Sorry for not being helpful, but I have the same issue with Aria Player version 1.959 and Aria engine 1.960, which are the most recent versions (updated Nov. 16th (engine) and Nov. 26th (player).

Did you contact the support already? If so, did they respond already?

What I found was, that the file which looks like the .aax plugin, if you click on it, is a folder which contains a folder "contents", containing another folder "x64", which contains one file called "ARIA Player.aaxplugin" - the same name as the initial folder you see when going to

C:\Program Files\Garritan\ARIA Player\AAX.

I'm not sure if this kind of structure had been effective always, and it looks a bit queer that the actual plugin has the same name as the folder in which it is packed.

I hope this gives at last a clue to the things which are screwed.

Hi, I got a response from support on this: 

"It's come to our attention that there's a problem with specific to the aax plugin format in the latest version of the ARIA Player [1.959]. We've been in contact with our friends and partners at Plogue Art et Technologie, who help with the development of the ARIA Player about.The good news is you can rollback to the ARIA Player 1.872, but it will require running the GPO5 installer once more.

Please follow these steps to uninstall the current ARIA Player & Engine:

1. Close any open programs, such as Pro Tools and the ARIA Player.
2. Press the WINDOWS key on your computer keyboard; type "Programs and Features".
3. Choose the Programs and Features option that appears.
4. Select Garritan ARIA Player 1.959 and choose Uninstall and follow any on-screen prompts to confirm.
5. Repeat this process to uninstall the ARIA Engine.
6. Restart your computer.
7. Reinstall GPO5. If you still have Garritan_Personal_Orchestra_5.zip in your downloads folder, use that. Otherwise, you can redownload the installer from your MakeMusic account: https://account.makemusic.com/ "

This is no solution at all.

The aria player in it's newest version doesn't load in ProTools: This is a massive BUG which MUST be cleared.

Besides, there's another bug in the Aria Player for long which is being unrepaired up to date:

The tuning module does not work properly if you are using scales that do not comply with the classical octave format (for example, the Bohlen-Pierce set of scales which are strictly non-octave scales). When trying to use them, for some of 12  steps the tuning will be applied, but towards the end of the octave one or 2 intervals are "adjusted" so that with the next octave the tuning will be taken up again. This results in a completely wrong tuning, it must not be possible in a Bohlen-Pierce scale to have exact octave parallels.

As for the ProTools bug, the solution is not to use the Aria player as a plugin there anymore (or skip ProTools), as for the tuning bug the solution is to skip the Aria Player entirely.

These solutions both bear a tragic mark however since we all paid a lot for the orchestral libraries and for ProTools and now we can't use them.

So "make music", you got to live up to your name. 

Is there any resolution to this?  I just got ProTools, and without a compatible plug-in it is fairly useless.  Click track and metronome do not work without the plug-in.  I am hoping since this problem is a year old that a new version is available.  If so, how do I get it?

Hi Bob,

from the last statements I got, I gained the impression that "Make Music" is not interested in solving this issue - nor others which are results of poor programming.

I feel like cheated, having paid all that money to purchase the libraries and now the use is limited to only some DAWs, and other settings in the Aria Player just won't work. I might say to one of those issues, that they are destroying my music. 

Just don't know what to do about this complete mess. VERY disappointed.

Hello Werner, please i think u could help as is my first time insatlling virtual piano, just got stuck in one step, they say copy unzip file aria player on desktop, and then press command+shift+G, but nothing happens. Do you know the reason please? ( command = control key?)
Thanks man, apprrciate it

Hi Bob,

I'm afraid to state your company seems to be absolutely unwilling to solve the issue of ARIA player not being a valid aax-plugin for ProTools. The issue persists at least for 2 years now, and I know I am not the only one complaining about this.

This being said, I just updated ProTools ultimate to version 2021.10.

I think, since the Aria Player works excellent with Sibelius and Cakewalk by Bandlab, I might as well quit ProTools: deactivating, ending the subscription, uninstalling the application and deleting all files related to it. 

My disappointment is beyond measures!

You have, from now on, 3 weeks time to react, otherwise I shall proceed as described here.

I shall publish this issue to keep other users warned of your limited to non-existent customer service.

Besides, there is another issue about wrongly applied .scl files as described 2 years ago. Until that second issue isn't solved to my satisfaction, I shall not purchase any of your products.

(On Nov. 14th, 2021):

Ok, I will complete the actions (as written 16 days ago) NOW.

You have failed me, "Make Music"!

Hello.  I don't work for Finale or MakeMusic, but I did find a work around and the Aria player loads into Protools as a AAX plugin using the latest Aria player.  What you do is to install the previous Aria player version over the latest version of Aria player.  That procedure will install the AAX plugin to the correct place.  It works without a problem.  It would have been nice if customer service would have informed the people in this conversation thread.  However, at least it works.

Hi, my aria player works but wrong. Is clipping the sound and once you get that shit in one sound of PO5 you can no use it amymore, you think is the same problem, ???

Yours didn. T work at all?

No, and as neither "Make Music" nor Avid didn't react properly, I skipped ProTools for good. With Cakewalk and Sibelius it works fine, just the import of .scl tuning files is unreliable. But that's my second problem. It seems, the policy of "Make Music" is to force every user of Garritan to use "Finale".

I just raised this issue with Make Music and they have been able to fix the issue for me, just need to download the AAX Plug-In and add it to the Pro Tools Plug-In folder. Download & instructions are here:

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500005369342-AAX-Plug-In-For-ARIA-Player-?source=answerbot&auth_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJhY2NvdW50X2lkIjo3Mjg1MjMsInVzZXJfaWQiOjU0ODMxNDE4OTk1NDMsInRpY2tldF9pZCI6NDEyNDIxLCJkZWZsZWN0aW9uX2lkIjo1NTI0MTc1MTIzNzM1LCJhcnRpY2xlcyI6WzE1MDAwMDUzNjkzNDIsMjE4MjYxOTc3LDIxODI2MjMxN10sInRva2VuIjpudWxsLCJleHAiOjE2NTI4OTU2Nzh9.l-6q-OnSFQfK6nq-49_9BmiQ4Z-yCG4YVIJYvAodVUQ

Justin Doncevic's fix worked for me. Thank you Justin!