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GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

DON'T BELIEVE THE SAX ON THE BOX!!!

Written by JH from Stroudsburg

18-Jun-2008

Bought this primarily for the woodwinds (I'm a sax player) and admittedly didn't check well enough. I guess the pinheads who made the orchestra jampack didn't realize that some symphonic works do indeed include saxophones, but then WHY CLEARLY SHOW A TENOR SAX ON THE BOX!!! (it's right there, clearly behind the harp!). I feel ripped off. The horns are mediocre, although they get a better sound in their appropriate tonal range (so I suppose I can't whine about a tinny sounding trumpet on notes even Marsalis couldn't hit).

But seriously Apple, I thought you were better than this, what I consider to be borderline bait and switch advertising. Where are the saxes?

245 of 303 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

sounds more like my local high school band than the London Philharmonic

Written by MH from Jacksonville

29-Sep-2007

I bought this expecting to be able to record symphonies and brandenburg concertos but the strings are to slow even at the highest keyboard velocity sensitivity! Try playing a fast scale and you can hardly hear anything with any of the strings. The harpsichord sounds like a clavichord. The piano sounds nothing like my grand steinway. Those recordings you heard on the Jam Pack page are not the software instruments in this pack. Those are recordings of the loops which are audio recordings of real instruments! The only thing that sounded nice and real were the woodwinds but there is still a slight delay when you hit the keys on these instruments. I recommend to anyone that is serious about recording classical music to buy the Garritan Personal Orchestra and the Kontakt Player. This will work with Garageband, Logic and some other products.

170 of 275 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Disappointing

Written by ZZ from london

18-Feb-2008

No solo strings, and the string ensembles are very cheap sounding - not the warm and lush sound I was looking for.

The Steinway piano that is included sounds ok, but unfortunately it is missing some vital velocity layers.

123 of 213 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

System requirements

Written by LR from Mississauga

22-Jan-2008

Be absolutly certain that your computer and garageband meets the system requirements.. You need garageband 2 or higher, it says Macosx 10.3.9 or higher but really it means 10.4 because if you have 10.3 you wont have the right garageband. If you dont youll install it and 10 gigs of memory will be gone into unusable files. Be certain before you buy it that you meet these requirements because apple will not refund and rip you off completely, as usual.

40 of 74 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Not Enough Instruments...

Written by CB

14-Dec-2008

I like the sounds, but there are not enough seperate instruments along with the sections of istruments in the Orchestra Version like there is in Guitar, Organ or other sections.

I like to have individual instruments in strings, brass, etc. and there is not that at all. Who ever put this together has never played in an Orchestra or Concert Band, for there are parts (soloists) as well as sections who are featured to create a mood of feeling in a song.

I am a songwriter and score arranger. It seems to me someone needs to send us all out (FREE) a CD to fill in the gap on this.

It would be HONORABLE if you would give us (FREE) a Download of individual instsruements, don't you think? After all, we pay way more for programming for Mac compared to PC.

214 of 230 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Blah

Written by JG

26-Jul-2006

I'm disappointed...

There are no solo strings on here. So, if you were planning on having that wonderful, heart-wrenching solo violin to play the melody of your song, find a better program. This one sucks for it. They only have ensemble strings, which sound... alright.. and if you smash your keyboard.. you can get a somewhat decent sound of a solo string, though most people who listen to it say it sounds like an organ or accordian.

Trust me.. there are a few programs out there that DO have solo strings as separate instrument software (apart from just Ensemble). They actually recognize that they're two COMPLETELY different sounds.

However, the rest of the instruments aren't half-bad. If you want good woodwind sounds, especially... then, go right ahead and buy this.

So, Apple.. if you read this.. make another Jam Pack with solo strings, please. They're such beautiful instruments that you completely ignored. I mean.. come on! What's an orchestrated song without the whiny plea of a solo violin playing the lead.. during that sad moment in your song? Geez.

754 of 1019 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Solo Strings

Written by JG from Dekalb

20-Dec-2007

I found it disappointing that the jam pack did not contain solo violin, viola or cello, but fortunately I found a cello and violin in Logic express's exp24 sampler BUT NO VIOLA... COME On PEOPLE, get with the program!

137 of 189 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Most audio loops created with sampled instruments

Written by JS from Lafayette

16-Nov-2006

For this type of collection, I expect MIDI loops to use virtual instruments, and I expect audio loops to feature real performances by soloists and ensembles. This unfortunately is not the case with the Symphony Orchestra JamPack. As I listen to the audio loops, it is clear that many were made with virtual/sampled instruments and are not actual live performances on real instruments. They may have been produced with more elaborate instrument samples than were included in the package, and they may have nicer reverb than is available in Garageband, but it is clear that they aren't real.

If your expectation is that the audio loops are actual phrases played on real instruments, you may be disappointed. That said, there is a pretty nice selection of musical ideas. And for many projects, this will be a very useful collection.

The sampler instruments that are provided are mostly very good. And impressively, there aren't any of them that are unusable.

