Garageband Choir Instrument

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GarageBand is a fully equipped music creation studio right inside your Mac — with a complete sound library that includes instruments, presets for guitar and voice, and an incredible selection of session drummers and percussionists. GarageBand: Adding Audio Units (Instruments and Effects) GarageBand's range of effects and software instruments can be expanded simply by adding plug-ins known as Audio Units, some of which (both freeware and shareware) are reviewed on this site.This article explains the basics of what they are and how to use them with GarageBand.

Last Updated on October 14, 2020 by

What better way to add some embellishments to your songs than with an orchestral plugin? Even better if its free, right?

Orchestral samples, and samples in general, have come a long way.

They were practically unusable back in the day, but now, even though you can hear the difference between a sample software and the real deal, they sound astoundingly similar.

I love finding free software that actually works, so in this post I will go into each of the ones I found and tried, this way you won’t have to do any of the research and try the ones that sucked, like I did!

All of the download links are included!

The Best Orchestral Plugins are:

Best Free Full Orchestra VSTs

While every single one on this list is a good plugin overall, there are two which stand out.

Layers by Orchestral Tools

Layers is an ultra realistic orchestral sample library that features a full orchestra, Brass-, Woodwinds-, and Strings sections.

You can choose between a couple different mic positions and it also features different articulations; different chord types, staccato and sustain unison, and more.

In total, the sample pack is about 17GB and runs on Windows 10 and Mac OS.

Lastly, Layers works with Orchestral Tools’ SINE Player.

You can download Layers here.

Total Composure Orchestra (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Total Composure Orchestra is a full orchestral sample library created using only samples in the public domain.

Total Composure is the first to offer such a library exclusively for the Kontakt format; making use of Kontakt’s scripting capabilities to greatly enhance the playability, realism, and functionality of these public domain samples.

This is a fantastic plugin, it comes with a huge array of instruments from pianos, to brass instruments, strings and percussion.

One bad thing about this plugin is that it runs both on Kontakt Player, which is free, and the full version of Kontakt, but on Kontakt player you can only use the samples for about 30 min before it stops working.

If you want to be able to use them to their fullest extent, you will need to purchase Kontakt.

You can download Total Composure Orchestra here.

Related: List of the best Choir VST Plugins available.

Spitfire LABS

I mentioned Spitfire in a couple of my posts simply because they have some of my top recommendations as far as free plugins go.

LABS is basically a collection of free VST and AU plugins that not only sound fantastic, but that is also being updated consistently, with new plugins being added over time.

Here you will find great-sounding samples of any orchestral instrument you can think of.

You can download LABS here.

Garageband

The Free Orchestra by Project Sam

Project Sam is behind Symphobia, which is one of the best-rated libraries for film scoring, video games and TV, and they created the Free Orchestra library which contains bits and pieces of all of their paid products.

What struck me the most about this free library is how great it sounds as soon as you load it up; there is little to no tweaking required.

Now, it runs on KONTAKT (6.2. or higher), but luckily it works in the free version which can be beneficial to you if you’re interested in using KONTAKT but don’t want to purchase the premium version just yet.

Parameters such as envelope controls, effects, octaver, and reverse make this library very versatile to use.

All in all, if you’re a beginner tipping their toes into the whole orchestral world, this entry level library could just be what you need.

You can download the Free Orchestra here.

DSK Overture Orchestra (Windows)

DSK Overture is a full orchestral sample VST plugin.

It gives you the ability to choose between 40 different instruments and play 4 of those instruments in the same instance, through MIDI.

The included instruments are; Acoustic Piano, Harpsichord, Bassoon, Celesta, Glockenspiel, Vibes, Harp, Flute, Piccolo, English Horns, Oboe, Clarinet, French Horn, Trumpet, Church Organ, Trombone, Tuba, Cello, Contra Bass, Viola, Violin, Orchestra Drum Kit, Full Sections.

Honestly, what makes this plugin great is the variety of instruments, since there is no shortage of them, plus they all sound pretty damn good!

Instrumental

You can download DSK Overture here.

BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover by Spitfire Audio

Here’s another great addition by Spitfire.

The BBC Symphonic Orchestra Discover actually sells for $49, but you can fill out a form and they will send it to you after 14 days for completely free.

