New Toys

Syrah From Flux Sound & Picture Development

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Syrah From Flux Sound & Picture Development Syrah is a software-based "creative adaptive-dynamics processor" plug-in AKA compressor/limiter. French-based Flux Sound And Picture Development uses sonically descriptive names to identify the various controls and features of this processor. Syrah is an extremely powerful compressor/limiter/expander with many interactive controls that tend to keep using it more a "right-brain" than a "left-brain" experience.

When I installed it in my Pro Tools rig as a RTAS processor (it is available in AU, VST formats for both MACs and PCs) I found I was changing parameters strictly based on sonic results rather than relying on my recording engineer experience with compressors.

For example, threshold level is called Amount--more is more--but the sound of its compression or limiting is dependent on many other controls so Flux has designed the controls to interact--in an intelligent way--to affect more than one parameter at a time.

I found using it wonderful for many of its automated features such as the way the Gain Comp control always matches the Input gain level. Or the simple way the Wet/Dry control allows for parallel compression--a typically difficult thing to do with plug-ins without this pro feature.

By looking ahead at the signal before you hear it, this processor has no processing latency and operates either in transparent and automatic Dynamic Soft mode or more aggressively using Dynamic Deep.

With many professional features as standard, Syrah will use them all if you know what you're doing or, if you're a novice, let it figure out the best settings automatically.

It sounds great on everything although vocals, bass and drums benefit the most from either its transparency or radical dynamic reshaping. I big thumbs up on this one--it has been a new mainstay in all mixes replacing other plug-ins that only get half-way there!

Capable of managing up to eight channels at a time, Syrah is 64-bit based and available at: www.fluxhome.com/products/Plug_ins/syrah


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