Flow 3 is a filter that sounds bigger than it looks. Behind the compact 6 HP front panel lies a novel variation on the classic state variable filter topology, offering simultaneous lowpass, bandpass and highpass outputs. Core integrator saturation provides for a sound that’s clean, yet distinctive. The resonance response is exceptionally smooth—and it can easily reach self-oscillation. In this mode, temperature-compensation and exact calibration make Flow 3 a reliable quadrature sine/cosine oscillator with tight pitch tracking. But the ace up Flow 3’s sleeve is its auto-dynamic nature: it is a filter that can modulate itself. This is achieved by a combined decay generator/envelope follower circuit which controls the filter frequency over an adjustable range. Either fire decay envelopes from external triggers, or flip it to auto mode to follow along with the incoming signal’s amplitude envelope (or both, simultaneously). Creating heavy-hitting analogue kick drum sounds becomes a breeze. And with a bit of patching, Flow 3 can even be used as a spectrum splitter (or ‘crossover’), cleanly separating the full audio range into low and high portions, for dual-band signal processing. This is possible thanks to the Linkwitz-Riley filter response at minimum resonance. Let yourself get carried away as Flow 3 takes the old auto-filter concept to new voltage-controlled heights.
