REVIEWS / FLUX

Article by Music Radar

Simon Russell (BAFTA, RTS & Emmy winner)

My background is in electronic music and I’m particularly interested in unusual instruments like the Trautonium, Ondes Martenot and Harry Partch’s assortment of instruments.
You can add FLUX to the list. FLUX taps into that tactile, human element that makes electronic instruments like the Theremin & Ondes Martenot so intriguing, but with its own modern twist.
I’ve been using it recently on a TV series about Space and am loving its flexibility. You can play it as precisely (or imprecisely) as you want. One could compare it to other spatial instruments but that would be overlooking FLUX’s own unique qualities.
The first time I turned FLUX on, I was surprised how quickly I got used to playing above the keyboard.
It has a very warm, human feel to its sound thanks to its expressive timbral controls – you can go from sweet, gentle, ethereal tones with an incredible range in pitch to evolving, gnarly distorted textures in the middle of the same performance. I particularly like being able to play it in Duophonic mode (2 notes at the same time) and flipping either or both bows to change octave and expression.
I’m always looking for sounds that are characterful and different. It’s easy to get snow blind searching through countless banks of synth patches.
FLUX feels like more of a performance instrument but with much more control over the tone, texture and expression and able to create unique soundscapes that really help set a mood.
But it’s not just about the sound, it’s how you perform with it, making it a more immersive, emotional experience.

Grigory Arkhipov (Actor and Director of the Moon Theater, Theater on Malaya Ordynka)

Throughout my musical journey, I was always searching for “my” instrument — the one that I would truly connect with as a performer, not just something I used to press buttons. Originally, I was a guitarist. I played in countless bands, studied arrangement and composition, and at the same time explored other instruments, both classical and ethnic — and of course, the eternal synths. I moved into music production and producing. But that feeling — to “just wake up in the middle of the night and start playing” — never really happened. Then, at an exhibition, I stood in front of FLUX and suddenly realized — this is it! Since then, I’ve been diving into the manual and studying it non-stop. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.