Frequently Asked Questions

Find quick answers to common questions about our plugins

After purchasing, you'll receive an email with a "View Order" button. Click that and you will be taken to a page with download links for both Mac and Windows installers. Simply download the installer for your operating system and follow the on-screen instructions. The plugin will automatically install to your default VST3/AU/AAX plugin folder. Then open your DAW and rescan for new plugins.

Installation paths:

• macOS AU: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/

• macOS VST3: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/

• macOS AAX: /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/

• Windows VST3: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\

• Windows AAX: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins\

Your license key will be emailed to you after purchase. Open the plugin in your DAW and select "Enter License Key" in the activation window. Enter your license key (format: XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX) and click Activate. Make sure you're connected to the internet for the first activation. Once activated, the plugin works offline.

You can try our plugins free for 14 days with full functionality. Download and install the plugin, then click "Start 14-Day Demo" when the activation overlay appears. No credit card required. The demo includes all features with no audio watermarks or limitations. After 14 days, you'll need to purchase a license to continue using the plugin.

Our plugins work with all major DAWs that support VST3, AU, or AAX format plugins, including:

• Ableton Live (10+)

• Logic Pro (10.5+)

• Pro Tools (2020+)

• FL Studio (20+)

• Reaper (6+)

• Cubase (11+)

• Studio One (5+)

• Bitwig (4+)

• Reason (11+)

• GarageBand (10.4+)

If your DAW supports VST3 (Windows/Mac), AU (Mac), or AAX (Mac/Windows), our plugins will work.

Yes! Your license allows installation on up to 3 computers that you personally own and use. This is ideal for a studio desktop, laptop, and home setup. You cannot share your license with others. If you need to deactivate a computer to free up a slot, use the deactivation option in the plugin settings by clicking the Orra logo.

Check your email for the original purchase confirmation from Lemon Squeezy. You can also log into your Lemon Squeezy account using the email you provided at purchase to view your purchases and license keys. If you still can't find it, contact us at orraaudio.com/support with your purchase email address, and we'll resend your license key within 72 hours.

License transfers are handled on a case-by-case basis. Contact us at orraaudio.com/support with details about why you want to transfer, and we'll work with you to make it happen if possible. Please note that transferred licenses cannot be transferred again. We do not support resale through unauthorized third-party marketplaces.

To deactivate a plugin from a computer: Open the plugin in your DAW, click the Orra logo in the top-left corner, and select "Deactivate License." This will free up one of your 3 activation slots. If you no longer have access to that computer (sold, broken, etc.), contact us at orraaudio.com/support and we can manually reset your activations.

Our plugins validate your license online once during activation. Once activated, the plugin works offline.

All updates within the 1.x version line are completely free for existing license holders. This includes bug fixes, new features, and performance improvements. Major version upgrades (2.0, 3.0, etc.) may require a paid upgrade, but existing customers may receive loyalty discounts.

Absolutely! All our plugins are fully native on Apple Silicon processors, providing optimal performance on M1, M2, M3, and M4 Macs without needing Rosetta translation. You'll experience excellent CPU efficiency and fast load times on these machines.

macOS:

• macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later

• Intel or Apple Silicon (native support)

• VST3, AU, or AAX compatible DAW

• 4GB RAM minimum (8GB recommended)

Windows:

• Windows 10 or later (64-bit only)

• Intel or AMD processor

• VST3 or AAX compatible DAW

• 4GB RAM minimum (8GB recommended)

Both platforms:

• 100MB free disk space

• Internet connection for activation

Orra EQ is designed for zero-latency operation. The plugin introduces 0 samples of latency, making it perfect for tracking and live monitoring as well as mixing and mastering.

Orra EQ is highly optimized and uses approximately 0.1-3% CPU on modern systems with a typical configuration. CPU usage increases slightly when using multiple saturation bands or the spectrum analyzer at high refresh rates. You can reduce CPU usage by lowering the analyzer refresh rate in the settings.

Orra EQ supports all standard sample rates from 44.1kHz to 192kHz and beyond. The plugin automatically adapts to your project's sample rate. Higher sample rates provide more headroom for high-frequency processing but use more CPU.

If your plugin doesn't appear in your DAW:

1. Rescan plugins in your DAW's preferences/settings

2. Verify installation path - ensure the plugin installed to a folder your DAW scans

3. macOS: Check System Preferences > Security & Privacy if the plugin was blocked

4. Windows: Make sure you're scanning the correct VST3 folder

5. Restart your DAW after installation

6. Restart your computer if needed

If issues persist, reach out via our orraaudio.com/support with your DAW and OS version.

Dynamic Saturation works like upward compression, but instead of adding gain to quiet signals, it adds saturation. It intelligently applies more harmonic enhancement to quiet signals while keeping loud peaks relatively clean.

Signals below the threshold receive progressively more saturation the quieter they are—bringing up low-level detail with rich harmonic content without over-saturating loud sections.

Available in: Orra Tube, Tape, and Models

Controls: Independent Threshold, Drive, Attack, and Release per band

Perfect for:

• Adding body to soft vocal phrases

• Enhancing fingerpicking detail on acoustic guitar

• Bringing out room ambience with warmth

• Adding presence to bass fret noise

All while maintaining natural dynamics and preventing muddy loud passages.

Snap to Key automatically aligns multiple selected bands to notes within your song's musical key. Instead of eyeballing frequencies or calculating harmonic relationships manually:

1. Select multiple bands (click and drag to create a selection box)

2. Right-click any selected control point and choose "Snap to Key"

3. Select a scale: Major, Minor, Major Pentatonic, or Minor Pentatonic

4. Each band snaps to the nearest note in that key

This creates harmonically coherent EQ adjustments that reinforce the song's tonality rather than working against it.

Use cases:

• Building parallel boosts at fundamental frequencies and overtones

• Creating chord-based EQ curves

• Ensuring corrective notches target problematic notes without affecting musical content

Snap to Note is also available for single-band precision frequency targeting.

Unlike most modern EQs that process bands in parallel, Orra EQ routes audio through bands sequentially—just like cascaded analog circuits.

Each band shapes the signal before passing it to the next, creating natural interactions between equalization stages and allowing saturation harmonics to build organically through the chain.

Why it matters:

Drive one band into tube saturation, follow it with tape compression, and the cumulative effect is richer and more complex than either could achieve independently. The series architecture delivers the kind of harmonic density and tonal complexity that made classic analog gear legendary.

This isn't just a technical detail—it's fundamental to Orra EQ's character.

Orra EQ includes 17 saturation algorithms across three categories:

Orra Tube: Musical tube saturation based on vintage preamp characteristics with asymmetric distortion for warm, silky enhancement.

Tape (6 models):

• Studio Reference (clean mastering)

• Console Master (bright punch)

• Multitrack Wide (balanced studio)

• Vintage Mono (dark vintage)

• Valve Preamp (thick tube-driven)

• Half-Inch HiFi (professional authority)

Each tape model offers three tape speeds and four noise reduction types.

Models (10 algorithms):

• Vintage Preamp • Power Tube • Transistor

• Diode (Germanium) • Diode (Symmetric) • Wavefolder

• Bit Crusher • British Console • VCA Console • Exciter

Because all saturation types live within the series signal chain, you can stack multiple algorithms using multible bands for complex harmonic textures.

