ORANGE CLIP 3 is inspired by the unique stock clipper found in one of the most legendary digital audio workstations for modern music production.The clipper itself is simple, but it has a bold and unique sound that you have heard in many modern productions. It inflates low frequencies, crunches highs, and smooths the mid-range in a relaxed and pleasing way. 

When you first insert ORANGE CLIP 3, it presents itself as an intuitive, straightforward tool that hardly requires a manual. At its core is the ORANGE knob—prominently placed in the center—your primary control for shaping the sound.  

In the last few emails, I shared a bit about why I built Orange Clip, its sound, and some basics of its functionality. Today, I want to dive deeper into our straightforward and powerful multi-band setup. The simplicity and power of our multi-band design are what make Orange Clip 3 truly unique, and understanding it is key to unlocking its full potential.

To understand what a wave shaper is, it's essential first to learn how to read a transfer function. A transfer function visually represents the relationship between the input signal and the output signal in a non-linear process like Orange Clip 3.

Wave shaping is a process that alters the shape of an audio waveform to create tonal changes or introduce distortion. It works by applying a transfer function, which defines how input signal levels are transformed into output signal levels. This can result in subtle harmonic enhancement or aggressive distortion, depending on the curvature of the transfer function. The key to effective wave shaping is controlling this curve to achieve the desired sonic character without unwanted artifacts.

In the last email, we introduced how wave shaping works. Now, let’s take a closer look at the ORANGE knob in Orange Clip and how it controls the size and shape of the wave shaping applied to your track. Think of it like a compressor threshold: it determines where wave shaping begins, measured downward from the clip ceiling.

Let’s take a closer look at key commands, controls and displays in Orange Clip 3, and how they impact your workflow.

Orange Clip 3 features four versatile distortion circuits, each capable of dry/wet blending. The three band-based clippers can be blended individually with a traditional dry/wet mix, while the main clipper processes their combined output before passing through the true parallel mixer. This layered approach unlocks endless creative possibilities. Below, we’ll explore some of these features in action.

Both Gold Clip and Orange Clip are designed to deliver a consistent sound, regardless of your DAW's sample rate. To achieve this, the oversampling rate dynamically adjusts based on the session's sample rate. This ensures that High, Pristine, and Extra Pristine modes sound identical, no matter the sample rate you’re working with. Let me explain how it works.

We spent a year researching, testing, and refining our filterbank technology. Our expectations were ambitious: we set out to create a truly linear phase filter bank with minimal pre-ringing, ultra-low latency, and exceptional CPU efficiency—essentially, everything without compromise.

We spent a lot of time trying to determine the exact mathematical equation that makes ORANGE CLIP 3 sound so good, and that equation matches its inspiration in every detail: dynamics, harmonics, and overall tone.