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Flux claim that their plug-ins combine simplicity and sophistication, thanks to their unusual interface design and novel controls.

Mike Thornton

I came across French plug-in developers Flux almost simultaneously via two different routes. The first was finding their excellent free plug-in BitterSweet (introduced in my feature on free utilities and plug-ins for Pro Tools in the February 2008 issue: ). The second was when I was hunting for a de-compression plug-in — no, not a cure for the bends from resurfacing too quickly after diving, but a plug-in that could reverse the effects of over-compressed audio.

One of the big selling points of all the plug-ins made by Flux Sound & Picture Development, to give them their full name, is a slider that allows users to morph between presets, giving "ultra-fast operation even for plug-ins including many parameters". The range currently includes several dynamics processors and an EQ, all available as RTAS and AudioSuite plug-ins for use in Pro Tools, and in VST and Audio Units formats for use in other hosts. Both Mac and Windows platforms are supported, and there are also non-native versions that run on the Pyramix DSP hardware.

Solera combines four separate dynamics processors into one plug-in.

Solera

The Solera meters are unlabelled, and for some reason are referenced to -16dBfs.

Solera, the flagship of the Flux plug-in range, represents a different approach to dynamics processing, far removed from the traditional 'three knob' dynamics processor. Flux say they have primarily designed it for mastering and remastering applications. Solera has four dynamics processors built into the one interface — a compressor, expander, ce-compressor and de-expander — as well as side-chain EQ and M/S processing. At first glance, the interface presents a lot to take in, and I found a number of things unclear, so I wasn't confident I knew what was going on all the time. My first problem is that none of the metering is labelled, so you have no idea what each of the nine bargraph displays is showing you. A study of the manual sheds some light on this area, but confusion can still arise. The manual says that from left to right we have meters showing:

Input level (VU not peak, referenced to -16dBfs. Why? It's not as though -16dBfs is a common reference point, and in the digital world I want all metering to refer to 0dBfs anyway.)

Output level.

The 'Resultant Envelope' (showing compression, decompression, and clipper activity).

Dynamic difference between in and out.

Level difference between in and out.

That is five items, but there are seven vertical bargraphs, so you might expect that the first two would be input left and right and the next pair for output left and right, with the last three covering Resultant, Dynamic difference and Level difference, but the screen suggests that this can't be the case, as it displays a massive level difference between the two stereo channels. Only after further experimentation did it become clear that these were displaying the Mid and Sides levels as I was using Solera in M/S mode.

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