Review of Flux Analyzer system

The Pure Analyzer from Flux  is a big application with loads of options that displays and measures your audio in so many ways.
 
Separate App
The first thing that is different about Analyzer, is unlike their other products that function as plug-ins within the host application like Pro Tools, Analyzer doesn’t. It is a separate application that picks up signals from a Sampler Grabber plug-in (similar to ReWire) and routes the data to the main Pure Analyzer application.  This threw me at first as I was expecting a plug-in and having run the installer I couldn’t find the plug-in. However once I had read the manual the configuration and arrangements were very clear and I had Analyzer running very quickly.

 
Layout
There are a range of layout options, which you can select to determine what modules are displayed in what position and what size. The factory-configured range of layouts are very good but there doesn’t seem to be a way of creating your own layouts which is a shame on a product that is brimming over with user configurable options. That said I was always able to find a layout that was pretty close to the combination of modules I wanted.
 

Modules
There are some reasonably conventional modules including a vector scope, which I always find useful for displaying the stereo image visually.
 
The metering module can be set to display a wide range of metering types and I was pleased to find the BBC PPM and it was interesting to watch it next to the true peak meter and the 3rd meter is a loudness meter, which defaults to the new EBU R128 format.
 

History
There is also a metering history module which anyone who has engaged with me or followed me regarding loudness will know I consider to be a very important feature and it is good to see that Flux have included it. However it scrolls to quickly for me and I couldn’t find any way of changing the scrolling speed.
 
There is also a spectrum analyzer module that Flux call Magnitude Spectrum and as with a number of the visual displays in Analyzer the use of colour is very helpful
 
A new display module
They have included a module before which I have seen before called the Nebula or spatial spectrogram and this is little like a cross between the vector scope and the spectrum analyzer and displays image width against frequency and again makes good use of colour to help make the display as clear as possible.
 
Overall I found this plug-in was able to display almost too much information and with the exception of the couple of points I have referred to has almost too many user configurable settings.
I can understand why Flux have made it a separate application but it does make it a little harder to use as you have to keep switching from Pro Tools to the Analyzer app and that can be a pain.
 
For me mastering final transmission copies of broadcast programmes Analyzer is a little too complex and I would like Flux to produce a simplified version that could function as a plug-in within Pro Tools. But for a mastering engineer I can see this would very quickly become an essential tool in the process of mastering audio content in a growing number of sectors.
 
The price is modular too
As to buying Analyzer, you buy the core application Analyzer Essential and then add the appropriate options for your application. In my case I would need the Metering option to get the loudness meters and then the Multi-channel option to work in Surround.
Download a free trial version
 
Pricing
Pure Analyzer Essential €279
Live option €149
Metering Option €149
Multichannel Option €149