Dynamic EQ in Orra EQ allows frequency-specific compression. Each band can respond dynamically to signal level:

Controls:

• Threshold: Signal level where dynamic processing begins

• Ratio: Amount of dynamic range reduction

• Attack/Release: How quickly the band responds

Use cases:

• De-essing: Tame harsh sibilance at 6-8kHz only when problematic

• De-resonance: Control room modes or instrument resonances

• Bass management: Control low-end buildup in dense mixes

Unlike static EQ, Dynamic EQ only processes when needed, maintaining natural tonality while controlling specific problems.

Yes! Orra EQ includes the abilibty to create and save presets across categories:

• Vocal (lead, background, de-essing, presence)

• Mastering (gentle enhancement, vintage warmth, modern clarity)

• Creative (lo-fi, tape crush, radio voice, telephone)

• Corrective (rumble removal, harshness taming, mud cleanup)

• Instruments (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, piano, synths)

• User

All presets are fully editable starting points. The preset browser includes search and favorites for quick access.

Snapshot History is Orra EQ's built-in undo system that automatically saves your work as you go. Every meaningful change creates a timestamped snapshot you can instantly recall.

Features:

• Up to 100 snapshots per session (oldest snapshots auto-delete after 100)

• Timestamp and description for each snapshot

• Non-destructive - snapshots persist until you close the plugin

• Quick A/B comparison between snapshots

• Newest snapshot appears at the bottom of the scroll list

• Perfect for client revisions or exploring creative ideas

Think of it as an intelligent "local versions" system that captures your creative process without needing to save multiple project files.

Orra EQ's spectrum analyzer provides real-time frequency visualization with multiple display modes:

Display Modes:

• Linear FFT: Traditional frequency spectrum (great for precision work)

• Octave Bands: Musical representation (easier to read for creative decisions)

• Hybrid: Combines both approaches

Features:

• Adjustable refresh rate (Slow/Medium/Fast/Real-time)

• Pre/Post metering (see before and after EQ curve)

• Peak hold markers

You can show/hide the analyzer components individually via the colord circle toggles in the header or adjust its refresh rate to balance visual feedback with CPU usage.

Solo Mode lets you hear only what a specific band is doing:

• Mutes all other bands so you can isolate a single band's effect on the whole signal

• Perfect for surgical corrections or identifying problem frequencies

• Hear saturation or dynamic processing in context

• Click the "S" button on any band to solo it, or right click the control point and select "Solo" from the menu

Delta Mode lets you hear only what you're adding or removing in your selected band:

• Hear only the difference between the input and output

• Perfect for ensuring you're not removing wanted content

• Great for checking if de-essing or resonance removal is too aggressive

• Click the "D" button on any band for delta listening, or right click the control point and select "Delta" from the menu

Both modes affect what you hear in real-time while editing.

Orra EQ has five filter types across its EQ and Dynamic EQ modes:

Bell — a parametric peak or dip at a center frequency. The bread and butter of corrective and tonal EQ work. Available in EQ and Dynamic EQ modes.

High Shelf — boosts or cuts everything above a corner frequency with a smooth roll-in. Available in EQ and Dynamic EQ modes. Slopes: 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 dB/oct.

Low Shelf — boosts or cuts everything below a corner frequency. Available in EQ and Dynamic EQ modes. Same slopes as High Shelf.

Low Cut (high-pass) — removes everything below the corner frequency. Great for clearing sub-rumble, stage bleed, and handling noise. EQ mode only. Slopes: 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 / 72 / 96 dB/oct. Butterworth response — no resonant bump at the corner.

High Cut (low-pass) — removes everything above the corner frequency. Great for taming fizz, hiss, and harsh top end. EQ mode only. Same slopes as Low Cut, same Butterworth response.

Setting the filter type: use the FILTER TYPE dropdown in the right panel, or right-click any band's control point and pick from the context menu. Gain and Q are inactive on cut filters; neither applies.

Creating Bands:

• Double left-click anywhere on the frequency graph to create an EQ band

• Double right-click to create an Orra Tube saturation band

• Shift+Dbl-right to create a Models band

• Alt/Opt+Dbl-right to create a Tape band

• Shift+Alt/Opt+Dbl-right to create a Dynamic EQ band

• Bands created below 100Hz automatically become low shelves

• Bands created above 10kHz automatically become high shelves

• Right-click an existing band's control point to change its filter type (Bell, High Shelf, Low Shelf, Low Cut, High Cut)

Editing Bands:

• Drag the control point to move frequency and gain simultaneously

• Hold Cmd/Ctrl while dragging to fine-tune with more precision

• Scroll wheel over a band to adjust Q (bandwidth)

• Multi-select by clicking and dragging a selection box, then move all selected bands together

• Bands can also be controlled via the band controls panel

Orra EQ supports up to 16 bands with complete freedom to position them wherever needed.

Every band in Orra EQ has a Channel selector that lets you process the center (Mid) and sides (Side) of your stereo signal independently, all within a single plugin instance.

Channel options per band:

• Stereo (default): Band processes the full stereo signal

• Mid: Band processes only the center/mono content

• Side: Band processes only the stereo difference content

How to set a band's channel:

• Right-click any band and select the channel from the context menu

• Use the Channel dropdown in the side panel

• Press C to cycle through Stereo, Mid, and Side

M/S processing works with all five processing modes -- EQ, Orra Tube, Tape, Models, and Dynamic EQ. Separate Mid and Side response curves are drawn on the display in amber and teal.

Use cases:

• Keep bass tight and centered by boosting low-end on the Mid channel

• Add air and width by boosting highs on the Side channel

• Apply saturation to just the center or just the sides

• Tame sibilant cymbals on the sides while leaving the center vocal untouched

Orra EQ has full keyboard shortcut support. Right-click the Tips button (?) in the header to view the complete shortcut legend at any time.

Band Navigation:

• , (comma): Previous band

• . (period): Next band

Band Controls (with a band selected):

• S: Solo

• B: Bypass

• D: Delta (hear only what the band changes)

• H: Hide curve

• C: Cycle channel (Stereo/Mid/Side)

• Delete/Backspace: Remove band

Filter Type:

• 1: Bell

• 2: High Shelf

• 3: Low Shelf

Quick Band Creation:

• Double-click: EQ band

• Dbl-right-click: Orra Tube

• Shift+Dbl-right: Models

• Alt/Opt+Dbl-right: Tape

• Shift+Alt/Opt+Dbl-right: Dynamic EQ

Other:

• Scroll wheel over a band: Adjust Q

• Cmd/Ctrl+Z: Undo

• Space: Play/Stop (passes through to your DAW)

Every Dynamic EQ band has its own Sidechain dropdown in the right panel, directly under the Channel selector. It sets what audio drives that band's level detector—independently per band:

• Off (default): the band detects on its own input. Classic, frequency-conscious dynamic EQ behavior—ideal for de-essing and resonance taming. Existing sessions are unaffected.

• External: the band detects on Orra EQ's external sidechain bus. Route any track in your DAW into the sidechain input to key the band from anywhere in your session.

• Link: the band detects on a track broadcasting through Orra Link 2. Pick the source by track name, with its track color, or use a numbered Link 1–36 channel. Works across busses, tracks, and groups regardless of whether your host supports flexible sidechain routing.

Because each band is independent, you can duck the mud band off the bass DI, dip the boxy band off the snare, and ease the harsh band off the lead vocal—all at once, off three different sources, in one plugin instance.

The Sidechain dropdown only affects bands in Dynamic EQ mode.

This is intentional, and it matches the convention used by Pro-Q 3, Pro-MB, and other modern dynamic EQs.

