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 Welcome to the official Serum Thread! I figured with the recent group of people who have purchased Serum and like discussing it in the VST thread, we should have our own dedicated thread to share our wavetables, presets, patches and knowledge about how we created our What is Serum? Serum is an Advanced Wavetable Synthesizer plugin created by Steve Duda of Xfer Records, in collaboration with deadmau5. It is compatible with both Windows and Mac and will work in nearly all DAW’s. The price is $189 which many people will tell you is a steal for the quality and depth of the plugin. If that is a little steep for you, Steve has partnered with Splice to offer Serum on a pay-to-own plan. You essentially sign up and pay $10/month until you have covered the full $189, at which point you own the plugin free and clear. No interest whatsoever and you can cancel at anytime if you no longer want to use Serum. If it sounds too good to be true, don't worry, Steve is a huge proponent of this type of business model for music software. Link to the offer is below: https://splice.com/plugins/15493-serum-vst-au-by-xfer-records Steve is a genuinely nice guy with a library of knowledge on audio engineering, producing, programming, and basically anything to do with making electronic music. From Xfer’s website: “The dream synthesizer did not seem to exist: a wavetable synthesizer with a truly high-quality sound, visual and creative workflow-oriented interface to make creating and altering sounds fun instead of tedious, and the ability to “go deep” when desired - to create / import / edit / morph wavetables, and manipulate these on playback in real-time.” Serum seems to combine the best of both worlds: an easy-to-understand interface with plenty of graphics to assist in visualizing various parameter with the ability to dive-deep and create some complex, intricate, and truly unique sounds. It is highly recommended to check out the series of introduction videos that Steve did with Icon Collective (linked below). It’s a 12-part series that introduces you to the various features of Serum and gives you a good overview of the possibilities within this synth. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCdl4Odo4R1i0q3SzY0o3I0Qwl85N7H9F Serum Features Serum allows you to create and import your own custom wavetables. It is as simple as dragging in an audio file into Serum, or drawing it yourself in their wavetable editor. It features two ultra-clean oscillators and are some of the best-sounding of any softsynth I have used. In addition, it also includes a noise oscillator which comes with some pretty awesome presets that can add some cool atmosphere. Modulation is incredibly easy within Serum and is similar in some respects to Massive with the drag-and-drop functionality. In addition, you can use standard routing in the Mod-matrix, and some parameters can only be modulated in that location. One of the coolest parameters to modulate is the wavetable position, which will basically change the shape of the wave over time, based on the current wavetable. This can really add some interesting movement to a particular sound. There are a ton of Filter Options and as any other parameter, these can be all be modulated for some fun effects. The built-in suite of FX are excellent and include: Hyper/Dimension, Distortion, Flanger, Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Compressor, Reverb, EQ, and additional Filtering Options. This is barely scratching the surface but should give you a solid idea on how many options you have within this synth. The SA Serum Library I have set up a Google Drive Folder for our various Serum users to add their wavetables, presets, and full patches. If your patch doesn’t seem to fit in an existing folder, feel free to create a new one. Don’t forget to post when you add a patch with a little description of what you did. This will help others re-create or dissect your patch and will be a cool way to learn different techniques. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9r7pGkLQPy4NTE5YXFVYnFadEU Now get in there and start making some ridiculous sounds!
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Feb 11, 2017 21:58
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 13:54 |
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Gonna be checking out these patches tonight or tomorrow, and will hopefully dive into making something awesome of my own. I've actually got a fair bit of sound design ahead of me for an indefinite period of time (working on a quirky indie FPS), so I'm hoping Serum can really help me out with what I want to so.
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Feb 11, 2017 22:58
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Picked Serum up last night after watching the Steve Duda videos. Fun but Jesus, this is like choice paralysis defined. What are there, like 140 wavetables, with a zillion ways to manipulate them? I'm finding it hard to know where to start with a patch really, apart from the basic 'uh I want a pad so long ADSR' stuff you do with every synth.
