Sibelius 5 + Garritan Personal Orchestra ?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
Anybody played with Sibelius + Garritan Personal Orchestra as a combination? I am wondering if buying GPO for Sibelius would greatly enhance the quality of music heard in Sibelius--I have the demo version of Sibelius, sounds pretty good, but not that good; GPO sample songs made using GPO sound incredibly real--- e.g. listen to Knights and Magic here, it is stunningly real (written by an 18 year old by the way as part of a world wide GPO competition)--so I am wanting to hear from others who have tried Sibelius with GPO-- how realisitc are the sounds? I am wanting to play with and explore composing music, ultimate goal (perhaps years from now) is to be able to score some film music of some sort. I know basic music theory, basic composition, play guitar, play some basic keyboard. But I really do not understand about "sequencers" and "VSTs" and all that-- I want something user-friendly, and Sibelius seems pretty intuitive from the start, now if I can just make its instrument sounds seem more realistic I think I could have fun with Sibelius and make some music.
~randall
 
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Using a notation program with the sample libraries like GPO is a good place to start because you don't have to worry about many of the more technical things in a sequencer. With a sequencer you will be able to get a more realistic performance out of it, but that's not to say you can't do a good job with Sibelius + GPO.

The sounds themselves are the same in any program -- just a sequencer makes it easier for you to control the expression and dynamics etc. in a more precise way. This is one of the things that gives you an extra boost of realism.

And as you have discovered, the Northern Sounds forum is really helpful - one of the most helpful forums online. Many of the users there use everything from Sibelius to pro tools so there's always help available.

When / if you decide to make the move to sequencers definitely let me know and I will guide you through picking a sequencer, the fundamental concepts, etc. and get you started right away.

If you are more concerned with the sound of things, I would still consider getting a sequencer though -- remember Cakewalk Home Studio is much cheaper than Sibelius and more geared for the "performance" and not how pretty the score is. The learning curve isn't too bad and there are some good tutorials on the garritan website available to you. I only use Sibelius if I am giving my score to real players, otherwise I notate etc. all in Cakewalk Sonar.

Good luck!
 
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I made the leap, ordered Cubase 5 sequencer software, the same software that Hans Zimmer uses. Bought it bundled with an Oxygen 8 25 key MIDI controller. Also bought some orchestrated film score sheet music to study (Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings). And Chris thank you so much for that PM message with the link to the site with all the MIDI film music, very cool, I was able to e.g. load in the song from Far and Away into my demo version of Sibelius and see all the instruments and the notes and all-- I assume I will be able to do something similar when my Cubase 5 software arrives and is installed.
 
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