Download Instruments For Garageband

This library is clearly aimed at beginners since it is very simple to use and straight-forward, plus it already comes premixed into one mix signal which gives you less control over it, but makes things easier if you’re just starting out.

It features a total of 33 instruments and 47 techniques, and thanks to Spitfire’s new mode switching technology, you can share and collaborate with fellow composers, regardless of which edition they own.

You can download the BBC Symphonic Orchestra here.

If you’re also Interested in finding the best sounding Free Drum Vst Plugins, then read this article I wrote about the ones I think are absolutely fantastic.

One Track Orchestra (Windows)

One Track orchestra is primarily a sketching tool, meant to be used for songwriting and recording demos and aimed mostly at beginners and songwriters who need a simple tool to create and record music.

Therefore, the sound quality and usability aren’t the best ones out there.

The plugin was created using samples from VSCO Community Edition and assembled with Maize Sampler.

It is available as 32-bit & 64-bit VST plugin for Windows.

You can download One Track Orchestra Here.

Related: I love free plugins, so I put together a list of the best Free Synth VST Plugins out there which you can check out here,

Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra (Windows)

The Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra Module contains the full SSO by Mattias Westlund, in one simple VST plugin (32 & 64bit)

The SSO samples are stereo, 16 bit, 44kHz.

While it’s not the most professional Orchestral Sample Plugin out there, it will certainly provide the building blocks for creating some astounding virtual orchestra sounds.

Melodic instruments and chromatic percussion are sampled in minor 3rds and all samples have varying amounts of stage ambience, depending on their front-to-back placement.

SSO is the one plugin on this list that provides the highest number of instruments.

You get loads of String instruments, Brass instruments, Woodwind instruments, Keys and Choirs, Chromatic Percussion and Regular Percussion.

You can download it here.

DSK Virtuoso (Windows)

DSK Virtuoso allows you to play a combination of 6 layer instruments, or to play a composition up to 6 different parts, through the MIDI channels selectors.

The included instruments are;

Acoustic Piano, Harpsichord, Church Organ, Celesta, Glockenspiel, Vibes, Harp, Flute, Piccolo, English Horns, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba,
Cello, ContraBass, Viola, Violin, Orchestra Drum Kit, and more.

Free Garageband Instruments And Effects

You can download DKS Virtuoso here.

You may also be interested in trying out some Free Bass Amp VST Plugins which should help you achieve a better sounding mix!

VSCO2 – Chamber Orchestra 2 (Windows, Mac)

The Community Edition, which is the free edition of these samples, comes with a total of 19 instruments, ranging from Woodwinds to Brass, Keys, Mallets, Strings and Percussion.

Decades of work have gone into creating these samples using nothing but the best equipment to capture them.

Garageband Choir Instrument

You can download the VSCO2 library here.

Garageband online, free

Learn how to Produce music

If you want to learn how to produce music at home the right way and without making too many mistakes, then I’d recommend that you read these posts;

Conclusion

The reason I like these kinds of plugins so much is that you can create complete song just by using virtual instruments.

You will need a good MIDI controller to do this properly and fast, even though you can manually add in every note in your DAW.

I hope this information was useful!

See you on the next one.

Instruments

Best Musical Instrument Software

It sounds like pure magic. 10/10

Best Musical Instrument Software

I don’t think I’ve heard as lifelike and as flexible a sampled choir as EastWest Hollywood Choirs. (Full Article)

What immediately becomes apparent with EastWest’s Hollywood Choirs – even before one engages the deep WordBuilder option – is that this is easily the best sounding choir on the market. From media composers to more traditional composers, Hollywood Choirs certainly is a front-runner for Virtual Instrument of the Year.

Garageband instruments list

EastWest always sounds classy, genuine, professional and - as needed - very tender or cinematically large. The recordings are very warm and do not sound as if they've been edited to death. In addition, EastWest goes out of their way to make sure that their libraries, both dry and reverberant, sound great and are easy to embed in any production.

Hollywood Choirs is beautifully recorded. It sounds crystal clear and pristine, but not cold and clinical and it is rather dry when you turn off the built in reverb, which allows the user more control, if less instant gratification. With the reverb on though, you get the instant gratification.

