Hi,

I'm currently using Garritan GPO4 which has been pretty good for the level I'm working at but have just been checking out the new GPO5 update on their website and it sounds like quite an improvement for the £45 upgrade price!?
What would be the next step up in orchestral vsti's that offers more realism and quality of samples?

At anything near the price point of your GPO5 upgrade, nothing exists that would be a step up from what you already have. High-end orchestral libraries are expensive.

If you don't mind dongles (I do mind them), then the most cost efficient "full orchestra" solution that would be a step up would undoubtedly be from EastWest. Since I don't use their products, I'm not intimately familiar with them, but they have a range of orchestra lines, and very often have massive sales. They also offer a composer cloud service where you can access the libraries online for $30 per month or something, which might be an inexpensive way to try the libraries and see how you jibe with them.

Or you could explore some of the lighter "ensemble-based" libraries to augment GPO. CineSymphony Lite from CineSamples is 25% off right now still I think, and the new Orchestral Tools Berlin Orchestra Inspire looks like a steal for the intro price of €249... OT makes top-shelf stuff, and I'm pining for this library myself...

I forgot to mention I also have NI Komplete 11 Ultimate which includes :-

Session strings Pro
Symphony Essentials - String Ensembles
Symphony Essentials - Woodwind Ensembles
Symphony Essentials - Woodwind Solo
Symphony Essentials - Brass Ensembles
Symphony Essentials - Brass Solo
Emotive Strngs
Action Strings
Action Strikes
Damage
Rise & Hit
Evolve R2
Evolve Mutations
Evolve Mutations 2

+ a few top notch pianos!

I guess I'd have to spend a lot of money on one of the massive orchestral VSTi's to get any serious improvement.

Hi dickiefunk, did you end up getting GPO 5?

Do you think it's still useful compared to NI offerings?

I'm considering the upgrade since I've used GPO4 with Sibelius in the past, and paired with a Berlin Studio Reverb, it could sound amazing