I'm a high school student who's played piano for about a decade, and was hoping to learn orchestration. I've written several advanced piano compositions, so I'm familiar with the music-writing process, but haven't been able to translate that to orchestration very easily. I'll obviously need to use a digital orchestra rather than a live one, and have experimented with Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 and FL Studio 20, but haven't been able to achieve an authentic sound, so I have a few questions.
Is GPO5 a good digital orchestra software, or would something else be better? I'm willing to spend up to a few hundred dollars to upgrade, but can't afford much more than that.
How do I learn digital orchestration, such as with Garritan? I've experimented with it in the past, but always get overwhelmed by all of the options and everything I try sounds extremely fake. Is there any course that would teach what to do, or should I just continue to figure it out on my own? I'm really lost on how to progress at all in this area.
What's the best way for me to learn orchestration, from a general standpoint, rather than just a VST? I'm sure there are books and online courses, but I've gotten pretty confused on what to do, especially considering that I'm using a digital orchestra rather than a real one.
Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!