Official Serum thread!

[arkmabat]

For every person saying Serum doesn't sound warm (which oddly or not, I only see here on KVR), there's also at least one person telling me Serum has the best sounding oscillators. This stuff is *measurable* with an analyzer, and doesn't have to be talked about in ambiguous terminology like "warm":

1) Some other WT synths which have audible+visible aliasing, which I don't believe is a warm thing at all (it's an ugly inharmonic ringing sound, like you get from using SR Reduction effects). Play a 1Khz sine and look for the reflections. Serum has the lowest aliasing around for any WT synth I'm aware of.

2) Another factor in other WT synths the lack of highs, this is very noticeable on some WT synths where they lack the upper harmonics. This is going to happen if you use a shorter window size (e.g. 512 samples) for wavetables. For instance if you play a low note saw (say 50 Hz) and listen or look at the highs, Serum will be very bright and cutting in the highs where some others will be dull (LPF sound). I see no benefit in having a dull sound, but maybe some people prefer that (seems silly to me, as it's easy to remove highs but impossible to add them properly).

3) Lastly would be a filter imparting some sort of harmonic quality, but then of course this isn't even talking about the oscillators at all, but rather the filter - obviously worthy of discussion, but it's good not to confuse the two topics. Serum has a variety of filters of course, some filter types more colored-sounding than others, but I have ideas for expanding this greatly to impart additional tonal characteristics in the future!

Global oversampling and polyphony are something I'd like to add to the preferences section. I'm going to release 1.01 with (mostly) bugfixes and some minor enhancements this week, then I'll certainly try to get these in v1.1!

Steve
Serum | Xfer Records

Like I said, beef or fish? To each his own.
Gearslutz has the same discussion going. It is absolutely not a KVR exclusive topic. See here: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... are-3.html

[t3toooo]

Don't even know what's then definition of cold but i would treat Serum like a girl and warm it afterwards.

[Sampleconstruct]

Three fresh Serum patches in this little Triplet Tale:

http://soundcloud.com/sampleconstruct/t ... demo-sonic

[V0RT3X]

Don't even know what's then definition of cold but i would treat Serum like a girl and warm it afterwards.

this analogy could be taken for something quite sinister.

[Kain]

It's funny how back in the days when I got so crazy about Omnisphere I literally went crazy (got a psychosis) people did not see why Omnipshere was such an amazing new thing and they where saying "well I have this and this so why do I need Omnisphere" or "but this and this do stuff that Omnisphere does not".

And now when comparing Serum a lot of times I see people saying. "Well I have Omnipshere so why would I need Serum" and "but this and this I can do with Omnisphere and Serum can not" (of course Serum can't do anything that it sample based, comparing Omnisphere and Serum is insane)

Anyway ... I think within a couple of years Serum will have that one unique sounding preset that everybody goes crazy about and before you know it in that genre of music half the tracks will use it. Kind of like that modern talking preset in Massive for dubstep.

So yeah you can quote me when in two years there is a new synth on the market and people are saying "well I don't know, does not really sound that warm like my Serum does"


Lolz .... people.... opinions.

[Kinh]

Soft synths generally aren't renowned for their warmth. Some synths like Omnisphere which can be a little on the warm side or heavyocity stuff dont seem to be as commercial sounding as others that are more synthetic like Serum. If you really want warmth you need to venture into hard synth territory...particularly the new Kingkorg.
Serum is great because it IS cold, in my books. You listen to the radio now a days dats what you hear, not only in synth but vocals. Cold is cool.

[t3toooo]

Don't even know what's then definition of cold but i would treat Serum like a girl and warm it afterwards.

this analogy could be taken for something quite sinister.

Please don't!

[ATS]

Soft synths generally aren't renowned for their warmth. Some synths like Omnisphere which can be a little on the warm side or heavyocity stuff dont seem to be as commercial sounding as others that are more synthetic like Serum. If you really want warmth you need to venture into hard synth territory...particularly the new Kingkorg.
Serum is great because it IS cold, in my books. You listen to the radio now a days dats what you hear, not only in synth but vocals. Cold is cool.

nonsense, total nonsense.

[AmyTree]

I find that if I play Serum and stick my fingers in my ears, if sounds just as warm as any other WT synth. In fact doing so, it sounds very much like other synths do, when I don't have my fingers in my ears. Think I'll try cotton wool and see if that has the same effect.

[Sampleconstruct]

I find that if I play Serum and stick my fingers in my ears, if sounds just as warm as any other WT synth. In fact doing so, it sounds very much like other synths do, when I don't have my fingers in my ears. Think I'll try cotton wool and see if that has the same effect.

Post of the week!

[xx JPRacer xx]

... it's easy to remove highs but impossible to add them properly.

So true!

[rustman]

I find that if I play Serum and stick my fingers in my ears, if sounds just as warm as any other WT synth. In fact doing so, it sounds very much like other synths do, when I don't have my fingers in my ears. Think I'll try cotton wool and see if that has the same effect.

Oooohhhh. How I want to make a witty about one-note chords while standing with my fingers in my ears....

[billcarroll]

I find that if I play Serum and stick my fingers in my ears, if sounds just as warm as any other WT synth. In fact doing so, it sounds very much like other synths do, when I don't have my fingers in my ears. Think I'll try cotton wool and see if that has the same effect.

The two-pole finger filter is well known for warmth. I'm pretty sure Bob Moog's wife came up with that one.

Seriously though, Serum has so much extra clear top end people just don't know what to do without all of the nasty aliasing and top end junk they get with other synths like Sylenth. Serum is in a completely different class.

[Bathrobe]

The two-pole finger filter is well known for warmth. I'm pretty sure Bob Moog's wife came up with that one.

So 4Pole is fingers in ear and nose?

[arkmabat]

I find that if I play Serum and stick my fingers in my ears, if sounds just as warm as any other WT synth. In fact doing so, it sounds very much like other synths do, when I don't have my fingers in my ears. Think I'll try cotton wool and see if that has the same effect.

The two-pole finger filter is well known for warmth. I'm pretty sure Bob Moog's wife came up with that one.

Seriously though, Serum has so much extra clear top end people just don't know what to do without all of the nasty aliasing and top end junk they get with other synths like Sylenth. Serum is in a completely different class.

I can see where you're coming from. I'm going to demo extensively tonight.