SOMA Laboratory, known for its experimental synthesizers and sound machines, has officially launched FLUX: a high-end synthesizer with unparalleled expressive capabilities. Developed over a year, FLUX merges the musicality of classical instruments with modern technology, featuring a revolutionary user interface.
Inspired by Leo Theremin’s Thereminvox, FLUX allows users to control sound through hand motions in the air, using magnetic principles instead of capacitive coupling. Magnetic bows in each hand interact with a multipolar magnetic sensor, enabling control over pitch, volume, and synthesis parameters.
FLUX’s motion-based interface provides a new medium of expression for musicians. The magnetic bows’ spatial coordinates and angles control various parameters, offering six continuous octaves without transposing the keyboard, and up to twelve independent sound parameters.
Designed as a modern instrument for academic music, FLUX facilitates dynamic timbral composition. It will support different synthesis algorithms through firmware updates, with presets for saving and recalling entire synth states.
FLUX features in-house-designed digital-to-analog converters, offering monophonic, duophonic, and polyphonic modes, along with special effects. It’s built for academic music, offering powerful sonic tools like distortion, FM, and physical modeling.
Shipping later this year, FLUX’s pricing is yet to be announced, promising a new medium for modern performers and composers to express their creativity.