MakeMusic has announced the release of Garritan Classic Pipe Organs, a new virtual pipe organ collection. This sound library features six historic instruments, each representing a specific school of organ building, ranging from early Baroque to Classical, through the Renaissance, Romantic and Modern eras.

"Classic Pipe Organs brings the power and grandeur of the pipe organ into any studio, place of worship, rehearsal room or home," said Gary Garritan, MakeMusic director of instrumental sciences. "It is ideally suited for every style of organ music, from early music repertoire to Bach, from lush romantic to post-modern music. What's more, every organ stop/combination in this collection can be freely mixed with those of other organs. Musicians can now add a wide array of majestic organ sounds to their tracks."

Included with Garritan Classic Pipe Organs is the ARIA Player (version 1.5) which now includes Convolution Sampled Reverb. With this technology, the sound of specific performance spaces can be captured and shared. Included are many sampled venues, from a small chapel to a cathedral, with a variety of concert halls and other acoustic spaces in between. Placing classic pipe organ sounds in these spaces produces "breathtaking sounds with unprecedented realism".

Classic Pipe Organs offers control over tremulants, blower noise, chiff noise, crescendo pedal, swell pedal, timbre, pedal bass and more. Scala file support allows users to play in the various temperaments of earlier historic eras.

"Composers can use this collection for inspiration, to capture creative ideas and to sketch organ arrangements quickly," said Justin Phillips, MakeMusic portfolio manager of notation and Garritan products. "Hobbyists can use it to add organ sounds to their tracks. Beginners, organ enthusiasts and music students can use it to learn, study and practice organ music at home. Church musicians—and indeed everyone—can enjoy these inspirational sounds that traditionally were limited to large budgets and even bigger spaces."

Classic Pipe Organs is designed to be a perfect addition to music notation-based programs, like Finale, as well as to all sequencers and digital audio workstations. Also included is a standalone ARIA Player which allows anyone to load and play back MIDI files and produce audio recordings of the MIDI file or live performances, without additional software. Formats include Standalone, Plug-in Audio Unit, VST, & RTAS.

Classic Pipe Organs is available as a download for a special, limited time price of $119.95. A boxed (DVD) version will be available soon for $169.95. Additional information, patch lists, audio sample files and much more can be found on the Classic Pipe Organs page at www.garritan.com.