I am not going to be of any help but I had problems getting GPO5 installed in Finale 27.  Do you have Finale 27 with the GPO5 working as it should? I guess any version of Finale would be OK but 27 gave me issues so it might be yours too. You may need to have  GPO5 working in Finale to get sound output. Like I said I am probably of no help.

Did you read this? https://timewarptech.com/documents/iOS%20MIDI%20Connections.pdf 

Hello Elouise,

As I already have GPO5, and because of your query, I decided to download the demo version of HCX (v 2.0.8.)

After a little fiddling around I've got it to work, so I'll post some instructions shortly (gently) on how to set it up.

Kind regards,

JohnG.

Thank you so much, John! Looking forward to your instructions. :-)

Elouise

Thank you, Ernest! But I have no knowledge of Finale. I did read the pdf you linked, but the MIDI connection is not the issue - at least I don't think it is.  I'm using the UM-ONE interface device which connects my piano and HCX perfectly.  :-)

Thanks!

Well good luck anyway.

Let me start by attempting to answer your initial questions one by one, before I attempt to give you more general instructions about how to configure the ARIA player with GPO5.

I have a Roland HP107 Digital Piano and it is hooked up to Home Concert Xtreme via the Roland USB Interface, UM-ONE.
The setup all works fine. I play classical music and HCX follows along beautifully.

I just bought Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 because I learned that HCX would use the Garritan library in some way.

Potentially HCX can use GPO5, although it is not a general purpose library for MIDI file playback, more a sound set for an orchestral composer to use to assess a composition, without having an orchestra handy. To get the most from GPO5 does require a bit of technical knowledge, but results can be outstanding.

I don't have a lot of technical knowledge about this, but I can't seem to find any instruction about how to make HCX use Aria or the Garritan Library. I had read somewhere that the Aria Player/Engine is used as a plugin to HCX, but when I'm in MIDI Devices setup, I am not presented with any option to select ARIA.

No, I wasn't able to find any instructions either, but having used GPO4 before upgrading to GPO5 I have a bit of experience making the Garritan libraries work with other programs.
Looking at the way HCX works I was able to ascertain that it doesn't (as yet) support what are known as 'plugins'! However, there is a way around that by using a tiny, free program known as a "virtual MIDI cable". A virtual MIDI cable allows the MIDI connections of two programs to link together. So, in this case, the MIDI output of HCX can be linked to the MIDI input of ARIA. (More of how to do this later.)

IN HCX, my INPUT device is UM-ONE and currently my Output A (the only output set) is set to Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. I'm fairly certain the MS GS setting is incorrect, but my only other choices are <none> and the UM-ONE. I tried UM-ONE, but this produced no sound at all.

?? When in HCX and with the MIDI setup screen in front of you, with the HP107 set as the Input device, as you press piano keys on the HP107, which of the lights in the "test input channels" lights up? I'm assuming Channel 1? Let me know, will you?

When I opened Aria and looked at Tools>Preferences my input midi device UM-ONE(in) is appropriately, I think, selected.
Audio Device API is MME and Audio Device is MS Sound Mapper Output. I am unclear about these settings too.

These settings should suffice for testing whether ARIA works with your piano.

I am also unclear about if I need midi files written specifically for Garritan or whether my existing midi files will use the Garritan sounds.

You're very unlikely to find any MIDI files written specifically for GPO5.

Since I can't find even the the most basic instructions for setup using ARIA, I am at a loss. It is also possible that a critical step of setting up HCX for the best sound output has been skipped. As I said, it works, but the sound is simple tone generated midi.

May I suggest initially that you go to the web site www.garritan.com/user-manuals and follow the link to GPO5 at the top of the page, also the one further down about the ARIA player. These will provide you with information about how to use ARIA and GPO5. If you have a printer, you might download the PDF manual for Personal Orchestra 4 (near the foot of the same page). GPO% was built upon GPO4 and therefore the way it is used is almost identical. GPO5 has a greater range of instruments compared with 4.

Does anyone have advice for how to set this up? Be gentle. I'm 91 years old. :-)

Hopefully I've been gentle enough? If not, please say so.

A rather clever gentleman by the name of Daniel Schmitt, who is a programmer based in Frankfurt in Germany, has written a number of utilities designed to help with this sort of issue. These programs go under the generic name of LoopBe,and come in two version, 1 and 30. Version 1 is free and will do everything you need. If you make your way to the following web site "https://www.nerds.de/en/download.html" and scroll to the foot of the page, you'll find a link to "Download setuploopbe1.exe".
May I suggest that you download this program and, if you have an anti-virus program, check the downloaded file for viruses? I'll tell you how to set it all up in another instalment.
We'll continue when you've absorbed what I've written so far.
Regards,
JohnG.

