Hainbach’s Fluss app is a granular synth and a ‘dream come true” for him
The app was inspired by experimental composer Iannis Xenakis.
Image: Hainbach and Bram Bos
Hainbach’s latest collaboration with Bram Bos has arrived. Fluss is a granular synth and effects processor in app form that’s inspired by experimental composer Iannis Xenakis – Hainbach calls it a “dream come true” synth for him.
Fluss is designed to “take simple sounds and create something beautiful from them” and the app does so with its three-voice granular engine, plus an interesting touch-based take on modulation.
Looking almost like a game of Arkanoid, the “kinetic” interface represents mod sources on two XY matrices, and with your fingers, you can gently nudge or forcefully fling these balls to send them flying and bouncing around, all the while affecting the sound.
“This creates constantly changing, meandering, chaotic – yet always interesting modulations,” Hainbach says of the approach.
Granular synthesis is sample-based, which means you’ll have to load in a sound first before you can affect it. Although you’re meant to use your own sounds, some presets are included to get you started.
On the effects processing side, Fluss is capable of running with live instruments in real time, with the help of a plugin host. In a video, Hainbach shares how he’s used Fluss in both live and in-studio situations.
Fluss is available now for iOS devices for $13.99 / €16.99 on the App Store. It works standalone or as an AUv3 plugin. Learn more here.
Bram Bos and Hainbach last collaborated on the Gauss Field Looper in 2020, which aimed to bring tape-looping sound techniques to mobile devices.
