Serum was voted one of the best synths in 2020 and has been on the rise
over the past year.
It is a sound designers playground offering some of the best tools one would
ever need in sound creation from scratch.
Serum is developed by Xfer Records.
Most people that use the 3-day demo version of Serum go back to purchase
the full thing.
Introducing Serum
Serum is basically a very flexible wavetable synthesizer.
The most common synthesizers are based on simple sine, triangle and saw
waves,
but Serum is a powerful synthesizer that achieves its uniqueness using a
group of digital waveforms that are collectively known as wavetables.
Therefore, instead of having to choose from a list of very basic wave shapes
and modulating them to fit your specific needs, serum allows you to pick
from thousands of wavetable combinations.
which means you can take your sound design to a whole new level.
Serum Sound Engine
The sound engine is super clean and crisp is of high quality, Xfer records
have really put in the work to create the best possible sound design tool.
It has four oscillators:
Two main Wave table oscillators, a flexible noise generator and a dirty sub oscillator.
Wavetables
The two wavetable oscillators are bundled with over 150 wavetable shapes
which gives the user a variety to work with.
But these waveshapes are not the best part.
Serum allows you to morph between wavetables whilst being able to import
others aswell.
It also has an external audio function, which allows you to import your own
audio which gives you the power to create new and unique wavetables using
the Serum built in wavetable editor.
The editor has a large number of customization tools, but remains fairly easy
to use and will be a great play ground for experimentation and exploration.
Moving over to the analog section, you’ll discover that it features numerous
variants of the VCO style waveforms along with iconic sounds.
The digital, spectral and vowel sections feature numerous complex
wavetables that are perfect for crafting a range of leads, bass, pads and
everything you would want to create from a synthesizer.
Noise and Sub oscillators
The noise and sub oscillators pack a variety of great characteristics which
make them a great addition to this amazing sound engine.
You can easily build a bass patch by routing the sub oscillator to the output
section.
The noise oscillator has a variety of organic and abstract noises.
Plus a large selection of clicks can be used to enhance synthesized drums
and percussive hits.
Furthermore, you’ll find that Serum has a couple of multi mode filters.
These filters come with numerous filter types .
Plus the second filter can be placed anywhere in the FX chain which makes
your workflow better.
Which artists use Serum?
The Chainsmokers
Skrillex
Kygo
Matthew Bellamy
Joel Zimmerman
Martin Garrix
Flume
Why is Serum the best synth?
Simply because it uses a high quality engine flexible with numerous waveforms.
How much does Serum VST cost?
Serum by Xfer Records costs $189
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