Announcing a Sale on Garritan Instant Orchestra

Offer expires 10/31/2013

Now, for a limited time, we are offering Garritan Instant Orchestra downloads for $134.96 – that’s 25% off our everyday price. You may have heard about this library and asked yourself what the difference is between Garritan Instant Orchestra and Garritan Personal Orchestra 4 (GPO4).

Where GPO4 contains samples of each individual orchestral instrument for the composer to blend, Garritan Instant Orchestra contains samples of pre-blended instrument groupings with effects, to help the composer achieve the mood they’re looking for in a snap. View the list of instrument combinations and blending textures.

See Garritan Instant Orchestra in action:

Enter promo code FILM25 in the shopping cart. Offer expires 10/31/2013.

If you already own Garritan Instant Orchestra, we hope you’ll share this 25% offer with a friend, or consider giving Garritan Instant Orchestra as a gift.

All the best,
-Baseball Beth

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Use Garritan Instant Orchestra? Tell us what you think of it by leaving us a comment below.

Each year, the 48 Hour Film Project tours the world, challenging teams of film makers to write and produce a film in under 48 hours. Each team pulls their genre out of a hat at the kick-off event to ensure that no team is able to get a head start on their film making process. This year, we provided the Garritan Ultimate Collection as the prize for Best Music for the Los Angeles event. The team that won Best Music is a team called The Uncomfortables, who randomly selected the genre Operetta. The film itself has not been released to the public, but MakeMusic was able to snag an interview with composer Adam Beamer and hear more about his projects and process.

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MM: Tells us where you’re from!
AB: I live in LA now and grew up outside of Boston.

MM: What is your background in music? 
AB: I started playing piano on my own when I was very young. In high school I got my first guitar, joined a band, and decided I wanted to be a rock star. I studied Music Industry at Northeastern University and while there I was in a band called Arcoda. I got to play tons of shows all over the east coast with Arcoda and I had the privilege of playing piano in a recording session with Levon Helm. After several years of trying to balance a full-time job and touring with the band, it started to become less and less fun. At the same time I was falling in love with filmmaking, so I quit the band and focused on that. Now I live in LA. My day job is editing movies and TV. I still occasionally pick up odd jobs scoring commercials or short films for friends.

MM: How did you receive the opportunity to write music for The Uncomfortables team during LA 48hr?
AB: The folks on the Uncomfortables 48 hour film project team are all good friends of mine.

MM: What were your first thoughts when you realized your team had chosen (at random) Operetta?
AB: “Shit, this is going to be a lot more work than I expected.”

MM: What music software do you use if any? 
AB: I use either Garage Band or Sony Vegas, which is actually a video editing software built on the Soundforge platform.

MM: Tells us about your upcoming projects? Any more films on the horizon? 
AB: My brother and I recently directed our first feature film, “In Security,” which stars Ethan Embry, Michael Gladis, Clea DuVall, Adam Arkin, Cary Elwes, Ving Rhames, Vinnie Jones, Ed Begley Jr, a bunch of other great actors. It’ll be coming out soon.

MM: What advice do you have for composers or students who would like to follow in your footsteps?
AB: I think there are a lot of different ways to build a career for yourself. The one that worked for me was when I first got to LA – I was willing to work for free and that allowed me to meet the people who ended up giving me the paying gigs.

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If you’d like to complete in the 48 Hour Film Project, you can find more information and a list of participating cities here: http://www.48hourfilm.com/

Adam received the Garritan Ultimate Collection as his prize for Best Music. He’s new to Garritan sound libraries, and the Garritan community. Leave him a note in the comments section below with your favorite tips and tricks.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/92493626″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

The weekend is fast approaching and we’re giving you another composition challenge. This weekend, we’re challenging you to write 30 seconds of dream music. This can likely be interpreted in a billion different ways musically, and if we know you, we know this weekends music is going to be interesting.

You may remember how our challenges work from our last Garritan Weekend Challenge – Action Trailer. Listen to one your colleagues who took the Action Trailer Weekend Challenge here.

If you’re new to the Garritan Weekend Challenges, this is simply a chance for you to hide away in your studio for a couple of hours and practice writing music for no good reason other than it’s fun. Use Garritan sounds exclusively, or blend them with your other sound libraries. There are really no rules.

If you’d like to share your dream music, post a link in the comments below. Then stay tuned to the Garritan Facebook Page, SoundCloud group, and Twitter feed on Monday, where we will feature our favorite dream music weekend challengers. We’re looking forward to hearing what you compose.

