Örbital Audio

Orbital EQ

A parametric EQ you play directly on the graph. Add up to eight nodes per curve, shape them by dragging, split the signal into Mid and Side, let any node react to the sound around it, and tame resonances across the whole spectrum with Temper. This manual walks through the plugin from the graph down to the inspector.

Illustration of the graph: the gold curve is the EQ, the nodes are what you drag, and the soft shape underneath is the spectrum of what comes out.

Getting Started

Orbital EQ is an effect: put it on a track or a bus and shape the sound on the graph. There is nothing to load and no presets; every node you add is saved with your project.

Install

Run the installer. On Windows the VST3 goes to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3. Restart your DAW afterwards, or make it rescan.

Activate

The first time you open it, Orbital EQ asks you to activate. Enter the email address of your Örbital account and your licence key — you will find the key in your account. Orbital EQ is a free plugin, but it is activated once like the others. After that it keeps a local licence and renews it quietly in the background.

First sound

Put it on a track with something full-range, press play, and double-click an empty spot on the graph. A node appears there. Drag it up to boost, down to cut, left and right to move it along the spectrum, and scroll over it to change its width.

The window

The header holds the name, the Stereo | Mid/Side switch and Bypass. The graph is most of the window. Under it is the inspector for the selected node, with a second tab for Temper. The bottom line reminds you of the mouse shortcuts.

The EQ itself adds no latency, so you can leave it on while you record or play. Temper is the one exception: while it is switched on, the plugin reports a short delay to your DAW (see Temper below).

The Graph

Everything about a node can be done on the graph itself. The frequency axis is logarithmic, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, so every octave gets the same width; the vertical axis runs from −24 to +24 dB.

A node selected

The selected node is highlighted and a small tag next to it shows its frequency and gain. The soft shape under the curve is the spectrum of the output.

Add a nodeup to 8 per curve

Double-click an empty spot. The node appears where you clicked, and its filter type is chosen from the frequency (see Filter Types).

Move

Drag a node. Left and right change the frequency, up and down change the gain. Notch, High-Pass and Low-Pass have no gain, so for them only the frequency moves.

Q0.1 – 18

Scroll with the mouse wheel over a node. A low Q is a wide, gentle shape; a high Q is narrow and precise.

Reset gain

Alt-click a node to set its gain back to 0 dB. Nodes without a gain ignore this and behave like a normal click.

Type, solo and remove

Right-click a node for a menu with the six filter types, Solo Node and Remove Node. With a node selected, Delete or Backspace removes it.

Spectrum

The soft shape behind the curve is the spectrum of what leaves the plugin, so boosting a node lifts the shape underneath it. If a node ducks from the sidechain, a grey trace shows the sidechain’s spectrum as well. Nothing is analysed while the plugin window is closed.

The inspector

The strip under the graph shows the selected node: its Type, and Frequency, Gain and Q as values you can drag. It also has the node’s Solo, Dynamics and remove buttons. With nothing selected it says how to add a node.

Filter Types

Six shapes. Pick one in the inspector or with a right-click on the node.

The six types

Bell

Low Shelf

High Shelf

Notch

High-Pass

Low-Pass

The shape of each type; the dashed line is 0 dB.

Bell−24 to +24 dB

Boosts or cuts around its frequency. Q sets how wide the bell is.

Low Shelf · High Shelf−24 to +24 dB

Raises or lowers everything below (Low Shelf) or above (High Shelf) the frequency, with a smooth step in between.

Notch

A narrow cut right at the frequency, for a single ring or hum. It has no gain control.

High-Pass · Low-Pass

Removes everything below (High-Pass) or above (Low-Pass) the frequency, at 12 dB per octave. Q adds a peak at the corner. They have no gain control.

Where a new node starts

A new node picks its type from where you click: below 50 Hz a High-Pass, from 50 to 100 Hz a Low Shelf, from 100 Hz to 5 kHz a Bell, from 5 to 10 kHz a High Shelf, and from 10 kHz up a Low-Pass. That is only a starting point; change the type whenever you like.