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Feb 12, 2017 08:56
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Tayter Swift posted:Picked Serum up last night after watching the Steve Duda videos. Fun but Jesus, this is like choice paralysis defined. What are there, like 140 wavetables, with a zillion ways to manipulate them? I'm finding it hard to know where to start with a patch really, apart from the basic 'uh I want a pad so long ADSR' stuff you do with every synth. Wait until you start making your own tables! Nice job OP, I've gone in and created a few more folders to match the default Serum preset folders. So there'll be Bass, Bass (Hard) and Lead in there now. I'll start uploading a few of my commonly-used presets as I come across them. well why not fucked around with this message at 13:31 on Feb 12, 2017 |
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Feb 12, 2017 13:20
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How can you get free running LFOs? Even when using an INIT patch the modulation seems tied to ENV 1's release value. To see the problem make an INIT patch and increase ENV 1's release to 2 seconds. Then add a longish reverb to the FX chain (10secs whatever). Next, add a filter after the reverb. Now modulate that filter with an LFO. The reverb'd signal is modulated for two seconds and then left hanging. Is this a feature or a bug/oversight?
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Feb 12, 2017 21:03
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Tayter Swift posted:Picked Serum up last night after watching the Steve Duda videos. Fun but Jesus, this is like choice paralysis defined. What are there, like 140 wavetables, with a zillion ways to manipulate them? I'm finding it hard to know where to start with a patch really, apart from the basic 'uh I want a pad so long ADSR' stuff you do with every synth. ....and those are just the ones that come with the synth! When you really want to go deep you can draw your own wavetables, import existing ones or even convert samples and images into wavetables!  You don't have to get crazy with wavetables immediately though (or ever, I guess) A very neat way of using them is to add variance to an otherwise static sound. You can treat it like a normal synth and pick a sawtooth or w/e wavetable and just use the filters and envelopes and such like you would usually, and then just slightly modulate the wavetable with an envelope or LFO to make the sound a bit more interesting. Great to see the thread, by the way! I'll be sure to make some posts when I got time, as well as upload more patches 
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Feb 13, 2017 01:15
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Kilmers Elbow posted:How can you get free running LFOs? I am pretty sure there is a retrigger option on the LFO so that it repeats once it has gone through a full cycle. I'll check when I get home.
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Feb 13, 2017 01:18
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Just checked out the Drive folder and saw a bunch of new patches that I can't wait to check out when I get home. Thanks for uploading some new ones dudes. I have been working on my bass sound design a bit lately and will likely put some patches up tonight. I also just bought a Novation Launchkey MIDI controller and I gotta say, physically turning knobs to adjust parameters is the bee's knees.
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Feb 14, 2017 20:18
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Can't wait to see all our presets show up in a paid sample pack!
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Feb 14, 2017 21:21
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well why not posted:Can't wait to see all our presets show up in a paid sample pack! My plans....they have been compromised!
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Feb 14, 2017 23:33
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Welp, I worked on a bassline last night and it ended up turning into writing a full loop that I am extremely excited about. It kinda reminds me of "Sofi Needs a Ladder" but with more synths. Made all of the synths and basses in Serum so I might create a Loops Folder and drop the .wav and Patches for it in there.
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Feb 15, 2017 17:57
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I think we could probably just add a sound design folder that we can just dump awful over-distorted basses into for fun. I, uh, have quite a few.
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Feb 16, 2017 10:20
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I got carried away working on a new track and didn't add any of the stuff I have been working on yet. I have a three-day weekend coming up though and my plan is to do a series of Serum patches for 808 Kicks. Watched a tutorial yesterday and think it would be cool to have some percussion patches in our library.
