Help with GPO and Garritan Studio!

[wolf2272]

Hello, forum. I bought Garritan Personal Orchestra about 3 years ago. So, you'll understand, I have a rather "old" version (given the more recent GPO 4). It still needs Garritan Studio to run as a plugin for Notation Composer (originally named MidiNotate Composer).

I'd been running it perfectly well on Windows Vista, until I recently upgraded to a new PC (which is Windows 7).

The point is, I've been trying to install GPO with the original DVD that I bought.

The first problem is that it asks me for registration/activation (so I can get the Authentication Key), and there's no way I can do that (it redirects me to the Native Instruments site, and it's impossible to register it there, it seems to be out of date). So I try the authentication key I had got before (the very first time I installed GPO, on Vista), and it turns out to be invalid.

So, I decided to go on skipping this (using the 30 day-free mode that was my only option), and copied the Garritan Studio files from the old PC to the new (along with some DLL extensions), but when I try to open it, it displays, either a 0cx00000124 error (I think it's something like that), or another kind of error messages; I cannot possibly open it! I searched the web so I could download it, and I didn't find any "official" sites; and when I found it elsewhere, I think the file is corrupted or something, because now I get "Major Application fault", and it closes.

Thank you in advance; I would really appreciate any help on these two issues... 'cause now I can't use Garritan at all! Maybe a website to download a proper Garritan Studio, and a way to activate GPO...

Best regards,
Robert

[Steve Johnson]

Hello, forum. I bought Garritan Personal Orchestra about 3 years ago. So, you'll understand, I have a rather "old" version (given the more recent GPO 4). It still needs Garritan Studio to run as a plugin for Notation Composer (originally named MidiNotate Composer).

I'd been running it perfectly well on Windows Vista, until I recently upgraded to a new PC (which is Windows 7).

The point is, I've been trying to install GPO with the original DVD that I bought.

The first problem is that it asks me for registration/activation (so I can get the Authentication Key), and there's no way I can do that (it redirects me to the Native Instruments site, and it's impossible to register it there, it seems to be out of date). So I try the authentication key I had got before (the very first time I installed GPO, on Vista), and it turns out to be invalid.

So, I decided to go on skipping this (using the 30 day-free mode that was my only option), and copied the Garritan Studio files from the old PC to the new (along with some DLL extensions), but when I try to open it, it displays, either a 0cx00000124 error (I think it's something like that), or another kind of error messages; I cannot possibly open it! I searched the web so I could download it, and I didn't find any "official" sites; and when I found it elsewhere, I think the file is corrupted or something, because now I get "Major Application fault", and it closes.

Thank you in advance; I would really appreciate any help on these two issues... 'cause now I can't use Garritan at all! Maybe a website to download a proper Garritan Studio, and a way to activate GPO...

Best regards,
Robert

Hi, Robert!

If your version of GPO is using Studio, then it sounds like you still have GPO1. I checked the Support page at the Garritan website, and it says the following:

KONTAKT Player: GPO 1-3, JABB and COMB Native Instruments takes care of ALL Registration and Authorization for JABB, COMB and prior versions of GPO (v1-4). Questions and answers on product authorization can be found here at the NI site. For all questions regarding the Kontakt Player, please contact: register@native-instruments.com.

Simply copying program files from one computer to another won't work because it bypasses the process where the necessary components are registered on your system. Without being in the Windows registry software won't work, so you'll need to do a proper installation. I've always found Native Instruments to be great with product support, so I'm sure that you are by no means dead in the water here. (By the way, the Authentication key registers your computer's hardware signatures. Whenever you change that, even if it's just replacing a hard drive on an existing machine, you have to get a new Authentication key. This is the only thing about the way NI does things that I don't much care for. I realize they do it as a copyright protection issue, but still -- what a pain! )

Hope this helps, and let me know how it works out for you.

Steve

[wolf2272]

Well, thank you very much! I've already written to NI support, and now I'll only wait for some help. But, I still haven't been able to sort out the issue with Garritan Studio... I didn't find any "official" website where to download a proper installation, so I found it elsewhere, and still failed to run... maybe the problem is due to the version of Windows 7 I'm using (64 bits)... I don't know.

Anyway, thank you for your help!

[Steve Johnson]

Well, thank you very much! I've already written to NI support, and now I'll only wait for some help. But, I still haven't been able to sort out the issue with Garritan Studio... I didn't find any "official" website where to download a proper installation, so I found it elsewhere, and still failed to run... maybe the problem is due to the version of Windows 7 I'm using (64 bits)... I don't know.

Anyway, thank you for your help!

The 64-bit version of Windows 7 is backwards-compatible with 32-bit programs, so that really shouldn't be an issue. As to the Studio install, I believe that should've been included with your original GPO DVD, and I would steer clear of any installs you may have found on third-party websites. If your original installation DVD does include Studio, the best thing to do would be to uninstall GPO through Programs and Features in the Windows control panel, then do a fresh install from your DVD and contact NI for a new authorization key.