When a Dynamic EQ band uses an External or Link sidechain, the detector bypasses the band's own bandpass filter and reads the full sidechain signal directly. So moving the band's frequency knob doesn't change *what* triggers the band—the frequency knob only controls *which* frequencies get ducked when it does trigger. A kick routed to the sidechain triggers the band the same way no matter where you place the band's frequency.

By contrast, self-detect mode (Off) keeps the classic frequency-conscious behavior: a bandpass filter at the band's center frequency feeds the detector, so the band only reacts to energy near its own frequency. Use Off for de-essing and resonance work where you want the band to trigger on its own content.

Orra Link 2 is the free companion sender that makes Orra sidechaining work. Drop it on a track and it passes the audio through untouched while broadcasting a copy of it, plus the track's name and color, onto a shared bus that every compatible Orra plugin in the session can read: Orra EQ, Orra Press, Orra Space, and Orra Ducker. Those receivers then list that track by name in their own sidechain menus. No DAW routing, no bus sends, no fighting hosts whose sidechain support stops at one input.

It is free, and there is nothing extra to download. Orra Link 2 is bundled in the installer of every compatible Orra product: Orra EQ, Orra Press, Orra Space, and Orra Ducker. Install or update any one of them and Link 2 comes with it.

Full documentation lives at orraaudio.com/docs/orra-link.

No. Nothing about your existing sessions breaks.

The numbered Link 1–36 channels work exactly as they always did, and Link 2 mirrors them onto the original Orra Link bus as well. An Orra receiver you haven't updated yet (an older Orra Press, for instance) keeps seeing those channels exactly as before, so old and new generations can share a machine and a session.

Update at your own pace. Nothing needs re-routing, and nothing needs re-picking.

Use Auto for almost everything. It is the default and it needs no decisions: insert Orra Link 2, and the track shows up by name in every updated receiver's menu. The sender claims a free slot silently from a large pool, and receivers remember your pick by name, so it reconnects after a session reload even though Auto slots don't keep stable numbers.

Reach for a numbered channel when:

• An older Orra receiver needs to see the source. Older plugins only understand numbered channels.

• You want a fixed, documented routing baked into a template, where "Link 3 is always the kick" is worth more than picking from a list.

Numbered channels are last-writer-wins, so if two senders grab the same number the status well tells you ("taken by another instance"). Move one of them, or put both in Auto and pick by name instead.

This is a deliberate behavior change in Orra Link 2. OUTPUT now gain-stages the send only. The track's own audio passes through untouched at all times, and the panel meters show the send, matching what receivers actually get.

In the original Orra Link the OUTPUT knob also changed the track's pass-through level, so turning it up made your mix louder. That read as a plain volume knob and surprised anyone who was only trying to drive a ducker harder.

If you used OUTPUT as a track trim in old sessions, add a gain utility to the track instead. For everything else this is the knob you actually wanted: push OUTPUT up a few dB to make a duck bite harder without touching your mix balance.

Because the host renders only the track you are committing. The sender lives on a different track, so it never runs during that render, and the key signal simply does not exist for those samples. This is a host limitation that no plugin can bypass.

Updated Orra receivers detect it and fall back safely instead of baking stale audio into the file. If commits and freezes are part of your workflow, route the source to the receiver's DAW sidechain as a backup before committing, so there is a signal to key from during the render.

Full-mix bounces are fine: the sender and the receiver render in the same pass, and the timing stays sample-accurate.

Orra EQ has a global Oversampling control in the header that reduces aliasing artifacts on any saturation band (Orra Tube, Tape, Models, and Dynamic Saturation):

• Off — native sample rate, lowest CPU. Suitable for tracking and lighter drive amounts.

• 2× — doubles the internal sample rate during saturation. Cleaner highs and less audible aliasing on hot drive settings.

• 4× — highest fidelity. Use on hot saturation in mastering, or when the source has lots of high-frequency content. The Bit Crusher and Wavefolder benefit most from 4× when used aggressively.

The setting persists with the project. It has no effect on pure EQ bands or Dynamic EQ bands—those run at native rate and incur no aliasing, so there's no CPU cost for using them alongside saturation bands.

Piano View is a vertical scrollable piano keyboard available on every band as a tab in the settings panel. It lays out all 88 standard piano keys plus extended octaves so the full 20Hz–20kHz range is reachable.

How it works:

• The key matching the selected band's frequency glows green when perfectly in tune with a note, fading to yellow as the band moves off-pitch

• A compact readout at the top shows Hz, note name, and cents off

• Mouse-wheel scrolls; the view auto-recenters on the active key whenever you move a band to a different note

It's great for tuning drums, finding harmonic resonances, snapping bands to musical pitches, or just keeping a musical sense of where you're EQing.

Zones View is a vertical problem-zone strip showing the frequency regions every mix engineer ends up thinking about:

SUB / BASS / MUD / BOXY / BODY / HARSH / SIBILANCE / AIR

A gold indicator line shows where the selected band's frequency sits. It's useful for a quick gut-check of what you're working on—especially helpful for less experienced ears, or for sanity-checking the frequency you just dialed in. Zones is the default settings tab for EQ-mode bands.

In v1.2.1 the settings panel became permanent furniture—it's always visible and never collapses, so the close buttons were removed. This is a deliberate workflow change.

Because the 120px settings slot no longer expands and collapses, the main EQ display stays at a constant width and your band positions don't shift around as you work. No more controls jumping when you open or close a panel.

The panel also now auto-opens to the right view for the selected band's mode (Zones for EQ, Tape settings for Tape, Dynamic settings for Dynamic EQ, etc.), and each band remembers its last visited tab. When no band is selected, the slot shows a rotating tips carousel instead of sitting empty.

Orra EQ's EQ mode includes two cut filter types: Low Cut (high-pass) and High Cut (low-pass). Use them to clear out sub-rumble, tame harsh top end, or carve a clean top and bottom off any source.

Selectable slope: 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 / 72 / 96 dB/oct. The 72 and 96 dB/oct settings are brickwall-steep for surgical removal. Gentler slopes give musical, transparent roll-offs.

Response: Maximally flat (Butterworth) — no resonant bump at the corner, regardless of slope setting.

Gain and Q are inactive on cut filters; neither applies.

Zero added latency, consistent with the rest of the EQ.

To use: pick Low Cut or High Cut from the FILTER TYPE dropdown (or the band right-click menu) on any EQ-mode band. Set the corner frequency by dragging the band node or with the FREQ knob.

Cut filters are EQ-mode only. Switching a cut band to a saturation or Dynamic EQ mode holds the cut inactive and restores it automatically when you return to EQ mode.

Yes, as of v1.3.0. The header toggles for the input analyzer, peak hold, and band curves now remember their state when you close and reopen the plugin window, and across project reloads.

This matches how the output analyzer toggle already worked — all four toggles now behave consistently. Previously, the input analyzer, peak hold, and band curve toggles would reset to their defaults whenever you closed and reopened the plugin window.

Any band's frequency can follow the pitch of a monophonic source in real time, so a notch, a boost, or a saturated band rides the note as the performance moves.

Turning it on: right-click a band node and open Pitch Tracking, then pick three things:

• Source: this band's own input, the external sidechain, or any Orra Link 2 track

• Harmonic: ×1 / ×2 / ×3 / ×4. Ride the fundamental, or an overtone, so a notch on ×3 chases a resonance that moves with the note

• Glide: Fast / Medium / Slow, how quickly the band slides to a new pitch

While tracking: the node shows a musical-note badge and follows the pitch on screen. Horizontal dragging is disabled (the pitch is driving frequency now), but gain dragging still works. Nothing is written to automation, and the band returns to its FREQ value whenever tracking is off or the source goes silent.

