Soma Labs Flux is what happens when Theremin heritage meets modern sound engine£1,299 / $1,300 / €1,300, somasynths.com
Soma Labs doesn’t necessarily have a monopoly on oddball instruments that seem custom catered to film scores and experimental noise makers, but it’s certainly a leader in the area. The Lyra series, The Pipe, The Pulsar 23, Ether, RoAT, Terra… The list goes on and on.

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Flux is the latest addition to its stable of wild instruments. Underneath the hood, there’s a complex digital synth with physical modeling and abrasive FM capabilities. But what makes the Flux special isn’t the synth engine — it’s how you play it.
Flux seems inspired by the likes of the Theremin and modern controllers like the ROLI Seaboard. You don’t touch Flux, you wave your hands over it while holding magnetic ‘bows’. These look nothing like the sort of bow you associate with a cello, however. Instead, they’re small, hourglass shaped, with north and south magnetic poles at either side. Your hands’ position is then tracked in three dimensions, both over the ‘timbral sensor’ on the left and the note board on the right to control various parameters from volume to filter cut-off or tremolo speed. Essentially, it combines the complex multi-dimensional control of the Seaboard with the touch-free heritage of a Theremin.
Image: Terrence O’Brien
The appeal of Flux is 100 per cent in the way you interact with it. It requires patience and accuracy, which can be frustrating at first. It doesn’t necessarily lend itself to lightning-fast licks or expansive chords, even though it is capable of polyphony. Instead, it’s best approached as a machine for drones, pads and lilting melodic passages. It can be beautiful when you gently coax melodies out of it, or suffocatingly ominous when you lean into long, low drones.
Getting comfortable finding notes on the right-hand side is a lot easier than I expected it to be. The markings make it pretty easy to visualise your place, and there is note quantisation if you need it to help ease into things. Quantisation does come in handy when using plucky or bell-like sounds, where you’re likely to come down from the top more quickly to ‘strike’ notes. For smoother patches, I prefer to come at the notes by sliding up from the bottom of the board, which I find more accurate.
Image: Terrence O’Brien
Gliding over the board to string notes together is satisfying, but the more interesting part of Flux is the timbral sensor on the left which gives you a ton of control over the expression of individual notes. It’s comprised essentially of three magnets in a row that turn the area in an XYZ pad that you wave a second ‘bow’ over. This can turn thin vox-style leads into low rumbles, strum notes like a guitar, or play back arpeggios faster as you move to the right. This also opens the filter as you move upwards and increases velocity as you get closer in the Z axis. It’s a shockingly simple but powerful tool that elevates the Flux beyond just being a big fancy Stylophone.
Adding even more versatility, the magnetic bows have two poles, which give you different effects when you flip them over. On the note board this usually just transposes everything up or down. But on the timbral sensor it can completely transform a synth patch into something new or control a completely different set of parameters.
Image: Terrence O’Brien
While playing the Flux might sound intimidating, it’s actually pretty approachable. It’s everything else about Flux that gets a little confusing. Changing presets, synth algorithms, controlling release… Basically everything on the Flux requires placing your fingers on one or two touch-sensitive nubs and then moving the bow over the note board. The act of touching ‘R’ and then moving to the right to extend the release of a note makes sense. But trying to remember what each button does both in normal mode and bow flipped mode is difficult. Thankfully, there’s a cheat sheet that I keep handy when having a play. Creating custom patches is also annoying. That all said, you don’t have a ton of control over the synth engines anyway, so this is an instrument where I’m inclined to just stick with presets.
There are 37 synth algorithms in total, with eight variations of each, providing plentiful jumping-off points for designing sounds. But your actual ability to tweak settings is limited beyond that. Your best bet for actually crafting unique timbres is through manipulating the magnetic bows and adding external effects pedals. Flux has a built-in reverb and delay, but they’re somewhat mediocre, with limited controls and you can only use one at a time.
Certain Flux algorithms can also sound thin. Sometimes this is by design, for instance with the VOX algorithm which is based on classic Theremin designs. A Theremin can sound beautiful, otherworldly, creepy, but rarely is it described as thick or meaty. To bring body to many of its patches, I heartily recommend bringing an analogue delay to the party, as well as a spacious reverb. I often pair it with the Chase Bliss Thermae and the Death by Audio Rooms and the results are thrilling. That combination feels custom-tailored to score work. Melodies are bigger and cut more, drones rattled your guts, and plucks become atmospheric abysses.

Like most of Soma Labs’ instruments, Flux is decidedly niche. It’s £1,299, which isn’t prohibitively expensive, but also isn’t cheap. You also need to be invested in the particular sound and style of Flux, which is decidedly experimental. If you’re often doing game score work, or work in what Soma likes to call ‘academic music’ (what most would probably just call experimental), Flux will certainly seem appealing.
Key features

37-note touch-free note board
37 synth algorithms
12-note polyphony (polyphony dependent on the preset)
6-pole magnetic ‘timbral sensor’
4 magnetic ‘bows’
Onboard reverb and delay
Balanced stereo outs
Headphone out
Dimensions: 1000 х 114 х 30 mm
Weight: 1.7 kg

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