HOLLYWOOD CHOIRS is a beautifully recorded, all new, choirs virtual instrument from Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, the producers of Symphonic Choirs, the best-selling and most awarded virtual choir of all time.

HOLLYWOOD CHOIRS features a blockbuster female and male choir with unprecedented dynamics that will instantly transform your next project into a cinematic masterpiece.

HOLLYWOOD CHOIRS also includes WordBuilder 2 (see new features below). WordBuilder allows the composer to type in any word or phrase and have it sung by the choir.

HOLLYWOOD CHOIRS also includes 781 'editable' pre-built WordBuilder phrases in English, German, Italian, Spanish and Latin that are exclusive to this product. This is the fastest and easiest way to compose your choir tracks or the presets can be used as a starting point to create your own custom phrases.

Garageband Download

HOLLYWOOD CHOIRS Diamond Edition includes a 13 microphone user-controllable setup (including a Neumann Dummy Head) designed for surround sound and virtual reality, an essential feature for film, TV, and game composers.

HOLLYWOOD CHOIRS delivers that powerful, blockbuster sound that all composers are seeking and opens up new 3D soundscapes that will help create incredible and emotional journeys for your audiences for many years to come.

'This is the third choir EastWest/Quantum Leap has recorded,' says EastWest producer Doug Rogers, 'we learnt a lot from the previous productions and Hollywood Choirs is the culmination of that experience. In particular, the choirs' ability to sing any word or phrase has been significantly improved resulting in more realism; and there are many more sound options to enable the user to sculpt the sound to their requirements.'

'In the past 12 years, there have been many attempts by others to improve on what EastWest/Quantum Leap achieved with Symphonic Choirs,' says EastWest producer Nick Phoenix, 'Small improvements were made to various aspects of choir sampling, but the emphasis has been on pre-recorded and severely limited phrases. If composers are not tired of hearing the same faux Latin phrases repeated over and over, those listening certainly are. No single choir virtual instrument has managed to deliver a fluid, intuitive and great sounding choir that was capable of singing any words in any language, soft or loud ... until now.'

A New and Improved WordBuilder

Free Vst Instruments Garageband

Hollywood Choirs includes a new version of WordBuilder, the program that allows you to type in words and have them sung by a choir. Please see below for descriptions of these new features, plus many under-the-hood enhancements.

Garageband Choir Instruments

  • All New Phrases: 781 'editable' phrase presets in English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin.
  • All New Phenomes: New vowel and consonants added for increased realism.
  • Frequency Dependent Consonants: Non-pitched consonants now sampled with high and low frequency variations.
  • Global Phoneme Balance: Vowels, Pitched Consonants and Non-Pitched Consonants have volume sliders that allow you to adjust the relative balance between phonemes.
  • Independent Handling: All consonants that fall at the end of a word are now handled independent of those that begin a word, resulting in more realistic delivery of words.
  • Consonant Volume Scaling: WordBuilder detects the number of notes in a chord and applies volume scaling to consonants to ensure the they remain at an intelligible level.
  • Alternative Takes of Non-Pitched Consonants: The importance non-pitched consonants play in creating intelligible words led to the development of a new feature that provides the user with complete control over alternative takes. Instead of using a traditional 'round robin' system that cycles through alternative takes, often leading to inconsistent results, users can now define a specific alternative take of all non-pitched consonants by using a numbering system. For example, if the first 'S' at the start of the word doesn't sound right repeated later in the word, you can try 'S2', 'S3', or 'S4' until you find an alternate take that sounds more realistic. For more detail about this feature, download the Hollywood Choirs Manual or Quick Guide.
  • Parameter Grouping: Volume, Pan and Microphone Mix changes are applied across all instruments within a WB Multi. Combined with the existing Reverb Master functionality that applies reverb across all instruments within an instance of Play, shaping the mix any way you want is easier than ever.
  • Sync to DAW: Now you can synchronize the position in WordBuilder’s Text Editor to your DAW’s sequencer playback.
  • Ease of Use: Hollywood Choirs was recorded with combined Men and Women sections, allowing for an increase in overall power of the choir by taking advantage of the overlapping ranges. As an added benefit, this makes setting up WordBuilder with just 2 Voice Types much easier.