All the best,
-Beth

Welcome to the next in our series of blog posts about using Garritan libraries in other software programs. Garritan libraries are designed for use in DAWs or Notation programs, and many MakeMusic employees do just that. If you’ve never used a VST, Audio Units or RTAS plugin in your favorite DAW or Notation program before, this series will help you get set up and introduce you to some of the features that Garritan has to offer to bring your music to life.

Here’s Chester Yourczek with a guide to using Garritan in Reaper:

Cockos Reaper is one of the most underrated audio software programs out there. It’s a full-fledged DAW that can handle itself just as well as Logic or Pro Tools (at a fraction of the cost). Also, users of Reaper get to “reap” the benefits of having a program that is open-source, therefore support and updates are always free and plentiful.  Cockos even offers a free, 60-day, downloadable “evaluation” license of Reaper (which means if you are like me, you can take Reaper for a test drive to decide if it fits your needs or if you would like to pay a little more for another DAW).

Setting up Garritan to playback within Reaper is as fast as having a Nascar pit crew. With these steps, I’ll show you the most optimal way to setup your session quickly for creating music. I mean who wants to be wasting time with a complicated setup instead of making tunes, right?

 Click here to see how to set up Garritan in Reaper.

Are you suffering from a creative drought? Is your muse on vacation? This weekend, the Garritan Blog challenges you to write 30 seconds of music in the genre of… Action Film!

How exactly does the Garritan Weekend Challenge work?

You’re not competing for anything. You’re not even required to share your music. We know (because we’ve been there) that sometimes a composer just needs a random topic and 2 hours of free time to practice making great music. We’d love to hear what you come up with. If you’d like to share, leave a link to your action music in the comments below.

Do you have a music challenge you’d like the Garritan community to try next? Leave that in the comments below as well. Your suggested topic may be featured in a future Weekend Challenge blog post.

Happy composing!
-Beth

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/93204847″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Composer Simon Malherbe has written music for film, television, and most recently, the free gaming iOS app “Drifter!” Today, Simon takes a moment from his busy composing schedule to talk with MakeMusic Inc. about his trade, and why he chooses Garritan sound libraries.

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MM: Tells us where you’re from and a little bit about your musical background.
SM: My name is Simon Malherbe and I am a composer from Cape Town South Africa. I started Composing music in late 1999. I started out writing electronic music and since, have studied music composition and orchestration under Cornelis Jordaan at Strepitoso School of Music. My primary instruments are guitar and keyboard.

MM: How did you receive the opportunity to write music for the Drifter app?
SM: Doing the music for the Drifter app actually came out of the blue and I can give all thanks to Soundcloud. I actually just wrote the piece of music on a whim and loaded it up, but a couple days later I received a message from Brandon Shepherd of Omniverse studios in the United States telling me they love the track and that they would love to use it for the game. So of course I said yes and that was that!!!

MM: Why did you choose to create the music with Garritan sounds?
SM: I love the Garritan software for the simple reason its super user friendly and is a really good sound library. From wind instruments to strings, it’s an all rounded great piece of software.

MM: What other music software do you use? 
SM: I mostly write all my music using Logic and Sibelius but I also mix and record in Pro-tools. All programs have there pros and cons, but for me – to have an idea and get it down as fast as possible – Logic just works.

MM: What other projects have you done beyond the Drifter! app music?
SM: Wow it has been a super busy year. I have just finished the score for the movie “Bordering on Bad Behavior,” which is a politically incorrect comedy, starring Tom Sizemore, about an American solider, an Arab soldier and an Israeli soldier who are accidentally locked in a room on the Israeli/Lebanese border with no way out. If they can’t overcome their differences, World War III may only be hours away.

I am also currently working on a samsung commercial among other things.

MM: What advice do you have for composers or students who would like to follow in your footsteps?
SM: My advice for young composers and students who want to get into writing music for films and television, is to learn as much about making films as possible – from editing to producing. Learn all aspects of the industry! We can’t just be a composers. We need to know how to communicate to directors and editors in their language. All the things us musicians can learn about other aspects of the process will help our music writing process and make our job easier.

MM: Whats the best way for us to stay informed about your projects? 
SM: The best way to stay informed of my work is on the Website and my Soundcloud page:

• www.freqncy.co.za  
• www.soundcloud.com/anti-static

Thanks a million for the opportunity to chat with you guys, look forward to speaking again soon.

