Hello, I am still trying to get some Garritan samples to play on Dorico Pro6. So far, I have reinstalled Aria Player from the Garritan site. It is showing no updates since July 2024. I am running a Mac mini 24GB on Tahoe 26.3.1(a) which says that Aria can’t be updated.
I have some Garritan libraries that I like (Jazz and Big Band) but haven’t figured out how to access them with the Halion player.
Any sharing of experiences or advice is appreciated, Thanks
What exact message are you getting and where? (Also, latest release of Tahoe is 26.5.)
The last version for Mac is version 2.026, which is compiled for Apple Silicon, and runs well on Tahoe.
There have been no updates since then. However: the ARIA Player was made for Make Music by a company called Plogue, who use the same ARIA “engine” in their own products. They make an app (and VST) called Sforzando, which also supports the Garritan libraries.
Installing the Sforzando player will update the ARIA engine, used by both Sforzando and ARIA Player; and that has made some improvements to MM’s app.
I still use ARIA Player for a variety of things – the CFX piano I find very good; along with things like Organs, Harps, Harpsichord, and a variety of pitched and unpitched percussion. I also use it for various third-party samples and my own concoctions…
No, Garritan libraries will only work with either ARIA Player or Sforzando.
There are some Dorico Playback templates for JABB, though IMO they need revising heavily.
@benwiggy is spot on. I use Garritan libraries extensively mostly because I am accustomed to the interface and what they can (or cannot) do. ARIA is absolutely essential and Garritan will not work on Apple Silicon without the latest version of Aria Player, v2.026.
Also, unlike with Finale, I have had no issues keeping my macOS current with Dorico. And, it doesn’t affect ARIA either. If Garritan does not show up for you with Aria v2.026 in place, try changing your default playback template to Silence then go to Play Mode and add an instance of Area for each instrument or Aria Multi for multiple instruments.
Hope this hels.
The installer should install the “engine” in /Library/Application Support/Plogue/Aria/
You could try deleting that folder and reinstalling Aria Player.
OK, I reinstalled-restarted Aria from the link provided above. Still no joy, when I select Garritan>Aria player from the Play window, Dorico crashes (the spinning pizza wheel of death). The crash was reported to Steinberg.
I’m hesitant to go about deleting folders, as I have had disastrous outcomes in the past with such. Additionally, I’m not 100% sure which folder you refer to.
The Aria app is in the app folder, and info says it is the latest version updated May 18, 2026. I click on it directly (not even from within Dorico) and I get the same error message as before.
Grateful for the assistance, as usual, but still awaiting resolution…
You should be able to delete anything with confidence, assuming you have a backup from which you can restore files! 
The folder is in the top level /Library, not the user Library.
You could try installing Sforzando, which should install the ARIA engine that the player needs.
I took the Aria app out of the Applications folder, dragged it to the desktop. Booted Dorico. Chose a piano template. Entered a few perfunctory notes. Went to the Play window. Selected Garritan>Aria player. Spinning pizza wheel of death. Force Quit. Restart.
It sounds like maybe the Audio Engine is not finding what it needs. Deleting Aria from Applications might cause some issues. I would just reinstall your Garritan library, drag your registration “card” to it to register it, and then go to the Garritan subsite of MakeMusic, click on the Downloands link, search for the Aria player for Apple Silicon, select the one listed as v2.026, install it and restart the machine. There should be no need to “mess with” anything else at that point.
Edit: if you install v2.026 Aria for Apple silicon before re-installing your Garritan library(ies), you could easily and indavertently overwrite the updated Aria. Be sure to install Aria update after re-installing the libraries.
Even without a special playback template, I was able to connect a piano line to Aria and assign an organ sound to it and hear it play.
Needless to say that, to really use Garritan sounds, I’d have to use a legitimate playback template.
Here’s a link to Playback Templates for Dorico for various products. Scroll down to find Garritan playback templates. JABB and GPO5 are templates are here.
Why? That’s not what I told you to do. The application is one thing, and the VST plug-ins that Dorico uses are another. (The VSTs are in /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/ in the VST and VST3 subfolders.)
Both of them require the engine in /Library/Application Support/Plogue/Aria.
It’s telling you that there’s a problem “connecting to the engine”. That’s where the problem is.
