new collection of over 150 sounds specially selected mainly from the Garritan libraries. Sibelius also sells the Sibelius World Instruments and the Sibelius Choir which are selected from Garritan Libraries.
A special edition of Garritan Personal Orchestra is bundled with Mackie Tracktion 3 and a whole range of Mackie products. Mackie Tracktion is the acclaimed revolutionary, easy-to-use music production application that contains everything most people will ever need to professionally record and mix music on a Mac or PC. 
Berklee College of Music is proud to announce the release, in collaboration with Gary Garritan, of the Garritan Personal Orchestra: Berklee Edition. Designed specifically for Berklee students, faculty, and curriculum, and available as part of the bundles for Berklee's tech-heavy majors. 
Open To All without Charge! "Principles of Orchestration", based on Rimsky-Korsakov's classic text is now online. In this interactive edition you will be able to simultaneously hear and see examples where audio follows the score. Online professors help moderate the course. New courses are also starting soon. These courses are offered free of charge at the Northern Sounds forum. 
The Garritan GuestMap (by Google Maps) allows you to show where
you are on the World GuestMap and you can also leave a message.
You can click on other users' locations and read their message.
Last year, U2 wound up their North America tour. The final show drew over over 20,000 people. We were honored to hear the sounds of Garritan Personal Orchestra used throughout the show. Here is an account of our experience complete with pictures of the concert and a rare backstage tour. 
The Garritan Wiiki is a shared resource created and maintained by users of Garritan libraries. The Wiki is open to everyone who wants to share their knowledge and experiences with their peers. Everyone can contribute and edit content! Please feel free to register and be involved. 
Wendy Carlos is one of the most important composers living today. She has been at the forefront of innovation in electronic music since the 1960s. Her enormously successful album Switched-On-Bach was perhaps the first album to demonstrate the use of synthesis as a genuine musical instrument. Wendy has won numerous awards (including three Grammys) and composed music for blockbuster films. Wendy has some very neat things on her site . 
December 15th marks the last concert of Céline Dion's 'A New Day' Show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Earlier this year, we were honored to be invited by Dion's keyboardist, Yves Frulla, to see the show and take a backstage tour. "A New Day' has been one of the most successful concert show in history and certainly the most popular in Vegas. Garritan Strings were used for the show. 
Last year, the Los Angeles Ballet, the city's own professional ballet company, presented twelve performances of the Nutcracker Ballet. The premiere took place at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills with twelve performances across Los Angeles. Twenty-two real musicians performed in this traditional, yet original, production along with 33 'virtual' players provided by Garritan Personal Orchestra. 
Once again, the Garritan Community Christmas album is available. Feel free to listen to the 19 holiday pieces on the Garritan Community Christmas Player, download the MP3s and print out the album art. This music is a collaborative album in the spirit of giving for the holiday made, recorded and mixed by the Garritan community of users. There are a limited number of compact discs available too.