Soniccouture Flowstate

Transform your samples into soundscapes with Soniccouture’s new software instrument.

Flowstate, the latest plug‑in from the prolific Soniccouture stable, is an NKS‑ready Kontakt Player instrument designed to morph and manipulate any audio clip into a malleable, shifting musical form. Although the plug‑in ships with 100 presets and samples, the idea behind it is for you to use your own audio clips to create unique sonic soundscapes that have an almost living, breathing quality.

The main screen is ominously devoid of any parameters, aside from a single, large virtual control knob, a graphic representation of the current waveform, and five mysterious symbols that would look more at home on the side of an alien spaceship (or a Led Zeppelin album cover). Working with single waveforms (there are no velocity layers or multisamples), Flowstate allows you to load any WAV file and, by way of eight tuned formant filters, introduce a pitched element that can be morphed and manipulated in real time using the central control knob. Each sample can have five different states, represented by the five symbols on the main screen, and you can use keyswitching or selection via the mouse to flow between them... hence the name Flowstate.

Harmonics & Synth Editors

There is, of course, more to Flowstate than its minimalist initial screen might suggest, and clicking the ‘Editors’ button within any of the five states reveals the Harmonics and Synth editors at the heart of the creative engine.

The Harmonics editor features eight tuned formant filters that can be assigned to a range of harmonic frequencies: 1 is the fundamental, 2 is the second harmonic, 3 is the third harmonic, and so on. Negative numbers represent subharmonics. There is a musical methodology behind this, and by isolating a single fader and changing its value you can hear how the waveform is affected, but I found that simply changing values and listening to the resulting interaction between the filters was the best way to achieve a pleasing musical result.

Each state includes an A and B harmonic variation that can be edited independently, and an on‑screen slider, mapped to the central control knob (which is, by default, mapped to your keyboard’s mod wheel), allows you to morph between the two configurations. Increasing the level of the Purity fader to the right (which can also be mapped to the control knob) adds a resonance to the formant frequencies, which introduces a unique tonal quality in the audio.

The Synth editor is a little more conventional, offering the more familiar ADSR envelope, filter and LFO parameters, many of which can be mapped to the main control knob. You can also use the LFO to modulate the formant filters, which can create stunning oscillating textures.

Unlike the Harmonics and Synth configurations, which are unique to each of the five states, the FX editor applies its output across all states simultaneously, which adds consistency and uniformity. Three simultaneous effects are on offer, including the usual selection of modulation, distortion, delay and reverb options, but, as you might expect from Soniccouture, they’re in no way run‑of‑the‑mill in their application.

It has the ability to create evocative and complex pads at its heart but can also produce searing lead voices and pulsating rhythmic textures.

Conclusion

It’s difficult to describe the type of sounds you can achieve with Flowstate. The potential source material is limitless, and the manipulation options are vast but it would be safe to say it lends itself to the more esoteric end of the sound spectrum. It has the ability to create evocative and complex pads at its heart but can also produce searing lead voices and pulsating rhythmic textures.

At first glance, its almost otherworldly design, with ethereal main screen and what look like alien symbols or ancient runes, makes it difficult to work out exactly what this plug‑in is all about, and that’s one of the driving forces behind its design. Creativity in music can sometimes be displaced by too much technical detail, and an air of mystery can stimulate a greater level of creativity, brought about by experimentation. Flowstate enables you to take anything from a drum loop or vocal phrase to a recording of a mountain stream or traffic noise and create unique, evolving musical soundscapes without really knowing what you’re doing! The ability to morph between the five harmonic states in real time, with additional manipulation via the central control knob, allows for an endless stream of sonic possibilities that are singular and absorbing.