Someone at Flux Sound & Picture Development likes wine, and being based in Orleans in France, why shouldn’t they? Having previously released a plug‑in called Solera and an algorithm called Angel’s Share (both phrases related to wine), they have announced the similarly‑named Syrah, a compressor plug‑in with an innovative layout. Described as a level‑independent adaptive dynamics processor, it uses proprietary algorithms that are designed to control dynamics “in a way that allows you to be creative, without a complicated user interface”.

Syrah dispenses with traditional ratio and threshold controls in favour of a collection of look‑ahead controls, as well as some other interesting knobs labelled ‘thickness’ and ‘relax’. Most of the controls handle more than one parameter behind the scenes, encouraging the user to focus on using the plug‑in creatively rather than surgically. Graphical feedback displaying how the waveform is being treated appears in a live window on the right hand side of the user interface, and provides a nice change from the more common gain‑reduction meter, helping the user to learn the controls quickly.

Also interesting is the built‑in A/B’ing system, which allows the user to load two patches and continuously morph between them using a slider, automating the change from the host DAW. A Global Preset can then be saved, recording all of the parameters in both patches and the position of the slider. Syrah costs 149 Eurosaround $217 and is authorised via iLok. Various upgrade and discount options are available for users of other Flux plug‑ins. A demo is available for download from the Flux web site.

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