Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

MakeMusic announced today that it has signed an agreement to purchase Garritan Corporation, makers of Garritan Personal Orchestra and several other best-in-class virtual sound libraries. Founder Gary Garritan will join MakeMusic as director of instrumental sciences.

My wife, Becca, and I enjoyed spending some time with Gary and his wife, Marianne, when we visited beautiful Vancouver Island near the end of October. Among the many beautiful places they shared with us were the Butchart Gardens, seen in my snapshot above. Since we assumed that late October wasn’t peak season for the gardens, we were delighted at all the color and blossoms – quite a contrast to Minnesota.

While Gary and I have spoken by phone and at tradeshows many times before, this was the first time we’d shared meals and museum visits, and he and Marianne proved to be wonderful hosts AND tour guides. I wish that I could look forward to seeing them both in our offices often, but for some reason they have yet to express any interest to moving to Minnesota. Go figure.

Lest you think I’m a mover and shaker, integral in the planning of the Garritan purchase long in advance, I should clarify that I’m not. In part because MakeMusic is a public company, great care must be made in not revealing pending acquisitions, and so I wasn’t aware of the negotiations until very recently. It strikes me as funny that Becca and I traveled to British Columbia and spent time with the Garritians when we did. Perhaps I had an unconscious premonition! Thank goodness I didn’t scare them off.

Please join me in welcoming Gary and Marianne to the MakeMusic family.