Hello All
I am thinking about adding some Garritan VST sample sets to my Abacus (Specifically the Personal Orchestra and Jazz & Big Band sets) and was wondering whether anyone has had any experience with these samples.

Demos can be found here.
http://www.garritan.com/jazz.html
http://www.garritan.com/mp3.html

Bill

Bill, I have used both GPO and JABB for about a year or so and like them alot. They are a reasonable balance between sample size and quality. These libraries need to be modified if you want to use them for live performances. They are designed to be used in the studio where you make use of the the modulation wheel to add expression to your music (volume, brightness, attack and so on).

I found a script to use with Kontakt 2 that defeats the modulation wheel feature so I can use it for live performances. It takes away from the overall quality of the sound but the libraries still sound very good. They are not as good as EWQLSO Platinum, Gold, etc. or VSL but they also cost much less. Furthermore, given that the sample size is much smaller these instruments will also load much faster.

I understand there will be an enhanced version of GPO available soon.

In general, I think a good overall compromise for live performances is to make use of the following:

GPO
JABB
Colossus

Hello Frank
Thanks for the reply, I will be using theme live in the sense that I wish to use them as a normal voice, (The Wersi allows the voices of the VSTs to be mapped to a button as if it was a normal Wersi voice or Akai sample) but not for gigging as I am solely a Home Player.
I was considering Colossus but it is a general purpose VST and therefore has sounds that I would probably never use, whereas the Garritan samples consist of the main type of instruments that I like.
Both the Garritan and Colossus have the advantage that I can also purchase the upgrade version of Kontakt 2, which makes it significantly cheaper.
I very seldom use the modulation wheel, (I assign most of the effects to the after touch on the keyboard) so that should not be a problem. (I also use a separate Expression/volume pedal)
Thanks again.

Bill

Bill, as I noted previously with GPO and JABB you have no choice but to use the modulation wheel. These libraries are programmed in that way. You can defeat this by using a script in Kontakt 2. In fact, if you don't change the position of the modulation wheel you would get no sound at all from GPO or JABB instruments.