Engine facts: tracks fundamentals from roughly 40 Hz to 1.5 kHz, locks onto a new note in about 65 to 75 ms, adds zero latency, and works in offline bounces. It is built for monophonic sources (bass, vocal, lead); chords settle on a root-ish pitch.

Use a slow glide on a vocal for a legato feel, and a fast glide on a bass for tight per-note tracking.

Turn on an Orra Link 2 track's spectrum overlay to see its curve behind your EQ, drawn in that track's color. Then turn on masking shading and Orra EQ highlights, in translucent color, exactly where that track's energy collides with your own signal, so you can see where to cut instead of hunting for it.

Where the controls are:

• The layers button in the header opens a panel listing every live Link 2 track, with independent Spectrum and Masking toggles per track. Tracks that have vanished appear greyed with a remove button.

• A per-band layers glyph sits next to the sidechain picker in the Dynamic EQ panel for a quick toggle on the source that band is keyed to.

Masking shading pairs naturally with a Dynamic EQ band sidechained to the same track: the shading shows the clash, the band ducks it.

Overlays are display-only. There is no CPU cost on the audio path, nothing is added to latency, and your overlay setup is saved with the session. It requires Orra Link 2 on the source track.

The EQ display's gain axis zooms for fine, surgical moves. Ranges are Full (+30 / -60 dB), ±30, ±12, ±6, and ±3 dB. At ±3 dB the display resolves better than 0.01 dB per pixel.

Zooming:

• Scroll on empty display space or on the dB ruler to change the range. Scrolling on a band node still adjusts that band's Q, as always.

• Double-click the dB ruler to snap straight back to Full.

• Click the range readout at the top of the ruler for a menu of ranges.

Zoom in tight and bands outside the visible range pin to the top or bottom edge instead of disappearing, and they stay grabbable. The chosen range is saved with the session.

Not necessarily. The target zone represents the average tonal curve of professional masters in that genre. Your mix may have intentional deviations — that's your artistic choice. Use the target as a guide, not a rule.

If the blue curve is significantly off, consider increasing the Correction knob or adding manual EQ adjustments with the 6 draggable nodes. Remember: the goal is a mix that sounds great, not one that perfectly traces the green zone.

This is intentional. Tone Zone's spectral density gate detects when the mix is in a sparse section — intro, bridge, breakdown — and reduces correction automatically.

Target curves represent full mixes at their loudest. Applying that same tonal correction to a solo vocal or sparse acoustic passage would produce unmusical results. Correction engages fully when the spectrum is dense (choruses, drops, full arrangements). This is the correct behavior and requires no adjustment.

Tone Zone includes transition detection that should minimize this, but it can still be audible at high settings. Two knobs address this directly:

• Speed — Reduce this knob (slower = smoother transitions). For mastering, 0–30% is recommended. Near-zero Speed means the correction reflects the overall tonal curve, not moment-to-moment changes.

• Ceiling — Lowering this limits how extreme any single correction step can be, which naturally reduces the audible impact of transitions.

Try Speed at 10–20% and Ceiling at 15–30% for the smoothest mastering-appropriate response.

Yes. Tone Zone works on any track — PDC now compensates correctly in all major DAWs, so tracks stay in time regardless of where Tone Zone is inserted.

The 24 factory target curves are derived from full-mix analysis, so they won't be as meaningful on isolated tracks. For individual track use, the Reference Track Learning feature is the better path: analyze a reference that matches the instrument or subgroup, then apply that custom curve as your target. The 6-band manual EQ and per-band saturation are fully useful on any track regardless of the target curve.

No. Your DAW automatically compensates via plugin delay compensation (PDC) on any track. You will not notice the latency during normal playback or mixing — it's transparent.

The ~163ms at 44.1 kHz (~149ms at 48 kHz) comes from the 7168-sample FFT overlap-add processing that powers the smooth, transparent tonal correction engine. This is standard for mastering-grade spectral tools — comparable to iZotope Ozone, FabFilter Pro-Q in linear phase mode, and similar processors.

The only scenario where latency matters is if you're tracking live audio through the plugin in real time, which is not a recommended practice. PDC now works correctly on all tracks in all DAWs, so individual track use is fully supported.

Each mode targets a different type of harmonic character. Right-click any EQ node in the spectrum display to switch modes:

• Tube — Warm and rich. Even-order harmonics via an asymmetric waveshaper, modeled on vacuum tube behavior. Best for low-mid warmth, vocal body, and bass richness.

• VCA — Punchy and tight. Odd-order harmonics via symmetric tanh saturation, modeled on SSL-style console circuitry. Best for presence, clarity, and transient glue.

• British — Thick and weighty. Mixed harmonics with high-frequency rounding, modeled on Neve transformer character. Best for low-end weight and smoothing harsh highs.

All three use parallel processing — the original signal passes through untouched while only a bandpass-filtered copy is saturated and blended back in. On the master bus, keep drive at 1–3 dB; you should feel the effect more than hear it.

Increase the Speed knob. At low Speed settings, the analyzer uses slow time constants that average over several seconds — staccato bass hits get smoothed out, making the analyzer think there's less bass present than there actually is. Higher Speed values let the analyzer track momentary energy more accurately, so the correction responds to what's actually happening rather than a slow average.

You can also drag the left range handle to exclude the low-frequency region from auto-correction entirely, while keeping correction active in the mids and highs.

Drag the small grip icon in the bottom-right corner of the plugin window. The window maintains a fixed aspect ratio and can be resized between 800×520 and 1,400×910 pixels. Not all DAWs support resizable plugin windows — if the grip is unresponsive, check your DAW's plugin window settings.

AUTO toggles the FFT-based correction engine on or off.

AUTO on (default): The correction engine runs normally, nudging your spectrum toward the target curve. This introduces ~163ms of latency (~149ms at 48 kHz), automatically compensated by your DAW's plugin delay compensation (PDC).

AUTO off: The correction engine runs with a flat correction curve (transparent passthrough) — no tonal change. The analysis curve, manual EQ bands, and per-band saturation all remain active. Latency stays consistent, ensuring your DAW's PDC keeps all tracks in time.

Use AUTO off when you want the visual analysis and manual EQ without the auto-correction engine influencing the sound, or for a quick A/B to hear exactly what the correction contributes.

BYP is Tone Zone's internal bypass. It disables all processing — auto-correction, manual EQ, and saturation — while keeping the analysis curve running.

Unlike your DAW's bypass, the internal bypass uses a smooth crossfade in and out, so there are no pops or audio glitches when switching. The analysis continues during bypass, so you can keep reading your mix while comparing the processed and unprocessed signal. BYP maintains the same latency as normal processing, so there are no timing mismatches when toggling.

Yes. As of v1.1, the Tone Zone window size persists between sessions and projects. Resize the window to your preferred dimensions using the grip icon in the bottom-right corner, and it will open at that size every time.

Tone Zone requires a stereo signal path and will only appear on stereo tracks or buses. Some DAWs (like Logic Pro) hide plugins that don't match the track's channel count.

If you're looking for Tone Zone on a mono track's FX chain, it won't appear there. Insert it on a stereo track, stereo bus, or your master output and it will show up as expected.