109 of 163 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Orchestra

Written by JH from NEWBURY PARK

7-Jul-2007

So glad I read the reviews and went to the Apple store to try this software before (not) purchasing it. So that I'm not misunderstood, most of the sounds are very good and useful. Brass ensemble sounds great, but solos-no,no. Love the wood winds;where else can you get an oboe at this price? But the strings! No solo violin! no way to work any of the section independantly. What would "Eleanor Rigby" sound like if limited to this format. In the end, that's what stopped me buying to pack. I want the versatility to write and record from 1 to as many string parts as needed. Perhaps that's too costly for this program, but that causes me to look elsewhere.

67 of 91 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

A classical classic from Apple

Written by NR from Driffield

13-Jan-2006

Forget the loops (I know they like to make a big deal of them) what really shines is the stunning selection of instruments. Choose a preset from the list and you're ready to start playing instruments from any section of the orchestra. There'll be more dynamic and expressive sample libraries out there, but this is solid and useable and, for the price, certainly above average. Only downside is the lack of solo trumpet and violin, though you do get solo and ensemble versions of pretty much everything else (French Horn, Clarinet, Flute etc.). And, if you like that sort of thing, it has to be said that the loops are very good indeed.

505 of 709 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

For The Musician....

Written by RL from Seattle

18-Aug-2006

I'm a professional composer and to outline a song quickly, Garageband is great. The expansion packs are underrated for the cost. With Symphony, You can create slow or percussive Orchestral pieces but the strings are tricky. Woodwinds rock out on this, Brass is dissapointing (ensemble brass is nice but for solo instruments...not so much).
You have a choice between sad and morose or punchy and crazy but nothing really..lyrical.

No solo violins? What kind of orchestra is this? And no chorus like that similar to the singers in the World Jampack??

124 of 170 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Pretty good for the money

Written by CT from Nashville

21-Apr-2008

As a professional musician I was immediately impressed with Garageband when I got my mac. The sounds were an even more pleasant surprise. I used this Jam Pack with GB's default sounds scoring a film ("Scream Farm", probably won't be in a theater near you) and was very pleased with much of the outcome. Don't get me wrong you can get better sounds, but you'll spend several hundred more dollars to get only slightly better quality. There ARE a couple of areas that are lacking (brass and a lack of solo strings) that others have pointed out, but the woodwinds and the few percussion sounds are really top notch. Highlights for me have been the keyboards, strings (and their various articulations; pizz, arco, staccato, tremolo), and pitched percussion. I consider it a worthy investment for any composer.

149 of 222 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

I was pleased

Written by JZ from Madison

1-Sep-2008

I was very pleased with the quality of the sounds and the ease of use--I simply installed as directed & everything appeared in Garage Band with no additional fancy footwork. Some of the sounds are really nice--the harp, the harpsichord, and the celesta are among my favorites. The string sounds are rich and easily used for a high sound-quality result. I am not quite as fond of the horns and woodwinds, but they are fine, and I have been able to use them to good effect.

I am giving four instead of five stars in deference to some of the other feedback given here--no solo strings, the misleading box--but overall I have been very pleased by this purchase.

71 of 89 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Very Nice

Written by EV from Newton

19-Jan-2006

This is an outstanding product. The strings are lush, the brass is powerful, the winds are ultra-realistic, the keyboards are amazing, and the percussion is fantastic. I am using this product for several compositions. What would be nice would be some solo strings...I have to use other libraries to get those sounds, and maybe a huge "Orchestra" Instrument, to create orchestral hits and also to compose for full orchestra - all from one track - but overall, my reaction is "Wow. Finally, Apple released an orchestral sample library. Keep up the good work."

55 of 81 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

An Excellent Collection

Written by TM from Ann Arbor

17-Jan-2006

The loops are good for creating subtle ambience to your iMovies, but the Instrument samples really shine. I would've liked to have seen more solo instruments, and perhaps less reverb on them by default as a whole when adding them to tracks, but all in all a very nice set of sounds for GarageBand.

33 of 41 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Super Value!

Written by BS from Bloomfield

4-Apr-2006

I am so impressed with this Jam Pack. The number and varity of loops added by these DVDs are staggering. Not to mention that you can edit (reverb, tempo, key, ect.) the material that Apple provides to you. Only four stars because I was expecting more real insturment guitar effects. Otherwise 5 stars!!

51 of 92 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

This Pack Doesn't Need Solo Trumpets/Violins

Written by GC from Indio

12-Oct-2007

Why? Because Logic already has them. If you have GarageBand, you might be left in the dark. Logic users should already have solo trumpets, trombones, and violins in it's default software. Other than that, this pack is just fine on an ameture scale if you can use these instruments in the right way.

But I have to agree with the slow attack time with some of the instruments. I'd like to have my french horns a little more pronounced.

112 of 220 people found this useful

GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Blown away

Written by AD from Lakewood

1-May-2008

I'm not a professional musician, or even a musician. I'm a dabbler. The big question for me was how far beyond the standard strings included with GarageBand this Jam Pack would go. I will just say that when I switched some of my music from the stock instruments to these new instruments, I was blown away. The sound is that much richer and more realistic. I don't have any basis for comparison, only that I wasn't really happy with GB until getting this Jam Pack. Now I'm in love with it.

122 of 201 people found this useful