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Feb 16, 2017 17:59
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I am blowing up my own thread but I don't care. I know there are at least a couple people in here who produce house music which happens to be my genre of choice. I feel like I have a pretty solid understanding of Ableton, my various VST's, and how to approach writing a track but I am always looking to hear how other people make tracks to dance to. Would anyone be interested in collaborating on a house track with me? This is meant to be a fun exercise to explore each other's sounds and process and work together on something so there wouldn't be pressure or deadlines or anything like that. I'll post a few of the tracks/artists I have been listening to lately as well as an early demo of an unfinished track of my own to give you an idea of my style. No hard feelings if it isn't your thing. I just feel like outside of the forums, I don't know anyone that is interested in producing music and it would be really cool to start working with and bouncing ideas off of people with similar tastes in music. Driftwalk - Bradwise (Original MIx) This is an early demo of a track I wrote but haven't finished yet. https://soundcloud.com/bradley-freeman-3/driftwalk-wip2/s-syMmC Higher Love - Seven Lions & Jason Ross ft. Paul Meany Seven Lions is one of my favorite producers for years now and Jason Ross is incredibly talented as well. Seven Lions is a sound design wizard. https://soundcloud.com/seven-lions/seven-lions-jason-ross-feat-paul-meany-higher-love-anjunabeats Cool Girl - Tove Lo (Two Friends Remix) A new producer duo with some really exceptional house music. In a genre constantly ridiculed for having a lot of copy-cats, these guys managed to create their own "sound" to the point where I can usually tell a track of theirs without seeing the track info. https://soundcloud.com/two-friends/sets/tove-lo-cool-girl-two Slow Motion - Sevenn ft. Q'AILA This reminds me of Deorro with the way the synth pluck sounds, but drat if all of the percussion isn't just incredible. This inspired a lot more creativity in my drum tracks. https://soundcloud.com/featurepr/sevenn-feat-qaila-slow-motion-feature027 MrSargent fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Feb 18, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 00:12
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do you use Splice? if you chuck something quick up on there (or in a google drive folder) I'll take a look and see what happens? Can't promise much but I really would like a collab to happen!
well why not fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Feb 18, 2017 |
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Feb 18, 2017 12:01
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well why not posted:do you use Splice? if you chuck something quick up on there (or in a google drive folder) I'll take a look and see what happens? Can't promise much but I really would like a collab to happen! I have only used Splice to download plugins and samples but not to upload yet. Do you use Ableton? I could upload the Project file or bounce some stems if that would be better. I have a couple ideas that might be fun.
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Feb 18, 2017 19:51
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Oh also, I created a new folder for Drums and then one inside that for Kicks. Added two different 808's I made in Serum that sound pretty cool. It's meant to be a fairly unprocessed sound so you can build off of it quite a bit. I have also made some cool Samples using Serum and some other VST's that I could share on drive as well. Also added a gritty growl to the Hard Bass folder, you can get some interesting results by modulating the wavetable position. I created all of the waveshapes from scratch and they turned out better than I thought they would.
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Feb 18, 2017 22:01
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MrSargent posted:I have only used Splice to download plugins and samples but not to upload yet. Do you use Ableton? I could upload the Project file or bounce some stems if that would be better. I have a couple ideas that might be fun. yep, ableton 4 life. just 'collect all & save as' and we can be cooking.
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Feb 18, 2017 22:41
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I've been wishing I had something to work on that didn't require me to do any composition, but there are a couple of problems that might make a successful collaboration a minor miracle (and I don't even believe in Jebus). One, I don't use Ableton; I use Sonar (Platinum). Two, I'm terribly unreliable - I have both schizophrenia and ADHD. I could probably do something that only required sound design on my part. That was what first got me interested in music production and remains my favorite part of the process. I know you, MrSargent, listened to my "Opus 666", since you were the only one out of a triple digit number of listeners who commented on it. I'm an avid Serum user, and I'd like a good reason to do more exploration of its capabilities. Maybe I could do sound design for a collaborative project. You can find my soundcloud here https://soundcloud.com/eric-danger Edit: Now that I've slept on it, I find that I'm not as interested as I thought I was...so...never mind. Eric Danger fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Feb 19, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 01:44
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Eric Danger posted:I've been wishing I had something to work on that didn't require me to do any composition, but there are a couple of problems that might make a successful collaboration a minor miracle (and I don't even believe in Jebus). One, I don't use Ableton; I use Sonar (Platinum). Two, I'm terribly unreliable - I have both schizophrenia and ADHD. I could probably do something that only required sound design on my part. That was what first got me interested in music production and remains my favorite part of the process. Would love to work with you too! I'll have another look through your catalogue and see if there are any sounds that I would like to build upon or use in a track. I imagine that I could send you an arrangement or something and then you could record your sound to a wav file for me.