Frequency20 Hz – 20 kHz

Where the node sits. For the shelves and the pass filters it is the corner of the filter.

A node with 0 dB of gain does nothing to the sound, so empty nodes cost nothing. The curve and the sound always come from the same numbers: what you see is what you hear.

Mid/Side

Stereo mode treats the signal as one: one curve for both channels. Mid/Side gives Mid and Side their own curves.

Two curves

The gold curve is Mid, the purple curve is Side. Here Mid has a presence boost and Side is lifted in the air band.

Stereo | Mid/Side

The switch in the header. Turning on Mid/Side adds a second curve and a second spectrum trace. Turning it off goes back to one curve; the Side nodes are kept in case you switch back.

Mid | Side

Appears next to the switch while Mid/Side is on. It chooses which curve a double-click adds a node to. Selecting a node on the graph switches to its curve by itself.

Mid and Side

Mid is what both channels share, Side is what differs between them. Each curve has its own eight nodes, and Dynamics and Sidechain work on both. Mid is gold and Side is purple, in the graph and in the inspector.

A common move: cut the lows out of Side with a High-Pass so the bass stays in the middle, and lift the highs in Side with a High Shelf for width.

Dynamics

Any node with a gain can react to how loud its own band is. Switch on Dynamics in the inspector and the node compresses itself.

Threshold and ratio

Below the threshold nothing happens. Above it the node takes off gain, more the higher the ratio.

DYNAMICS

Switches the node’s own dynamics on. It is available for Bell and the two shelves; Notch, High-Pass and Low-Pass have no gain to compress. A ring around the node brightens with how much gain it is taking off at that moment, and the curve follows, so you can see it work.

THRESH−60 to 0 dB

The level in the node’s band above which it starts to act.

RATIO1:1 to 20:1

How strongly it pulls the gain down once the band is over the threshold. 2:1 is gentle, 20:1 is a hard stop.

ATTACK0.1 – 200 ms

How fast it reacts when the band gets loud.

RELEASE10 – 1000 ms

How fast it lets go again.

MAKEUP0 – 24 dB

Adds gain back to the node, to make up for what the dynamics take off.

What it listens to

The detector measures the level in a narrow band around the node’s own frequency and Q, so a node reacts to the part of the sound it sits on, not to the whole signal. Dynamics only ever reduces: the gain you set is the resting gain, and the node moves down from there.

A Bell at 0 dB with Dynamics on is a cut that only appears when that band gets loud. That is the easy way to calm a harsh note or a boom that comes and goes without dulling the rest of the time. Left and right (or Mid and Side) react on their own, not linked.

Sidechain

A node with Dynamics can listen to another signal instead of its own. When that signal is loud in the node's band, the node ducks.

Ducking on the curve

The dashed line is the EQ as you set it, and the filled area is what the sidechain is taking off right now. The 2.5 kHz node is ducking.

Route a track

In your DAW, send another track to Orbital EQ’s Sidechain input. Where that setting lives depends on the DAW; look for the sidechain input of the plugin in its mixer or plugin settings.

SIDECHAIN

In the inspector, with Dynamics on, switch on Sidechain. The node’s detector now listens to the sidechain input instead of its own signal, in the same band as before. Thresh, Ratio, Attack, Release and Makeup work exactly as in Dynamics.

Nothing routed

With no sidechain connected there is nothing to listen to and the node does not duck. It never falls back to its own signal.

Mid, Side and stereo

In Mid/Side a Mid node listens to the Mid of the sidechain and a Side node to its Side. In Stereo mode left follows left and right follows right. A mono sidechain has no Side content, so a Side node set to duck from it never ducks; send a stereo signal for that.

Reading it

While at least one node ducks from the sidechain, the graph draws the sidechain’s own spectrum in grey, and the dips show on the curve: a dashed line for the curve without ducking and a fill for the gain being taken off. The ring on the node brightens with the reduction.

A node ducks by level in its own band. It follows how loud the sidechain is there, not a separate analysis of the whole sidechain spectrum. If you want the whole spectrum to give way, that is what Temper does.

