Orra Link 2 User Manual
Version 2.0.0 • © 2026 Orra Audio LLC
The free companion sender: sidechain any track in any DAW, picked by name in every compatible Orra plugin.
1. Welcome
Orra Link 2 is a sender. It sits on a track, passes the audio through untouched, and broadcasts a copy of it (along with the track's name and color) onto a shared bus that every compatible Orra plugin in the session can read. Receivers like Orra Ducker, Orra Press, and Orra EQ then list that track in their own sidechain menus, ready to pick, with no DAW routing, no bus sends, and no fighting hosts whose sidechain support stops at one input.
Version 2 makes the whole thing name-first. Where the original Orra Link asked you to co-ordinate numbered channels, Link 2 defaults to Auto: drop it on a track and the track simply appears, by name, in every receiver's menu. The numbered Link 1 to 36 channels are still there for the classic workflow and for older Orra receivers, which keep working unchanged alongside Link 2.
Link 2 also publishes lightweight telemetry (level, loudness, stereo correlation, and on request a 48-band spectrum) which powers the Orra session dashboard and features like Orra EQ's masking overlay. Telemetry beyond the basics is pull-based: senders only do the extra work while something is actually listening, so an idle session pays nothing.
Free companion plugin
Orra Link 2 is a free companion sender. There is no separate purchase and no separate download: it ships inside the installer of every compatible Orra plugin (Orra EQ, Orra Press, Orra Space, and Orra Ducker). Install or update any compatible Orra plugin and Link 2 installs with it.
2. System Requirements
Formats
VST3, Audio Unit (AU), and AAX (Pro Tools).
macOS
macOS 10.13 or later (Universal 2: Apple Silicon and Intel).
Windows
Windows 10 or later (64-bit). VST3 and AAX formats.
Channels
Mono or stereo. Mono senders are duplicated to both detector channels on the receiving end.
Latency
Zero. Orra Link 2 reports no latency and never delays the track it sits on. Receivers account for the one-block bus transit on their side (see the receiver's manual).
Distribution
Bundled in the installer of each compatible Orra product (Orra EQ, Orra Press, Orra Space, Orra Ducker). There is no standalone download.
3. Interface Tour
One compact panel: a channel selector and status readout, the SEND toggle, the OUTPUT knob, the track-name plate, and live meters.
Channel (Unassigned / Auto (Dashboard) / Link 1 to 36), how this sender claims a slot on the bus. Auto (the default) claims a free slot silently, drop-and-forget, and receivers list the track by name. Link 1 to 36 are the classic numbered channels, visible to every Orra receiver old and new. Unassigned parks the sender: audio still passes through, nothing is broadcast.
Send (on / off), on broadcasts this track. Off mutes at the source: receivers still see the slot, but read silence, handy for A/B-ing what a duck or a compressor is doing without tearing down the routing.
Output (-24 to +24 dB), gain-stages the send only, what Orra receivers hear and what the meters here show. The track's own audio always passes through untouched, so you can drive a ducker harder (or ease it off) without changing your mix.
Track Name (text), the name receivers and the dashboard show for this track. Filled automatically from the host where supported (VST3 / AAX); double-click to type your own, the override is remembered with the session.
Behavior change: OUTPUT stages the send only
The OUTPUT knob gain-stages the SEND only. The track's own audio passes through untouched at all times. In v1 the knob also changed the track's pass-through level (turn it up and your mix got louder), which read as a plain volume knob. If you used OUTPUT as a track trim in old sessions, add a gain utility instead.
Status readout
The status well always tells you what the sender is actually doing:
Auto slot N - Live, Auto mode has claimed a slot and is broadcasting.
Link N - Live, the chosen manual channel is broadcasting.
Link N - taken by another instance, another Orra Link picked the same numbered channel. Manual channels are last-writer-wins; pick a different number on one of them.
Unassigned, no slot claimed; nothing is broadcast.
Bus unavailable, the shared bus could not be opened. See Sandboxed hosts below. Audio still passes through.
Below the status well, the meter and readouts show the send: the level, peak, and correlation the receivers and the dashboard are getting, including the OUTPUT gain. The DASH group lights when a dashboard is attached and pulling extended telemetry.