If the plugin still doesn't appear after confirming a stereo path:

1. Rescan plugins in your DAW's preferences

2. Verify the installer completed successfully (check the system VST3/AU folders)

3. Restart your DAW after installation

Orra Press is a serial compressor plugin built around a single idea: that every stage of a dynamics chain deserves its own character. Rather than forcing you to insert separate plugins to shape dynamics, Orra Press gives you six reorderable slots, each of which can host one of six dynamics engines: Classic (VCA), Optical, FET, Multiband (linear-phase FIR), Spectral (FFT-domain), and Limiter (mastering-grade brick-wall).

Every slot can hold any of the six types — duplicates allowed. Chain a Classic into a Spectral into a Limiter if the song wants it. Compare four arrangements with the built-in A / B / C / D snapshots. Save your favourites as user presets.

Orra Press includes six dynamics engines, each with its own character:

• Classic: VCA-style feedforward compressor

• Optical: opto-style dual-release with program-dependent behavior

• FET: aggressive FET grab with saturation and an all-buttons-in mode

• Multiband: linear-phase FIR 4-band split with per-band compression

• Spectral: FFT-domain per-bin dynamic reduction for resonance taming

• Limiter: mastering-grade brick-wall with ISP-aware true-peak detection and LUFS metering

Each slot can host any engine type. Duplicates are allowed.

Each slot in Orra Press has its own SIDECHAIN source dropdown, sitting just above the knob area. Four categories of source are available:

• Off: the default. The compressor keys off its own input. Standard compression behavior.

• External: the host's dedicated stereo Sidechain bus. Whatever your DAW routes to the plugin's SC input drives detection.

• Link by name: any live track in the session broadcasting through the companion Orra Link 2 plugin, listed by its actual track name and color. Picks are stored by name, so they survive session reloads. If a named source disappears the picker flags it ("! Name") and the compressor falls back to self-detection instead of keying off a stale channel.

• Link 1 through Link 36: the classic numbered channels, still supported, original Orra Link senders included. The submenu lists only the channels that are actually live.

Hold LISTEN next to the picker to hear exactly what is keying the compressor, and watch the source meter beside it to confirm the signal is arriving at all. All five compressor types respect the sidechain (Limiter ignores it, since brick-wall limiters don't sidechain, so the SC dropdown is hidden on Limiter slots). Multiband splits the sidechain through its own FIR crossover bank so each band's detector keys off the matching SC band. Spectral runs a parallel FFT on the sidechain so per-bin detection keys off the SC spectrum.

Latency depends on which engine is loaded in each slot:

All engines add latency that the host compensates for via PDC.

• Multiband: 511 samples (~10.6 ms at 48 kHz, linear-phase FIR)

• Spectral: 2048 samples (FFT overlap-add)

• Limiter: lookahead time (3 ms by default = 144 samples at 48 kHz; more at higher quality tiers)

All latency is reported to the host for delay-compensated routing (PDC), so your mix stays in time.

Engage LIVE and Classic, Optical, and FET run at base rate with the Link alignment buffer bypassed, dropping Press to 0 samples of added latency. Spectral and Limiter keep their inherent FFT and lookahead latency and report it honestly.

LIVE is a toggle next to BYP that takes Press to zero added latency for tracking.

With LIVE engaged, the Classic, Optical, and FET engines run at base rate and report zero latency, and the Link alignment buffer is bypassed. Added latency drops to 0 samples. Spectral and Limiter keep their inherent latency (FFT and lookahead respectively) and report it honestly, so if a chain includes one of those, that is what you are left with.

Use it for tracking. Anywhere a performer is monitoring through the chain, LIVE removes the delay without making you tear the chain apart. Latency changes exactly once per deliberate toggle, so there is no PDC churn mid-session.

While LIVE is engaged the oversampling pills dim. Your oversampling choices are remembered and restored the moment you leave LIVE.

Plugin Formats: VST3, Audio Unit (AU), AAX

macOS: macOS 10.13 or later (Universal 2: Apple Silicon + Intel)

Windows: Windows 10 or later (64-bit)

All major DAWs are supported, including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Reaper, Cubase, and Studio One.

The A / B / C / D buttons in the header store four independent full-plugin snapshots. Each snapshot captures every slot's type and parameters, the chain order, sidechain routing — the entire plugin state.

Typical workflow:

• Click A. Dial in a setting.

• Click B. If B is empty, the first click stores the current state automatically. Tweak.

• Click A, then B, to compare. A / B / C / D switching recalls the stored snapshot instantly.

• Hit STORE to overwrite the highlighted slot with your current settings.

A / B / C / D snapshots persist with the project and with saved presets — you can ship a preset that includes four named variants of the same starting point.

Two banks, because Press has two things worth saving.

14 factory chain presets in the global bank, each staging 2 to 4 modules with deliberately modest gain reduction per stage, the way a real dynamics chain is built. Vocal chains (FET peaks into an Opto ride into spectral polish), drum bus punch and glue, bass control, mix bus glue, three mastering chains, a broadcast voice chain, and a three-stage serial leveler.

30 factory module presets, 5 per module type, compiled into the plugin. Every module has its own PRESET control that opens a compact browser: factory presets, your saved presets, single-click load, with the loaded preset named right on the panel face. Set any one as the default for new modules, so a fresh Classic lands on your starting point.

You can save, rename, and delete your own presets in both banks. User presets live at ~/Library/Application Support/Orra Audio/Press/Presets/ on macOS, and the folder is created automatically on your first save.

Yes. Every engine has a Mix knob (0 to 100%). Setting it to 30–50% with an aggressive compressor setting gives you parallel compression within a single instance — the classic "New York" drum trick without needing an auxiliary bus.

You can also stack multiple engines for multi-stage compression. Try a Classic at 2:1 with 2 dB of GR into a second Classic at 2:1 with another 2 dB. Total 4 dB of reduction but the signal barely feels touched — multi-stage compression routinely sounds better than one big squash.

Each slot card has a pair of < / > arrow buttons that move the slot earlier or later in the signal chain. Reorder without losing parameters — your settings travel with the slot.

Switching a slot from one engine type to another also doesn't overwrite your settings. For example, flip a slot from Classic to FET and back — your Classic dial-ins are still there. This lets you audition different engines on the same slot without losing your work.

No — Spectral is a dynamic tool, not a static one.

Spectral's Resonance control is powerful but it only acts when the targeted bins exceed the threshold. For static tonal shaping, use an EQ. For taming peaks that only happen sometimes — like a ringy snare resonance, harsh vocal consonants in the 2–6 kHz range, or room modes — Spectral is the right tool.

At Resonance 0%, Spectral behaves like a broadband spectral compressor — every bin above threshold ducks. At 100%, it compares each bin to a smoothed local neighbourhood and only ducks bins that stick up from their surroundings — so narrow resonances get targeted while broadband content passes through untouched.

CPU usage scales with which engines are loaded and what oversampling settings you use. Roughly:

• Classic / Optical / FET: very low CPU, especially with oversampling off

• Multiband: low CPU as of v1.1.0. The linear-phase crossover was rewritten as a vectorized block convolution and now sits well under 1% of a core.

• Spectral: higher CPU (2048-point FFT with overlap-add)

• Limiter: scales with quality tier — STD (4×) is light, ULTRA (16×) is heaviest

You can manage CPU by:

• Lowering per-slot oversampling (Off / 2× / 4× / 8×)

• Using a lower Limiter quality tier (STD or HIGH instead of ULTRA) when full ISP control isn't needed

• Disabling unused slots via the per-slot enable checkbox

No. This was the multiband CPU item on the 1.0.1 known-issues list, and v1.1.0 closes it.

The linear-phase crossover was rewritten as a vectorized block convolution, measured at 18x faster. The crossover drops from about 12% of a core to well under 1%, putting Multiband in the same CPU neighborhood as every other module.