Now, what concerns me here is the "elsewhere" you went to for the Studio install you're trying to use. If that install was bad, it may have written things into your system registry which could muck up your ability to use Studio after you go through a proper reinstallation with your original DVD. If this is the case, you'll be up a creek unless you know how to go in and manually clean up the system registry yourself. I'm not saying that reinstalling Studio as I suggest isn't worth a shot, but if you go through the process and Studio still doesn't work, I would have to suspect that "elsewhere" install you downloaded.

Steve

[wolf2272]

The 64-bit version of Windows 7 is backwards-compatible with 32-bit programs, so that really shouldn't be an issue. As to the Studio install, I believe that should've been included with your original GPO DVD, and I would steer clear of any installs you may have found on third-party websites. If your original installation DVD does include Studio, the best thing to do would be to uninstall GPO through Programs and Features in the Windows control panel, then do a fresh install from your DVD and contact NI for a new authorization key.

Now, what concerns me here is the "elsewhere" you went to for the Studio install you're trying to use. If that install was bad, it may have written things into your system registry which could muck up your ability to use Studio after you go through a proper reinstallation with your original DVD. If this is the case, you'll be up a creek unless you know how to go in and manually clean up the system registry yourself. I'm not saying that reinstalling Studio as I suggest isn't worth a shot, but if you go through the process and Studio still doesn't work, I would have to suspect that "elsewhere" install you downloaded.

Steve

Well, I've double checked, and my original DVD does not include the Studio install... and NI Support email does not work (I get the messages rejected). Still, I'll keep trying with the Registration Tool (for the new Authentication Key).

But, as I have seen things, I'm planning on upgrading; I think GPO 4 does not use Garritan Studio anymore, does it? And it is still compatible with Notation Composer (MidiNotate Composer, before)...?

[Steve Johnson]

Well, I've double checked, and my original DVD does not include the Studio install... and NI Support email does not work (I get the messages rejected). Still, I'll keep trying with the Registration Tool (for the new Authentication Key).

But, as I have seen things, I'm planning on upgrading; I think GPO 4 does not use Garritan Studio anymore, does it? And it is still compatible with Notation Composer (MidiNotate Composer, before)...?

You've been going through enough heartache trying to solve the Studio problem, I would say that an upgrade to GPO 4 would make sense. If you still have the serial # from your original GPO purchase you should be able to get GPO 4 at the upgrade price of $49.95 through the Garritan Store.

GPO replaced Studio with Kontakt Player starting with 2. GPO 4 now uses the ARIA Player and is compatible with any program that supports VST plug-ins. Quite frankly the sound library is much improved over the old version of GPO that you have, so I believe that you would find the upgrade to GPO 4 to be worth it just from the quality standpoint.

Steve

[wolf2272]

You've been going through enough heartache trying to solve the Studio problem, I would say that an upgrade to GPO 4 would make sense. If you still have the serial # from your original GPO purchase you should be able to get GPO 4 at the upgrade price of $49.95 through the Garritan Store.

GPO replaced Studio with Kontakt Player starting with 2. GPO 4 now uses the ARIA Player and is compatible with any program that supports VST plug-ins. Quite frankly the sound library is much improved over the old version of GPO that you have, so I believe that you would find the upgrade to GPO 4 to be worth it just from the quality standpoint.

Steve

Having decided that I will do that, I just would like to know if GPO 4 can still be used the same way GPO with Kontakt Player (as a plugin to a notation program)...

[Reegs]

Yes, it can. GPO4 runs in ARIA as a VST plugin or standalone app. If your notation software supports VST hosting, you can load it internally. If it does not, you can use the standalone version, which functions identically to GPO Studio.

Here's how to get the standalone to talk to notation program:
1) Install MIDI Yoke, available at http://www.midiox.com This will give you eight virtual midi cables to route the notation output messages to GPO.
2) In your notation program or sequencer, go to the MIDI Out preferences section and select Midi Yoke Port(s) to use. Route the tracks or staves of your composition through these ports and their channels.
3) Launch the standalone ARIA Player. Under Tools->Preferences, select a Port of MIDI Yoke as an input and load your instruments into the available slots, assigning channels accordingly. Slots can share channels, so a brass overlay and trombone plr 1 patch can share input from the same notation staff.
4) You can run several instances of ARIA Player simultaneously, and each can have different MIDI input settings. In this manner it is possible to assign more than 16 outputs from your notation program. Caveats: The rendering/live record functionality does not record across instances. Also, on Mac systems you will need to create aliases for multiple instances, I believe.

The difference between notation and standard patches in ARIA is controller response. Offhand I believe legato uses CC68 instead of CC64, and there are other similar changes.

[swinkler]

The difference between notation and standard patches in ARIA is controller response. Offhand I believe legato uses CC68 instead of CC64, and there are other similar changes.

Another key difference is the notation patches have unified keyswitches. Meaning all the keyswitches for all the instruments are in the same octave rather than immediately below the playable range of the given instrument.