KVR Audio

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 5:55 pm

Igro wrote:
Sampleconstruct wrote:
Ingonator wrote:
Igro wrote:Which one is more CPU hungry - Massive or Serum?
Massive was quite CPU hungry at the time it was released but by todays standards i don't think it is really bad. especially when compared to e.g. Serum.
Well, Massive is a joke compared to Serum.
Hmm, joke is Sylenth1 or any other ordinary VA compared to Massive. Massive is really similar to Serum apart from some wavetable functions (making custom wavetables, for instance).

Making wavetables from any possible source and creating new sounds from there is the main selling point for Serum I'd say and it also supports sample playback in the Noise Osc. Also the filter section, especially the combs, dual filters and flanges are exceptional.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 5:57 pm

djanthonyw wrote:I certainly don't think Massive or many other synths are "jokes". I don't think Serum sounds great, but I wouldn't call it a joke. Regardless of how "precise" it is over other synths which have some aliasing, it still sounds very thin, cold and sterile. Very "software" sounding. I would never use a synth that has a million features if great sound isn't there *for me*.

Well, having used Massive for many years I do know what I'm talking about, I should have phrased it differently knowing that on KVR this kind of statement opens Pandora's box, but I already wrote it, so it's too late now

EDIT: "thin and sterile" is just extremely subjective BS, sorry to say - after 2 weeks programming Serum I have not heard a thin or sterile sound unless I wanted to create one.

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 6:10 pm

Has somebody seen a difference for the CPU usage for the latest Beta 5?

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 6:12 pm

Sampleconstruct wrote:
Ingonator wrote:
Igro wrote:Which one is more CPU hungry - Massive or Serum?
Massive was quite CPU hungry at the time it was released but by todays standards i don't think it is really bad. especially when compared to e.g. Serum.
Well, Massive is a joke compared to Serum.

Well I wouldn't call it a joke because I've gotten some pretty amazing sounds out of it. I know it got a bit of a bad name since everyone has abused it to make dubstep and EDM noises, but it is still fairly capable. I personally think it compliments Serum very nicely because it can fill in parts of a track using way less CPU than Serum.

Yes it lacks a wavetable editor like Serum which gives it a bit of a limitless feeling considering its a wavetable synthesizer. Yes for 2013 it still lacks a better oversampling algorithm, updated filters & FX but I think whenever Native Instruments decides to roll out Massive 2, i think we will all be pleasantly surprised because the competition will force Native Instruments to update one of their best selling synthesizers or let it sink.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:42 pm

Question for Steve: will you allow subfolders for the LFO Shapes, Noises, Tables and Presets folders? This would be very much appreciated, especially for Presets and Tables...

billcarroll · Post by **billcarroll** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:52 pm

EvilDragon wrote:Question for Steve: will you allow subfolders for the LFO Shapes, Noises, Tables and Presets folders? This would be very much appreciated, especially for Presets and Tables...

It would also be cool if the browser would follow symlinks. This way you could just symlink over to user lfo shapes you've created in LFOTool rather than having to copy them over.

blackflag · Post by **blackflag** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:05 pm

Well of course the guy selling presets for a synth would be telling everyone how much better it is..no you're not biased or anything. lol

Serum is a great synth, but does indeed sound very sterile, which is not necessarily a bad thing I suppose.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:17 pm

blackflag wrote:Well of course the guy selling presets for a synth would be telling everyone how much better it is..no you're not biased or anything. lol

Serum is a great synth, but does indeed sound very sterile, which is not necessarily a bad thing I suppose.

Whatever you write is true.

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:26 pm

blackflag wrote:Well of course the guy selling presets for a synth would be telling everyone how much better it is..no you're not biased or anything. lol

Serum is a great synth, but does indeed sound very sterile, which is not necessarily a bad thing I suppose.

I'm not sure with this "sterile". I've used Serum in my latest release and tested also with other styles and it comes never to my mind that it would sound sterile.
This short snippet I made only with Serum (except the drums and for the bass I used Strobe) and for me it sounds the opposite of sterile.
https://soundcloud.com/52degree/frank-a ... er/s-ZDJLi

I made also a video with a small project walk while testing a bit ambient with Serum. I don't think it sounds sterile?

blackflag · Post by **blackflag** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:39 pm

One of the reasons it sounds sterile to me is the drive knob doesn't really add enough saturation to the filter resonance, of course you could use the distortion effect, but it's not quite the same. Diva, Dune2, Synth Squad, and the Zebra XMF filter all do this very well.

Nielzie · Post by **Nielzie** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:40 pm

blackflag wrote: Serum is a great synth, but does indeed sound very sterile, which is not necessarily a bad thing I suppose.

Not a bad thing at all. Not everything has to sound phat and analogish warm full of rich saturated harmonics. In fact your mix will get overcrowded soon with many sounds like that. There is a pure beauty in clean digital sounds, and they are very nice to fit in the mix too.

bitcrusher · Post by **bitcrusher** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:45 pm

There is a pure beauty in clean digital sounds

'Sterile' is a word with negative connotations, I prefer 'pure' or 'unadulterated'. This was very much intentional in design, I wanted flat to 20 Khz (most synths are not) and I wanted lower aliasing than you typically get from soft synths. I was never pleased with hearing a rolled top end, or varying note-to-note on other WT Synths. It's obviously easy to darken a sound but it's not easy to brighten one, especially if you really just want a flat response. Serum gives you that by default.

will you allow subfolders for the LFO Shapes, Noises, Tables and Presets folders? This would be very much appreciated, especially for Presets and Tables...

Yes, it is planned.

Steve
Serum | Xfer Records

djanthonyw · Post by **djanthonyw** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:47 pm

Sorry, Frank. That still sounds sterile to me. Z3TA is a perfect example of a synth that sounds digital, but does not sound sterile. Dune 2 is another. With Serum, it just sounds like a typical synth that comes with a DAW... actually I still think even the ES2 sounds better.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:25 pm

djanthonyw wrote:Sorry, Frank. That still sounds sterile to me. Z3TA is a perfect example of a synth that sounds digital, but does not sound sterile. Dune 2 is another. With Serum, it just sounds like a typical synth that comes with a DAW... actually I still think even the ES2 sounds better.

This is great though, it actually allows a person to "color" the sound with other plugins.

I like the "warm" sound that is often associated with added harmonic content via saturation just like the next guy, but sometimes its nice to have a synthesizer in your arsenal like Serum.

billcarroll · Post by **billcarroll** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:27 pm

djanthonyw wrote:Sorry, Frank. That still sounds sterile to me. Z3TA is a perfect example of a synth that sounds digital, but does not sound sterile. Dune 2 is another. With Serum, it just sounds like a typical synth that comes with a DAW... actually I still think even the ES2 sounds better.

I'd love to hear what you are talking about. Maybe post some sound examples you think sound not sterile and you feel Serum can't acheive, and see if people can match them with Serum.

Official Serum thread!