The sound is untouched. The filter response is mathematically identical, and a render nulls against 1.0.1 to float precision, so existing sessions and mixes are unaffected.

Put a Multiband slot on a source keyed off an Orra Link 2 track, open the spectrum analyzer, and that source's spectrum is drawn over your own in its track color, with emphasis bands wherever the source's energy crowds within 6 dB of your signal. It shows you exactly where the kick is eating the bass, so you know which band to lean on.

The overlay uses Link 2's pull-based telemetry: senders only pay the analysis cost while the analyzer is actually visible, so leaving Link 2 on every track costs nothing when you are not looking at it.

Orra Tone Zone:

• Free (pay-what-you-can) — get it at whatever price works for you, including $0

• Includes all future 1.x updates

• 3 computer activations

• 14-day free demo available

Orra EQ:

• Price: $49

• Includes all future 1.x updates

• 3 computer activations

• 14-day free demo available

Orra Press:

• $49

• Includes the Orra Link companion plugin (sidechain sender)

• Includes all future 1.x updates

• 3 computer activations

• 14-day free demo available

Student Discount: Students receive 25% off (see separate FAQ)

We do not offer refunds. Instead, we provide a 14-day free trial so you can fully test the plugin and decide if it meets your needs before purchasing. This ensures you can make an informed decision with no financial risk.

If you experience technical issues or edge cases after purchase, we'll review refund requests on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us at orraaudio.com/support with details about your situation.

We strongly encourage using the full 14-day trial period to thoroughly evaluate the plugin before purchasing.

Yes! Students receive 25% off. Submit a request at orraaudio.com/support using your .edu email address (or equivalent institutional email) with proof of current enrollment. We'll send you a discount code within 24-48 hours. This discount cannot be combined with other offers.

We accept all major payment methods through our payment processor, Lemon Squeezy:

• Credit/Debit Cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover

• PayPal

• Google Pay / AliPay / Cash App Pay / WeChat Pay

• Bank transfers

All transactions are secure and encrypted. We never see or store your payment information.

Yes! We use Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) to make our plugins accessible worldwide. Prices are automatically adjusted based on your location to reflect local purchasing power. The discount varies by region and is applied automatically at checkout. If you believe your pricing is incorrect, contact us at orraaudio.com/support.

No. All Orra Audio plugins are perpetual licenses—you pay once and own it forever. When you purchase a plugin, it's yours to use indefinitely with free updates within the same major version (1.x). We may consider subscription models down the road if we see a demand for it.

If you're experiencing unwanted distortion:

1. Check your input levels - make sure you're not clipping before the plugin

2. Look at the output meter for the track in your DAW - red = clipping, reduce output gain

3. Check your gain settings - excessive EQ boosts add significant gain

4. Check saturation settings - high drive settings intentionally add distortion

5. Reduce overall gain - use the output gain control to compensate for EQ boosts

If distortion persists, reach out via our orraaudio.com/support with:

• Your DAW and version

• Operating system

• A screenshot of your plugin settings

• A brief audio example if possible

If you experience crashes:

1. Update to the latest version - check for updates at orraaudio.com/download

2. Update your DAW to the latest version

3. macOS: Check if the plugin was blocked in System Preferences > Security & Privacy

4. Clear plugin cache - some DAWs cache plugin information that can become corrupted

5. Check system resources - ensure you have enough RAM and CPU available

6. Try a fresh project - see if the issue is project-specific

If crashes continue, reach out via our orraaudio.com/support with:

• DAW name and version

• Operating system and version

• Crash report (if available)

• Steps to reproduce the issue

If you're seeing license errors:

1. Check your internet connection - initial activation requires internet

2. Verify your license key - ensure you're entering it exactly as received

3. Check activations - you may have used all 3 computer slots

4. Restart the plugin - close and reopen it

5. Check firewall settings - ensure your DAW/plugin can connect to the internet

Common error messages:

• "License validation failed" - check internet connection

• "Too many activations" - deactivate from an old computer or contact support

• "Invalid license key" - double-check the key format

If problems persist, reach out via our orraaudio.com/support with your order number.

If you're experiencing GUI issues:

1. Update graphics drivers - especially important on Windows

2. Check scaling settings - some DAWs have DPI/scaling issues

3. Try different window sizes - resize the plugin window

4. macOS: Ensure your OS is up to date (Metal graphics improvements)

5. Windows: Update DirectX and graphics drivers

Known issues:

• High-DPI displays may show blurry text in some DAWs (we're working on this)

• Some hosts don't support resizable plugin windows

If issues continue, reach out via our orraaudio.com/support with:

• Screenshot of the issue

• DAW name and version

• Operating system and graphics card info

Orra Ducker is a spectral sidechain ducker. Where an ordinary ducking compressor turns down your whole signal whenever the sidechain is loud, Orra Ducker works per frequency: it analyses the trigger across roughly a thousand frequency bins and ducks your audio only where, and only when, the two actually collide.

A kick keyed against a bass makes room in the low end without dropping the whole bass line. A lead vocal keyed against a pad carves a pocket in the vocal's range and leaves the rest of the pad untouched. Everything is driven from one large analyzer showing input, sidechain, output, and the live per-frequency ducking curve together.

Version 1.1.0 adds a Duck Target selector for Stereo, Mid, or Side ducking, a Delta listen button that monitors only what the ducking removes, and full Orra Link 2 integration, so you pick your trigger by track name with numbered channels still supported.

Orra Ducker is a Customer Appreciation drop: pay what you can, with a $5 minimum. It is our way of saying thanks to the people who have supported Orra Audio.

You also get the Orra Link 2 companion sender included, the same free sidechain sender that ships with Orra Press. Pick your trigger by track name, with numbered channels still supported.

Orra Ducker is available in VST3, Audio Unit (AU), and AAX.

It runs on macOS 10.13 or later as a Universal 2 build (Apple Silicon and Intel), and on Windows 10 or later (64-bit) in VST3 and AAX formats. It processes stereo in / stereo out, with an optional stereo sidechain input bus. All latency is reported to the host for delay-compensated (PDC) routing.

Yes, and this is one of Ducker's standout features. Because every Orra Link 2 sender is available to every instance, you can stack several instances of Orra Ducker on a single track, each keyed from a different source.

Drop Orra Link 2 on each source (Kick, Lead Vox, Bass), then add three instances of Orra Ducker to the track you want to carve and pick a different track by name in each one. One track can duck against the kick, the vocal, and the bass at once, with each instance carving only its overlapping frequencies. Numbered Link channels still work if you prefer them. The combination of spectral ducking and Orra Link 2 delivers routing flexibility that single-source duckers can't match.

Orra Ducker has four latency modes that trade spectral precision against reported latency:

• HQ, 2048 samples (~43 ms @ 48k). Finest frequency resolution. The default for mixing.

• Balanced, 1024 samples (~21 ms @ 48k). Half the latency, still fully spectral.

• Fast, 512 samples (~11 ms @ 48k). Lowest-latency spectral mode, for near-real-time monitoring.

• Live, 0 samples. Bypasses the FFT and runs a broadband envelope ducker. Zero added latency for live tracking, but not frequency-selective.

All modes are delay-compensated. Selecting a Link sidechain source adds one host block of latency on top, so the cross-track trigger lines up sample-accurately.

The SIDECHAIN card's Source dropdown chooses what drives the duck. Three kinds of source are available:

• None, the ducker keys off its own input, comparing each bin to the rest of the same signal. Useful for spectral self-leveling and de-masking.