Temper

Temper pulls down individual frequencies across the whole spectrum, on the signal that comes out of the EQ. It is separate from the nodes: it needs no node and it is not tied to a curve.

Temper on the curve

Temper’s reduction is drawn on the gold curve as dips, wherever it is acting right now. The dashed line is the EQ without Temper.

Where it is

Open the Temper tab next to Node under the graph. A small status line shows what it is doing: Off, Listening, or Reducing up to a number of dB.

Switches Temper on. It starts off.

SOURCEAuto · Sidechain

Auto looks for frequencies that stick out from the spectrum around them, such as a ringing resonance or a harsh peak, and pulls those down. Sidechain works the other way round: the frequencies where the sidechain signal is strong are reduced in your signal, which makes room for it. In Sidechain mode with nothing routed, the status line says so and nothing is reduced. In Auto mode a connected sidechain is ignored.

DEPTH0 – 100 %

How much of the offending energy is taken out. At 0 nothing changes.

SHARPNESS0 – 100 %

Low gives broad, gentle dips. High gives narrow dips that leave the surrounding spectrum alone.

SPEED0 – 100 %

How fast it reacts and lets go. Slow is smooth and hard to hear; fast catches short peaks.

LOW · HIGH20 Hz – 20 kHz

The range Temper may work in, with soft edges. It starts at 80 Hz and 16 kHz, which keeps it away from the very lowest and highest frequencies.

DELTA

Plays only what Temper is removing. A quick way to hear what it is taking out, and whether that is what you meant.

Latency

While Temper is on, the plugin reports about 21 to 23 milliseconds of latency to your DAW, which most DAWs compensate for automatically. With Temper off it reports none. Some DAWs only pick up a changed latency when playback restarts, so switch it on before you press play.

Bypass

Bypass stops Temper from reducing but keeps its delay, so the timing of your track does not jump when you bypass and unbypass.

Temper works on frequency bins, and the resolution is coarser in the low end: below a few hundred hertz its dips are broad rather than surgical. It is at its best on resonances and harshness from the low mids upwards. For a single precise low-frequency cut, use a node.

Temper acts on the whole left and right signal after both curves. That is why its dips are drawn on the gold curve, also in Mid/Side, and why you cannot limit it to Mid or Side.

Solo & Bypass

Two ways to check what you are doing.

SOLO

Plays only the band of one node, cut off from the rest of the signal, so you can hear what that node is working on. It works for every filter type. In Mid/Side only that node’s own curve plays. It is a listening aid and is saved with the project, so switch it off before you bounce.

BYPASS

The button at the top right turns the whole plugin off with a short fade of about 20 milliseconds. Your nodes and settings are untouched. The EQ has no latency, so bypassing it does not shift the timing.

Automation

Every node parameter and the Temper controls can be automated in your DAW, and are saved with the project.

Licence & Devices

Your licence can be active on a limited number of computers. You manage them yourself; nothing is locked to hardware you cannot reach.

Activating

Enter the email address of your Örbital account and your licence key. You will find the key in your account. After that the plugin keeps a local licence and renews it quietly in the background.

Licence menu

Right-click Orbital EQ at the top of the plugin for your licence status, Activate…, Check license now, Disconnect this device…, Manage devices in your account and Support.

Too many devices

If you reach the limit, the activation window lists the computers that use your licence. Disconnect one of them in your account on the website, then activate again.

Replacing a computer

Choose Disconnect this device… from the licence menu to free its seat right away. Orbital EQ goes silent on that computer until you activate it again.

Offline

You do not need to be online to work. The plugin only needs a connection now and then to renew; if it cannot reach us it keeps working and tries again later.

Manage my devices

Something not working, or not covered here? Email support@orbitalaudiolabel.com and put this in the message:

the email address of your Örbital account;
which plugin, and which version;
your computer and which version of macOS or Windows it runs;
your DAW and its version;
what you were doing, and what happened instead.

That is everything we need to look it up, so it saves a round of questions.