4. How the Link Bus Works
Orra Link 2 and every compatible Orra plugin in a session share a small region of memory, outside any single DAW's routing graph. Senders write audio into slots; receivers read whichever slot you point them at. Because the bus lives outside the host, it works across plugin formats and even across DAWs running side by side.
Auto mode and names
In Auto, the sender claims any free slot from a large pool (the session can hold well over a hundred) and publishes the track's name and color with it. Receivers list live tracks by name, so the slot number is invisible and irrelevant, and if a slot is orphaned by a crashed host, Link 2 reclaims it automatically rather than leaking it. A receiver's named pick is remembered by name, so it reconnects after session reloads even if the underlying slot number changed.
Manual channels and older Orra plugins
The numbered Link 1 to 36 channels are mirrored onto the original Orra Link bus as well, so receivers that haven't been updated (an older Orra Press, for instance) keep seeing them exactly as before. Two senders picking the same number stomp each other (last one wins), just like v1; the status well tells you when that happens. New-generation receivers prefer the Link 2 copy of a channel and fall back to the old bus automatically.
Telemetry for the dashboard
Every broadcasting sender publishes basic meters continuously (RMS, peak, true-peak, momentary and short-term loudness, stereo correlation, clip events), a few numbers per block, effectively free. The 48-band spectrum used for masking analysis is pull-based: senders only run that analysis while a dashboard, or a receiver feature like EQ's masking overlay, is attached and asking for it.
5. Using Link 2 with Orra Receivers
The workflow is the same everywhere: drop Orra Link 2 on the source track, then open the receiver's sidechain menu and pick the track by name.
Orra Ducker, source picker on the SIDECHAIN card. Pick the track by name; the picker face tints in the track's color while it is live and flags the name if the source disappears.
Orra Press, per-slot SIDECHAIN picker, the same by-name list, plus LISTEN to audition the key signal and a source meter.
Orra EQ, per-band sidechain sources for dynamic bands, plus source-spectrum and masking overlays drawn in the track's color.
Timing
Link 2 itself adds no latency and never delays the track it sits on. The bus transit costs up to one audio block; receivers that need sample accuracy (the Ducker, Press) delay their own input by one block and report it to the host, so everything lines up after delay compensation, including under host look-ahead engines (Reaper Anticipative FX, Cubase ASIO Guard, Studio One Dropout Protection), which the stamped bus reads are designed for.
Offline renders and commits
A full-mix bounce renders the sender and the receiver in the same pass, and the stamped reads keep them sample-accurate. A solo-track commit or freeze renders only the target track, so the host never runs the sender, and the key signal simply does not exist during that render (the Ducker, for instance, uses its DAW sidechain bus if routed, and otherwise ducks nothing). If commits are part of your workflow, route the source to the receiver's DAW sidechain as a backup before committing.
Sandboxed hosts
A few DAWs run AU plugins in a sandbox that blocks the shared bus. The status well reads Bus unavailable in that case; audio still passes through. Use the VST3 in those hosts, or fall back to conventional DAW sidechain routing.
6. Tips & Workflow
Drop and forget
The default Auto mode needs no decisions: insert Link 2, and the track is on the menu everywhere. Reach for a numbered channel only when an older Orra receiver needs to see it, or when you want a fixed, documented routing in a template.
Name your tracks
Receivers list what the host reports. In hosts that don’t pass track names to plugins (some AU hosts), double-click the name plate and type one. "Kick In" beats "Auto slot 41" in every menu you’ll ever open.
Stage the key, not the mix
OUTPUT only changes what receivers hear. If a duck isn’t biting, push OUTPUT up a few dB instead of lowering the receiver’s threshold across the board. You’re driving that one key relationship, and your mix balance stays put.
SEND as a bypass that keeps the wiring
Toggling SEND off mutes the broadcast at the source while every receiver stays pointed at the track. It’s the fastest way to hear with and without on a duck or a keyed compressor, no routing torn down, one click back.
If a numbered channel reads 'taken'
Two Link instances picked the same number; the newer claim wins. Move one of them, or better, let both sit in Auto and pick them by name in the receivers.
Need a hand?
If anything here didn't answer your question, our support team is happy to help.