JohnG,

Although your reply was not aimed at me, I appreciate the info. Thanx, for taking the time.

John!

Thank you so much for that!  (FYI, my daughter, who is is a computer expert/website developer, doesn't have a lot of experience with music programs, but she is helping me configure and assess the issues.)

I am overjoyed about the virtual MIDI cable.  To answer your question, yes, channel 1 lights up when pressing piano keys.  The actual input device listed is the UM-ONE, but it's simply the MIDI interface device name. 

I will visit the Garritan link you noted, read through the documentation and download that pdf.

And yes, gentle enough! 

Can I assume that the loopbe exe file is in fact the "virtual MIDI cable" that you mentioned?  I will cautiously download that, too. :-)

Thanks again, so much, John!

Elouise

Ernest, you're most welcome.

Elouise, sorry it took me a little while to get my act together, but pleased it helped. Good that you have some assistance.

I started working on computers way back in 1966 and worked for a UK mainframe manufacturer for twenty years so, although now well into retirement, I'm well versed in these technical things and fortunately in music too. I started playing the oboe in my teens and I've been using MIDI since the late eighties.

Yes, LoopBe1 is the virtual MIDI cable I was talking about. Some years ago I purchased the 30 port version (LoopBe30) as, from time to time, when I authored several MIDI files for a full orchestra, I needed more than the sixteen channels provided by LoopBe1. My wife is an operatic mezzo-soprano and she and some of her colleagues needed rehearsal files to sing to. They were performing the Haydn Nelson mass (Missa in Angustiis).

LoopBe1 runs in the background, has no impact on anything else running (that I can ascertain), and simply provides a 'virtual' MIDI ouput to set up in "Output A" in the HCX MIDI setup screen. Then in the "ARIA / Tools / Preferences" you set the LoopBe MIDI port as the input.

After that you will have to load the necessary 'instruments' into the instrument slots in ARIA, a shown below as an example.

So, if you can acquire LoopBe1 and set it up, as I recall the computer needs to be rebooted after setup, we'll be ready for the next stage.

Kind regards,

JohnG.

Dear John,

Thank you for sharing some of your history. It’s hard to believe my luck in connecting with someone of your expertise and generosity. You say you worked for a UK manufacturer. Was that in England? My husband (on sabbatical) and I lived in England for a year in the Stratford area. Loved it.

Opera is a major love, but the piano has been my passion since I was 4. I began playing the violin in elementary school. Then I began piano lessons. In high school I was pianist #2, so I learned the string bass. I played with the Oakland Symphony while in high school and majored in that instrument in college. I also studied the oboe privately (wonderful instrument), but I was better on the clarinet. My love for opera bloomed in college when I ushered at the San Francisco Opera and sang in concert with some of the greats, such as Kathleen Ferrier. My close friend from high school days, also a mezzo, sang lead roles with the SFO.

I began working with a personal computer in 1989. (I had to learn DOS. I was ecstatic when Windows came along.) I began using MIDI files in the ‘90s when my piano teacher told me of a program that could play music at any tempo without changing the pitch. Then I was hooked. I even managed to write some MIDI files of my own. (Not very good.) I love playing concertos, and HCX enabled me to learn them with an orchestra of sorts. I also found the Classical MIDI Archives web site quite useful.

I’m so looking forward to playing with the Garritan sound. My daughter Debbie is going to install the file for me we will try the preliminary settings you've supplied. Yay. :)

Thank you so much for your help.

Elouise

Hello, John,

First, my HCX sound is better because of GPO and ARIA – and it will improve -- when I get the instruments right. :-)

Debbie helped me load the instruments into Aria. I chose the instruments based on the track instruments baked into each midi piece in my HCX files. There are so many ARIA sound/instrument choices, I may have chosen wrong in some cases, but I know how to add them now and I will play with it. 

My current MIDI files are bad to adequate. :-)  I would like to get new ones. You said you have authored some MIDI files. Do you have any Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, or Gershwin? If so, are they for sale? If not, do you have a good source for them?

I so appreciate your help.

Elouise

Dear John, 

I just wanted to come back here to thank you again, so much, for your help. Your instructions were invaluable - and I certainly never would have found the LoopBe that makes it all work if not for you!  

Thank you thank you!

Elouise