Tonal Balance Processor

Orra Tone Zone Pro

Press SCOUT. Let AUTO finish.

$10VST3 · AU · AAX

Orra Tone Zone has been downloaded over 27,000 times. Pro is $10 so the people already using the free one can have it too.

One purchase, yours forever. Free updates, no subscription.

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Orra Tone Zone Pro

A tonal balance processor for full mixes and masters. It compares your mix with a target curve, the tonal balance of a real finished master in your genre, and brings the mix toward it.

SCOUT listens for a few seconds, plans six bands, then checks the plan on the recorded audio and corrects it
Cuts become EQ bands, dynamic where the problem comes and goes; boosts go through saturation
AUTO keeps the balance in place as the song moves from verse to chorus, without pumping
60 target curves in 19 genres, each the busiest 20 seconds of one real finished master
Nine saturation modes, a dynamic EQ on every band, and oversampling up to 8x

What SCOUT actually does

Four steps, in about half a second.

Step 1

Listen

Records the plugin’s input for the time you choose, 8 seconds by default and up to 60. Stopped playback does not count down. Press SCOUT again to cancel.

Step 2

Plan

Measures the recording’s tonal balance exactly the way the target was measured, and fits up to six bands together. Needed cuts become EQ bands, or dynamic cuts where that region’s level comes and goes. Needed boosts use saturation, or plain EQ if you prefer.

Step 3

Check on the audio

Plays the recording through the real EQ, measures what is left and corrects the plan, up to three rounds. This is what makes a dynamic cut or a saturation boost land where it should, since both do less on real music than on paper.

Step 4

Hand over

Applies the bands, sets CORRECTION to your chosen AUTO strength, SPEED to 10 % and CEILING to 50 %, and switches oversampling to 4x if it used saturation.

Scout keeps its bands within safe limits rather than chasing the target at any cost. It respects the range handles on the display, and never touches TARGET, OUTPUT, AUTO GAIN or the slots. Everything it sets is an ordinary control afterwards.

What's inside

Six bands, each a smoothed filter: automation never zippers, and switching a band on or off, its shape, mode, dynamics or drive fades instead of clicking.

Tube

Even harmonics: body and warmth. Scout reaches for it in the low mids.

VCA

A soft, symmetric push blended with the dry signal: clean and tight.

British

A console-style colour with a softened top.

Tape

Soft third harmonic with a head-bump shape: weight without fizz. Scout reaches for it down low.

Power Tube

Denser, compressing drive. Scout reaches for it when the upper mids are unsteady.

Transistor

Odd harmonics: focus and bite. Scout reaches for it for presence and bigger mid lifts.

Diode

Germanium diode clipping: the grittiest edge of the set. Give it 4x or 8x on bright material.

Console

The cleanest of the set, about 0.4 % distortion at 6 dB. Scout reaches for it across the mids.

Exciter

Adds only what sits above the band: air. Scout reaches for it up top.

DRIVE is the band's lift in dB at any frequency, so a +3 dB saturation boost is as loud as a +3 dB EQ boost and the harmonics come on top. Every band can also be dynamic, with an auto threshold that follows the band's own average level.

Works with Orra EQ

Hand the bands to Orra EQ

Tone Zone Pro is a mix-bus tool, and sometimes the move it finds belongs somewhere else in the chain. TO ORRA EQ on the OUTPUT card saves the six bands as an Orra EQ preset, so you can take the balance Scout found and keep working on it with sixteen bands instead of six.

A dynamic band arrives as one Orra EQ Dynamic EQ band with the same settings, AUTO included, plus a plain band only if its GAIN is not 0 dB.

A saturation band arrives as the matching Orra EQ saturator at the same lift.

Where it lands Orra EQ’s Presets folder, in a Tone Zone category. It appears the next time you open Orra EQ’s preset browser, without reloading the plugin.

The export needs Orra EQ 1.5.0 or later, which is a free update for owners. Orra EQ is sold separately, and without it installed Tone Zone Pro says so and offers GET ORRA EQ or SAVE ANYWAY, for moving the preset to another computer. The link runs one way: Tone Zone Pro writes presets that Orra EQ reads.

Running Orra EQ before Tone Zone Pro does not double up either. AUTO listens after everything in front of it, including Orra EQ and the six bands, and only corrects what is still off target. See Orra EQ

Tone Zone and Tone Zone Pro

Pro is a separate plugin, with its own licence, settings and curves. Sessions made with the free Tone Zone keep using Tone Zone.

Tone Zone
Pro
Spectrum display against a genre target
✓
✓
Auto-corrective EQ with depth, speed and ceiling
✓
✓
Six-band parametric EQ
✓
✓
A / B / C / D slots and internal bypass
✓
✓
Build a target from your own reference tracks
✓
✓
Tooltips in seven languages
✓
✓
SCOUT: bands planned and checked on your audio
—
✓
Factory target curves
24 genre targets
60 from real masters, 19 genres
Saturation modes per band
3
9
Dynamic EQ on every band
—
✓
Oversampling
—
Up to 8x
AUTO GAIN loudness match (ITU-R BS.1770)
—
✓
CURVES browser, with your own genres
—
✓
Range handles and DELTA overlay
—
✓
TO ORRA EQ preset export
—
✓
Price
Free
$10

Orra Tone Zone stays free. See Orra Tone Zone

Get Orra Tone Zone Pro

Press SCOUT on your busiest chorus, then listen to the whole song. One purchase, yours forever, with free updates and no subscription.

Read the Manual

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Pairs well with

16-Band Parametric EQ

Orra EQ

Send the six bands straight over with TO ORRA EQ, then keep working with sixteen, eight modes each.

Explore Orra EQ
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Orra Cream Limiter

Tone Zone Pro goes before your final limiter. Cream is the one to put after it.

Explore Orra Cream