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We’d love to keep the conversation going. If you’ve got a question for Simon, or a film composing story to share, please leave a comment below.

Welcome to the next in our series of blog posts about using Garritan libraries in other software programs. This post will guid you when using Garritan in Abelton Live. Garritan libraries are designed for use in DAWs or Notation programs, and many MakeMusic employees do just that. If you’ve never used a VST, Audio Units or RTAS plugin in your favorite DAW or Notation program before, this series will help you get set up and introduce you to some of the features that Garritan has to offer to bring your music to life.

Here’s Chester Yourczek with a guide to using Garritan in Ableton Live:

Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation that primarily focuses on creation, production, and performance. I love this software because there is nothing else out there like it. When I create music in the studio with Ableton Live, I’d be hard pressed to find some sort of limitation or “ceiling” for my creativity.

Garritan libraries are a great partner for Ableton Live because both are performance friendly and demand very little in computer resources. When I’m away from the studio or on the road writing music, my laptop can handle bigger sessions when pairing Live and Garritan.

Click here to see how to set up Garritan in Ableton Live.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/88883123″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

The Garritan SoundCloud Group wants YOU:
Looking for a spot to share your music, hear feedback from other composers who use Garritan sounds, and collect ideas by listening to more music produced with Garritan libraries? Join the Garritan SoundCloud group, a group created and contributed to, not by MakeMusic Inc. but, by composers just like you.

I frequently visit the Garritan SoundCloud group and re-post much of the fantastic music I hear from the Garritan Facebook page, twitter, and SoundCloud account. I have a background in film composing, and am always excited to help promote new music. My job as the Garritan community blogger allows me to sit in my cubical, troll the web for YOUR music, and help spread the word about all the cool stuff you’re creating.

Your Garritan SoundCloud Assignment:

Log on tonight, upload some of your best compositions produced with Garritan onto SoundCloud, and join the Garritan SoundCloud group. Send me a comment right on this blog post letting me know there’s new music to promote. I look forward to listening to your music this weekend.

All the best,
Baseball Beth

Welcome to the next in our series of blog posts about using Garritan libraries in other software programs. Today we’ll discuss using Garritan with Sonar X2. Garritan libraries are designed for use in DAWs or Notation programs. If you’ve never used a VST, Audio Units or RTAS plugin in your favorite DAW or Notation program before, this series will help you get set up and introduce you to some of the features that Garritan has to offer to bring your music to life. Today, our friends from Cakewalk are here to share some tips about SONAR X2.

Here’s Dan Gonzalez from Cakewalk:

SONAR X2 has found its place in many different aspects of the music industry and one of those places is working with VST instruments and libraries. This software allows you to operate at the same speed as your creativity when recording MIDI, adjusting controller data, organizing notation, and mixdown of your orchestral tracks. In my opinion, no other DAW makes it easier to load plugins and pick the type of routing you need for each VST Instrument.  This is all thanks to SONAR X2’s Synth Rack that stores your soft-synths outside of the Main Track View making them accessible through your MIDI Inputs and Outputs sections like a virtual patchbay.

With the click of mouse you can access the arpeggiator, input quantization, snap to scale, and even key changes all from the the inspector view for each individual track. Also, the Smart Tool makes it easy to move from MIDI tracks, to automation lanes, to the Piano Roll View and perform adjustments without needing to switch a single tool.

Click here to see how to set up Garritan in SONAR X2.

You can read more from Dan by visiting the Cakewalk blog.

Users of Garritan libraries come from all over the globe and specialize in countless types of music making. Wherever you’re joining us from, and whatever your background is, we’re so glad that you are here. We’re excited to have you as a subscriber, and before we get too comfortable on our soapbox, we’d like to ask you: what would you like to see us blog about? We’d like you to request a post!

We are committed to bringing you interviews from industry professionals, providing tips and techniques for using our software, and other community news. So lets hear from you. Have you always wondered how to achieve a particular effect in one of our libraries? Would you like to use Garritan libraries along with another music software? Did your college professor give you an assignment with Garritan that you’d like our experts to explain as well?

To request a post, leave a comment below, post on our Facebook wall, or send us a tweet @Garritan. Request a blog topic for one of our many authors to address. We’re glad you’ve joined us here and we’ll work hard to create the content you want to read.

All the best,
Baseball Beth | MakeMusic Inc.