• External (DAW), the host's dedicated stereo sidechain bus. Route a track to the plugin's SC input and it drives detection.

• A named track, any track carrying the companion Orra Link 2 sender. The picker lists live tracks by their actual names in their track colors, and stores your choice by name so it survives session reloads. If a named source disappears the picker flags it as "! Name" and Ducker falls back to self-detection rather than keying off a stale channel. Numbered Link 1 to 36 channels are still available in the Link channels submenu.

Whichever source you pick, turn on the SIDE trace to see it on the analyzer in gold. That is the fastest way to confirm the trigger is arriving and to see which frequencies it will carve.

The red ducking curve reads on its own scale, the red ruler down the right edge of the analyzer, separate from the dBFS scale on the left. To change how far it zooms, right-click the DUCK toggle on the strip above the analyzer and pick a range: 6, 9, 12, or 24 dB (12 dB by default).

A small range like 6 dB makes gentle, surgical reduction easy to read; a larger range like 24 dB keeps heavy ducking on-screen. It is a display setting only, remembered with your session, and never changes how much the ducker actually does. RATIO and THRESHOLD set the reduction; this just sets the zoom you read it at.

The Duck Target selector on the DUCKING card decides where the duck lands: Stereo, Mid, or Side. Stereo is exactly the previous behavior. Mid ducks only the center of the image. Side ducks only the stereo width.

The classic move is keeping a wide pad's core solid while its stereo halo parts around a centered lead vocal, which is often far more transparent than ducking the whole image.

In Mid or Side the detector runs as a single linked curve, so the LINK knob dims: it only applies to Stereo mode. Duck Target is fully spectral in HQ, Balanced, and Fast, and works in broadband LIVE mode too. It is automatable and saved with your session, and older sessions load as Stereo.

Delta monitors only what the ducking removes, the dry signal minus the ducked output, instead of the processed signal.

Press it while dialing THRESHOLD, RATIO and the focus band to hear exactly what you are taking out. If the delta sounds like musical material you wanted to keep, back off. The analyzer's OUT trace follows the delta while it is engaged, so you can see it as well as hear it.

It is a monitoring tool, so switch it off before you print.

Version 1.1.0 validates the Link sender's time-stamp during any offline render, so Ducker knows whether the trigger audio is real. A full-mix bounce, where the sender's track renders in the same pass, is sample-accurate.

A solo-track Commit or freeze renders only that one track, so the sender never runs and the trigger audio does not exist for those samples. Rather than chewing stale audio, Ducker falls back to the External (DAW) sidechain bus if you have one routed, and otherwise ducks nothing rather than guessing.

If commits and freezes are part of your workflow, route the trigger to the DAW sidechain as a backup before committing. Realtime playback keeps using Link, and realtime behavior is unchanged.

Orra Pump is a drawable, tempo-synced modulation engine, a rhythmic auto-filter built around one shape you draw yourself. Instead of a fixed sine or a menu of waveforms, you place and bend control points on a large screen to draw exactly the curve you want, and that curve becomes a looping modulator.

The shape can drive a resonant filter (low, high, band-pass, or notch), volume for tremolo and rhythmic gating, or pan for auto-panning. It runs as a free LFO, locks to the host tempo at any note division, or fires from a sidechain.

Yes. Orra Pump is free / pay what you can. You can download it at no cost, or pay what you feel it's worth to support development. Either way you get the full plugin, there is no limited or trial version.

The TARGET selector chooses the destination: a low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, or notch filter (swept by the CUTOFF and RESO controls), VOLUME for tremolo and rhythmic gating, or PAN for auto-panning.

On top of that, the CHANNEL selector aims the effect at the full stereo signal, just the mid, or just the side, so you can filter only the centre or wobble only the stereo width.

Turn on SYNC and the modulation locks to your host's tempo. The division selector sets how long one cycle of your shape lasts, from 4 bars down to 1/32, with straight, dotted, and triplet values. Because the groove is drawn into the shape itself, it stays perfectly in time with no extra setup.

With SYNC off, the curve free-runs at the RATE knob's Hz instead. Turn on SNAP while drawing to lock your points to the beat grid for a tight rhythm.

Yes. The TRIGGER selector on the CLOCK card has three modes. Loop runs continuously. One-Shot plays your curve once on each sidechain hit, then holds the end value, perfect for per-hit filter or volume envelopes. Loop (Trig) restarts the loop on every hit so it re-locks to the groove.

The trigger source can be Internal (the plugin's own input transients) or External (the host's sidechain bus). Route any track to Orra Pump's sidechain input and its hits fire the curve.

No. Orra Pump adds zero latency and reports none to the host, so it is safe to track and monitor through in real time. It works in mono or stereo, with an optional sidechain input bus. It runs on macOS 10.13 or later (Universal 2: Apple Silicon and Intel) in VST3, AU, and AAX formats, and on Windows 10 or later (64-bit) in VST3 and AAX.

Orra Space is a dual-engine space processor: five distinct reverb algorithms (Room, Chamber, Plate, Hall, and Spring) running in parallel with a tape-style delay. The two engines are not stacked in series, both are fed from your dry signal at once, and a single BLEND control crossfades between them. A second knob, MIX, sets how much of that wet signal sits against your dry.

The core is voiced clean and modern; a Character switch plus Motion, Age, and Shimmer add a vintage layer of saturation and tape wow-and-flutter on top, so you choose how much of it you want.

Orra Space is $49 and includes a lifetime V1 license plus the Orra Link companion plugin. A full-featured 14-day demo is also available.

Your dry signal feeds the reverb engine and the tape delay at the same time, in parallel rather than in series. BLEND crossfades between their two outputs (fully left is pure reverb, fully right is pure delay, the middle is an even mix), and MIX sets the overall dry/wet.

The two engines can also cross-pollinate. X-Feed injects one engine's output into the other: toward the reverb, the delay repeats bloom into a wash; toward the delay, the reverb tail is chopped into rhythmic echoes. At centre the engines run cleanly in parallel.

They are genuinely separate engines, not presets of one: Room (a tight early-reflection space for depth), Chamber (smooth, natural ambience that flatters vocals), Plate (bright, dense studio-plate sheen for vocals and snares), Hall (a large, lush feedback-delay-network hall, the default), and Spring (a physically-modelled multi-spring tank with retro character). SIZE shows the real RT60 decay time of whichever space you pick, so the number means the same thing in every space.

Because the duck detector is now self-calibrating, and this is a deliberate behavior change.

The detector responds to the key's dynamics rather than its absolute level: it continuously references the key against its own recent peaks. A quietly recorded key track now ducks the wet just as fully as a hot one, so DUCK stays a pure depth control at any gain staging, with no threshold to manage. A silence floor around -60 dBFS keeps a track's noise floor from triggering the duck on its own.

Hot key tracks behave essentially as before. But a session that relied on a quiet key producing an unintentionally shallow duck will now duck at full depth. Turn DUCK down to taste, and use the new ATT and REL controls to shape how it moves.

They shape the duck's movement, and they live on the DUCK analyzer view as two compact sliders over the gain-reduction history.

• ATT (0.1 to 100 ms) sets how fast the wet is pulled down when the key hits.

• REL (10 ms to 2 s) sets how fast it recovers when the key falls away.

Short settings give a tight, pumping duck that follows every syllable. Longer settings breathe, letting the tail swell back in gently between phrases.

The defaults, 5 ms and 180 ms, match the previous fixed behavior, so existing sessions sound exactly the same until you touch them.

