Softube Flow Studio

This is my first control surface device/software bundle I have ever bought and I can only say that I am disappointed. Firstly, the effects and flows are really nice and they can get you to the sound that is much better then you have on your track or a bus, or give you some pointers what you can do with the sound yourself. However, the unit is a mess, to say the least. Around 90% of time it will fail to load on startup so it forces you to use 'activity monitor' to force close it and relaunch it , after which it usually works, until your next session of course. Still, sometimes it refuses to work even after that 'procedure' and you are kind of stuck. You can use the software without the unit because all the flows have micro controls in the software apart from the main knob which determines how much you 'saturate' the sound with an effect chain, so again you are sort of stuck. I postponed my review of the unit because I was hoping that some kind of software update will be available but nothing happened and it is quite discouraging to see a 'known issues' tab in the software rather than a real fix. I don't know how persistent this issue is and I must add that I am still on Sequoia 15.7.7 so your experience may be different than mine, however I expect a hassle-free experience form the company the tries to encourage you to buy a subscription for a mastering suite plugins.

I am deighted with this hardware. The build quality, feel and the display of this unit is of the highest quality. It works seamlessly with my DAW and other controllers. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to work with analogue knobs that control the available parameters which, in this unit, are extensive. I have been using Softube hardware and plugins for a number of years and love them all. I have accumulated a large number of Softube plugins over the years and love that I can call any of them up in my Flow Studio choose which parameter I want to control, be it compression, EQ, reverb, saturation or amps and speakers in Amp Room etc, and easily customise and control my own signal chains. The unit comes with countless preset flows created by very clever people. It is intuitive in its use and really fast and effective making stunning alteration to your sound in an analogue way. On tracks, buses or mastering, I'm finding that Flow Studio is transforming how I work.

Meiner Meinung nach ist der Hauptkonkurrent hier Neutron/Nectar von Izotope. Wenn es schnell gehen soll analysiert die KI das Signal einfach mit Blick auf die Frequenzen und der Track sitzt besser im Mix. Dann noch einen Reverb und Delay dahinter und die Kette ist fertig.
Auch in Ableton hat man schnell ein Audio Effect Rack gebaut und kann super arbeiten. Im Vergleich mit diesen beiden Möglichkeiten sticht Flow nicht heraus.
Es ist hier eher so dass das Preset entweder gut passt, oder eben nicht. Die Plugins klingen toll, der Preis ist gut. Aber um den Hype ein bisschen zu bremsen. Man ist abhängig von Softube Plugins und das nervt dann teilweise auch.

Außerdem hat man hier nicht die normale 30 Tage Money Back Garantie!! ;) da Software.