Here is the Hymn “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” I arranged for flute, clarinet and simple piano. I experimented with different sounds for playback and hit on these: GPO5 flute and Clarinet with the Etude Elements ‘Church Grand.’ The GPO5 solo flute with vibrato is one of my favorites. I had to compress the audio file a smidge to upload it, but I am pleased with how these instruments sound in combination here. There is still some life in the ‘old’ Garritan VSTs. 
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the flute was about the only Garritan instrument I thought was really good 25 years ago when there was little choice of affordable libraries-- and listening now, I agree it still sounds quite nice— though why anyone would in general still use this library nowadays is rather a mystery.
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Nostalgia. I find myself playing around with Eastwest Symphonic Orchestra for a distraction. Also, given all I’ve learned over the years, it’s fun wringing every last drop of performance from an ancient library.
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It’s very hard to find another library that offers as many useful instruments without being much more complex to use, and without taking up 100s of Gb of space.
The Brass and Strings are pretty poor; but many of the “non-sustaining” samples still hold their own – particularly pitched percussion – Vibraphone, Celesta, Glockenspiel; Harps, Handbells, etc.
I like the organ stops, though other opinions are available. For me, it certainly produces the best continuo organ. The CFX Piano is still my favourite.
But most of all, the ability to edit the instruments is a massive advantage. How many posts are there about extending the range of HALion instruments?
Indeed. I’ve been creating my own “instruments” from scratch, using the Garritan samples, and believe I’ve got much better results, even for the strings. GPO5 installs a load of samples that are not used; and even some hidden instrument files for which there are no samples!
Shame the Wagner Horns never saw fruit!
Regular viewers will know that I’ve made a combined “Basso” instrument that plays Cello and Bass (at the octave), plus Bassoon (mixed with a CC). The only other instrument that does that is OT’s Miroire, and it’s a bit “in yer face” for my tastes.
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pitched percussion is not very hard - most libraries can manage that at least tolerably well. But of course the CFX piano is something of a classic — I was only referring to the GPO. I replaced that with Kirk Hunter around 2002 and VSL followed soon after.
And plenty of libraries such as Orchestral Tools or VSL can have their range extended.
I like the percussion too, and will often use some GPO percussion in my mixes. Also, in the right context, the solo strings are quite useable. The clarinet heard here is good; and I rather like- again in the right context- GPO5’s tuba. I also very much appreciate your playback template for GPO (and your NPPE engine); it greatly enhances its usability for me- with and/or without NP.
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