Reverse is a fourth setting on the delay Mode selector. The input is spliced into chunks one delay-time long and each chunk plays backwards, so the repeats swell toward the beat instead of decaying away from it.

• With SYNC on, the reversed swells land on the grid.

• Feedback keeps every repeat reversed, landing one chunk apart, for trails of backward swells.

• FREEZE holds a chunk-length loop.

• AGE, MOTION, and stereo WIDTH all apply, so the reverses wear and wobble like the rest of the tape.

One compatibility note: a host automation lane you already drew on Delay Mode now spans four choices instead of three (Mono / Stereo / Ping-Pong / Reverse), so check any existing Mode automation after updating.

FREEZE captures and holds the current reverb tail indefinitely, an infinite pad. The input is muted into the reverb while frozen, so the held wash stays clean. It is a latching, automatable switch, so you can drop a freeze on a downbeat, hold a chord under a breakdown, or catch a tail and let it ring.

Orra Space adds zero latency and reports none to the host, in every mode, including when ducking is keyed from an Orra Link channel. It works in mono or stereo, with an optional mono or stereo sidechain input for ducking. It runs on macOS 10.13 or later (Universal 2: Apple Silicon and Intel) in VST3, AU, and AAX formats, and on Windows 10 or later (64-bit) in VST3 and AAX.

Orra Collider is a spectral collision synthesizer. Two oscillator sources are not mixed, they are analyzed into their individual partials and collided bin-for-bin inside a spectral chamber, by one of eight collision modes, then resynthesized into audio. That produces sounds you cannot get from a normal synth or a mixer: sum-and-difference clangour, one source carving holes in the other, two spectra fused into a single voice, or a spectrum torn into fragments and re-ordered.

Just as important is how you make patches: you roll them, not build them. Pick an IDEA for the kind of sound you want, press GENERATE, and Collider writes a complete, playable patch from scratch. Then every drawer opens for full hands-on editing when you want it.

Orra Collider is $49 and includes a lifetime V1 license. A full-featured 14-day demo is available, it is the whole instrument, with no disabled modes and no watermark on your bounces. The only thing the demo does not do is last.

The console across the top of Collider is a patch generator. You pick an IDEA (PLUCK, BASS, PAD, 808, LEAD, and more) to steer the kind of sound you want, then press GENERATE and Collider builds a complete patch from scratch: sources, collision mode, filter, effects, envelopes, modulation routing, and voicing. Each press draws a fresh random seed, so no two agree. Play it, and if you do not like it, press again.

The workflow that makes it powerful is "lock, then drift." Close a padlock on the parts you love to freeze them, turn the DRIFT dial down, and press GENERATE again, now each roll varies only what is unlocked, nudging it toward something new instead of starting over. It turns a random generator into a directed search, and every patch stays fully editable by hand.

Each mode is a genuinely different operation on the two spectra, not a preset:

• Impact generates sum-and-difference energy, the workhorse, from gentle thickening to metallic clash.

• Shear shifts one source's partials by an amount driven from the other, going inharmonic and bell-like (with a HARMONIC option to stay in tune).

• Absorb carves holes in one source wherever the other is loud, spectral ducking per bin.

• Fuse merges the two spectra into a single coherent tone, the gentlest mode.

• Annihilate cancels the bins the two sources share, leaving only their differences, great for risers.

• Ring Mod multiplies every partial against every partial for glassy, dense, inharmonic sidebands.

• Smear blurs the spectrum sideways with feedback into washed-out clouds.

• Fracture cuts the spectrum into blocks and re-orders them for glitchy, digital textures.

Switching mode is the single biggest change you can make to a patch.

Collider is an instrument (synthesizer), so load it on an instrument or MIDI track, not an audio insert. It runs on macOS 10.13 or later (Universal 2: Apple Silicon and Intel) in VST3, AU, and AAX formats, and on Windows 10 or later (64-bit) in VST3 and AAX. It is 64-bit only. It offers up to 8 voices (Mono, Poly 4, or Poly 8) and is MPE-capable.

As a spectral instrument it reports a fixed analysis latency to your host for automatic delay compensation. That figure never changes while the plugin is loaded, whatever you set for FFT size or oversampling.

Yes. Collider is fully MPE-capable, with per-note pitch bend, pressure, and slide, so on a controller like a ROLI Seaboard, LinnStrument, or Osmose each finger moves the collision independently. MPE is off until you enable it in the MENU, and it is a per-instance preference that is never saved into preset files, so sharing a preset never changes anyone's MPE setting.

Every patch the generator rolls plays identically on an ordinary keyboard. MPE only ever adds, turning it on cannot change how an existing patch sounds under ordinary MIDI. For MPE work, set the patch to Poly 8 so there is room for the notes.

Orra Cream Limiter is a true-peak brick-wall mastering limiter with a multiband engine, so your master gets loud without pumping or inter-sample overs. Each band is limited on its own, so a loud kick never ducks the whole mix. Cream is a per-band saturation layer, tube-warm on the lows through tape-smooth on the highs, that adds density and perceived loudness on the way to the ceiling.

Scout listens to your mix and dials in a mastered starting point in one click. Auto Loudness drives the master onto a LUFS target and holds it, true-peak safe. Honest EBU R128 loudness metering and a BS.1770 true-peak meter tell you exactly where you are, and a Scope view draws your waveform against the live gain-reduction trace so you can see what the limiter is doing.

Orra Cream Limiter is $49 and includes a lifetime V1 license. For a limited time (through August 8) it is available at an intro price of $29 with the code CREAM29. The discount is applied automatically at checkout, so you will see the $29 price without entering anything. A full-featured 14-day demo is also available.

Scout listens to a few seconds of your mix and configures the limiter for you: band crossovers, per-band thresholds, an appropriate Style, and a sensible gain-reduction target. In one click you go from a fresh instance to a mastered starting point that already sounds like a finished record. From there you tweak, you do not build from scratch.

It is a starting point, not a black box. Every knob Scout sets is still yours to move, so you can dial in taste, push it harder, or pull it back.

Same signal path, four different limiter behaviors:

• Transparent is the fastest and cleanest, it gets loud without adding color, best when the mix already sounds finished.

• Punch protects transients so drums and percussion keep their snap even under heavy limiting.

• Warm leans on Cream's saturation on the way to loud, so the master gains harmonic body as it hits the ceiling.

• Smash is aggressive and obvious, for genres and moments where you want the limiting to be part of the sound.

You can A/B any two Styles with Gain Match on, so the perceived loudness stays even and you are comparing tone, not just level.

Digital peaks and true peaks are not the same. When your DAW says a sample sits at -0.5 dB, the actual analog waveform after conversion can rise higher between samples, which is what streaming platforms and consumer gear see. That is an inter-sample overshoot, and it is what causes masters to distort on playback even when they look safe in the DAW.

Cream measures true peaks with oversampled BS.1770 detection and holds you under the ceiling you set (typically -1.0 dBTP for streaming). Up to 16x oversampling is available, and the reported latency stays constant as you change it, so nothing re-syncs while you work.

Cream is a mastering limiter that uses oversampled lookahead for true-peak detection, so it reports a small, fixed latency to the host for automatic delay compensation. That latency stays the same as you change Style, oversampling amount, or any other control, so your DAW never has to re-sync while you dial in the master.

It runs on macOS 10.13 or later (Universal 2: Apple Silicon and Intel) in VST3, AU, and AAX formats, and on Windows 10 or later (64-bit) in VST3 and AAX.

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Complete documentation for Orra EQ

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