GarageBand 2

From Garritan Wiki

The following tutorial will help guide you in getting started using Garritan products on GarageBand 2. I will assume that all installation processes have been completed. Note, this tutorial has been adapted for the use of Kontakt Player 2. If you currently have Kontakt Player, you can upgrade for free at the Garritan support site[1].

Before you launch GarageBand, you can create a custom listing by going to your hard drive and drilling to the following folder Library > Application Support > GarageBand > Instrument Library > Track Settings > Software. Here you can create a new folder named "GPO".

Open GarageBand 2 in a new sequence file. You will see the default Grand Piano channel (Fig.1). Double-click this channel (1) to launch the instrument editing process. Click the details arrow (2) . I like to have control over the wetness of the sound globally, so I deselect the default Echo and Reverb check boxes. This will also save on CPU usage. Click the Generator (3) pull-down window and choose "Kontakt 2 Player". Next, click the edit button to launch the Kontakt Player engine (4) .

Now we can choose the instrument for this channel (Fig. 2). I found that the actual choosing of the instrument is slow and takes patience for the menus to pop-up. Again, I choose dry instruments so I have full control over the wetness of the sound. In this example, let's choose the French Horn Overlay 1.

After loading the sound file into the Kontakt 2 Player (Fig 3), I apply an appropriate icon (5) (I have Jam Pack 4 so I have several orchestra instrument icons available to choose from) then click the Save Instrument button (6) and enter an appropriate, short description (7) . You need to make sure the appropriate folder is selected when you do this or it may not be placed where you wish. This is not a big problem, you can change the name and location of the .cst file at the Library > Application Support > GarageBand > Instrument Library > Track Settings > Software folder.

With the new instrument in place (Fig. 4), choose the menu item Track then Show Master Track. Double-click the Master Track, click the Details arrow, deselect Echo and Reverb to save CPU power. Where the pull-down menu reads "none" click and scroll down to Ambiance, then choose the environment of the ambiance color you desire. This is the filter that comes with GPO.

Remember, once you have created and saved an instrument setting, there is no reason to call up the Kontact 2 Player again. All you need to do is choose the instrument from your Software Instrument library.

A fantastic feature in GarageBand 2 is the ability to drag and drop Quicktime MIDI files right onto the sequence window. GarageBand will then create the appropriate channels and sequences. All that is needed is to choose the GPO instrument for each track and you are ready to play the orchestration. GarageBand 2 is a major upgrade to the music creation process and GPO integration on the Macintosh.

I hope this tutorial will help you enjoy GPO in the powerful GarageBand 2 application.

Rick Schneblin

schneblin.com