Waves Flow Motion

To our collective mind Waves’ best synth yet, Flow Motion (9/10,

266) totally succeeds in its goal of taking the pain and confusion out of FM synthesis without compromising in terms of programmability and quality of results.

The ‘sci-fi’ interface puts Flow Motion’s four oscillators and their brilliant hardwired frequency/phase modulation routing scheme on one page (Flow), and output processing (filtering, EQ, amp envelope and effects) on another (Motion). Said modulation system makes it possible to freely apply FM or PM between oscillators in any combination, without a mod matrix or menu in sight. It’s wicked stuff.

Ever-present in its own panel on the right is a stack of four modulators – each switchable between loopable ADSR envelope and LFO functionality – which can be used to animate many parameters throughout the synth, as well as the FM/PM amounts on the Flow page.

And that’s not all! The icing on the cake is the awesome Snapshot Sequencer, which enables rhythmic switching through a bank of up to 16 complete presets using a step sequencer, or manually controlled scrolling via MIDI. With no import of presets into Snapshot slots or randomisation, programming a full bank is quite a chore, but the potential for maniacally animated basslines, pads and even percussion loops is immense.

Certainly the easiest implementation of FM/PM synthesis we’ve come across yet, and just a great instrument in its own right, Flow Motion is a beauty. Oh, and it’s bit of a bargain, too, at just $99.