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Feb 21, 2017 04:03
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Dude the bassline in Fascination Street is incredible. I would definitely do something with a bassline like that.
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Feb 21, 2017 05:18
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MrSargent posted:Dude the bassline in Fascination Street is incredible. I would definitely do something with a bassline like that. I wish I could take more credit for that, but it was actually a Massive factory preset called "Pluck Bass". It was so perfect for the part that I barely even tweeked on it. No need to reinvent the wheel.
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Feb 21, 2017 23:43
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MrSargent posted:Would love to work with you too! I'll have another look through your catalogue and see if there are any sounds that I would like to build upon or use in a track. I imagine that I could send you an arrangement or something and then you could record your sound to a wav file for me. Hit me up on ICQ sometime. It's in my profile.
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Feb 25, 2017 01:44
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Eric Danger posted:Hit me up on ICQ sometime. Holy poo poo did you just get here from 1997? I have so much to tell you.
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Feb 25, 2017 02:38
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Trig Discipline posted:Holy poo poo did you just get here from 1997? I have so much to tell you. Ha, I was just about to say something similar, then I remembered that I was using ICQ for work up until last June. And I only stopped because I moved departments, those fools are still using it. 
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Feb 25, 2017 02:44
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Cross-posting from the making electronic music thread: I finished my first song ever last night and man, it feels really good. I wrote the whole thing in one night and the second night was mostly spent filling it out and mixing/mastering. It really showed me how far I have come in that I was able to take an idea from its infancy and see it through to completion in a very reasonable amount of time. It's definitely a dance/electronic track but isn't your typical 4 to the floor beat. As always, any feedback is appreciated and most importantly, I hope there are some of you that enjoy it! If anyone has any production questions, please feel free to ask them here! https://soundcloud.com/bradley-freeman-3/hayes-valley Edit: Updated with public link MrSargent fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Mar 1, 2017 |
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Mar 1, 2017 00:54
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Quick 'recipe' question; Is there a way that I could get a arpeggio-like portamento slide? For example, instead of it being a really smooth glide from one note to whatever's next, I want it to sound as if each note is specifically being hit. So, I guess the portamento would only occur through semitones, rather that literally every frequency, thus to give it that sort of arpeggiated sound.
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Mar 29, 2017 18:24
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I'm assuming you have tried tweaking the "Porta" knob on the bottom right of the Main Screen?
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Mar 29, 2017 18:37
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MrSargent posted:I'm assuming you have tried tweaking the "Porta" knob on the bottom right of the Main Screen? Yeah, and the only way I can recreate the sound I'm talking about is to turn it all the way down, set it to mono, and literally play the notes themselves. I actually don't think I'm able to so this, just within Serum, but I figured I'd check here.
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Mar 29, 2017 18:40
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Sorry, that was my only guess for doing that just in Serum. For what it's worth, this can be done pretty easily using Serum + Cthulhu. Cthulhu isn't that expensive and it's the best arpeggiator I have used.
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Mar 29, 2017 19:04
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MrSargent posted:Sorry, that was my only guess for doing that just in Serum. For what it's worth, this can be done pretty easily using Serum + Cthulhu. Cthulhu isn't that expensive and it's the best arpeggiator I have used. Thanks, yeah that was my next option. Might just pick it up soonish.
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Mar 29, 2017 19:17
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I caved and bought it (via Splice). There's a few annoyances - no free running LFOs, chaos thingies are awkwardly out of the way, the delay unit is very fiddly to use....but apart from that it's fantastic. And there's a scalable GUI on the way soon, too.
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Mar 29, 2017 19:25
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Kilmers Elbow posted:I caved and bought it (via Splice). Welcome to the club! Don't forget to check out the shared folder we have going and add some of your awesome sounds.
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Mar 30, 2017 04:38
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 13:54 |
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I'm new to synthesis and Serum is my first paid synthesizer (coming from a guitar/bass background) so the tutorial videos in the OP were extremely helpful. Hopefully, I can contribute something worthwhile to the share drive soon.
GREAT SATAN fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Apr 2, 2017 |
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Apr 2, 2017 22:26
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