diff --git a/test/cwrapper.py b/test/cwrapper.py
index 1e941b9..7b61fb1 100644
--- a/test/cwrapper.py
+++ b/test/cwrapper.py
@@ -440,3 +440,12 @@ def call(self, name, *args, raise_error=True, raise_warning=False, **kwargs):
                     "{name} (call external): {error}".format(name=name, error=error)
                 )
         return error
+
+    def new_state(self):
+        try:
+            return idl_call_external("NewState", lib=self.lib, restype="state")
+        except AttributeError:
+            return None
+
+    def free_state(self, state):
+        return idl_call_external("FreeState", state=state)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/sme_synth.py b/test/sme_synth.py
index 83f729e..67410a3 100644
--- a/test/sme_synth.py
+++ b/test/sme_synth.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ def __init__(self, libfile=None, datadir=None):
         self.ion = None
 
         self.lib = IDL_DLL(libfile)
+        self.parallel = False
         self.state = self.NewState()
 
         if datadir is not None:
@@ -94,14 +95,17 @@ def check_data_files_exist(self):
     def NewState(self, delete_old=True):
         if delete_old and hasattr(self, "state") and self.state is not None:
             self.FreeState()
-        self.state = self.lib.call(
-            "NewState", restype="state", raise_error=False, raise_warning=False
-        )
+        self.state = self.lib.new_state()
+        if self.state is None:   
+            self.parallel = False
+        else:
+            self.parallel = True
+
         return self.state
 
     def FreeState(self):
         if self.state is not None:
-            self.lib.call("FreeState", raise_error=False, raise_warning=False, state=self.state)
+            self.lib.free_state(self.state)
             self.state = None
 
     def SMELibraryVersion(self):