Official Serum thread!

[db3]

And now.. build a song around it

There you go
https://app.box.com/shared/static/zm9bi ... q2d37r.mp3

[zeep]

What is the best way to make a simple sinewave shape LFO for say Vibrato?

Also, just something i thought i'd mention. Probably a known / normal thing. If you use Unison in i.e. OSC B, and then turn off OSC B, it still uses CPU.

[Sampleconstruct]

2 layered psaltery wavetables meet something strange and dark - 2 instances, 100% Serum:

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

[PatchAdamz]

I'm reading all these negative comments about the sound quality, and it just doesn't jibe with my own experience. Here's what I think (and please feel free to disagree!): I think wavetable synths, and also most additive synths, make it very easy to add a whole lot of upper harmonics. Doing so tends to de-emphasize the fundamental and first few harmonics. The result is a perceived thinness or harshness. Considerable care is required when creating patches on these kinds of synths, so that the upper frequencies don't overwhelm the lower partials.

I think that's partially true.



Ah, I crack myself up. But seriously, we've talked about digital synths being "cold" since DX7 days. Guitar amps since transistor days. I'm sure pianos are talked about in such a way as well. Funny, I was just in a thread on Gearslutz where someone described the DX7s "warmth" compared to software. It's all relative I guess. Anyway, I mentioned some techniques to warm and beef up Serum's sound that work really well but aren't very apparent in the presets.

Listen to Codex though, with the same wavetable and basic filter settings. It's a totally different sound. It's as if the designers at Waves said, "no one would ever want that kind of harshness, let's make sure it doesn't happen." So, you lose flexibility on one hand, but on the other you have a more instantly likable sound.

I hear this a lot in software instruments. Some sound very "cold" and "clinical" to me. (I don't like to use the word "thin" on a synth capable of such bass as Serum) NI synths, including Massive, come to mind. I remember thinking Tone2's Saurus and Nemesis were cold, where Diva and Toxic biohazard were warm. I don't think of it as a value judgement though, just like I don't judge a hot cup of coffee against a glass of iced tea. Both have places in my world.

Very true, DX7 was thought of as cold and different for the synths that came before it.

Of course, it ended up a classic, outselling ALL synths that came before it.

I think Serums Strength is its ability to do clean sounds, dark sounds, bright sounds, classic sounds etc.

It is not confined to simply one sonic characteristic.

That what makes it such a great synth, the type of sound it gets, are based on the type of sound the programmer wants.

It allows a choice, many choices actually, and more so then the average synth.

[4damind]

And now.. build a song around it

There you go
https://app.box.com/shared/static/zm9bi ... q2d37r.mp3

"Your Box account may be temporarily unavailable"

[SLiC]

What is the best way to make a simple sinewave shape LFO for say Vibrato?

Also, just something i thought i'd mention. Probably a known / normal thing. If you use Unison in i.e. OSC B, and then turn off OSC B, it still uses CPU.

There is a folder in the LFO section that has lots of LFO presets including sign waves.

[Skyre]

What is the best way to make a simple sinewave shape LFO for say Vibrato?

As SLiC mentioned, there's a button in the LFO section to browse shapes.

The default sine isn't a perfect sine shape, though. I recall Steve wanting to include a better one back in the day, must've forgotten about it.

Here's a quick screeny of how to draw a more accurate shape for the time being:



You can also grab it from my preset 'PD Ethereal Compass' and save as a custom shape. (Hmm...I had macros for that preset, think I gave him an old version )

Quick tip if you're not aware - holding Alt while dragging curves will adjust all curves equally, which is sweet for creating sines. =]

[blackflag]

I'm reading all these negative comments about the sound quality, and it just doesn't jibe with my own experience. Here's what I think (and please feel free to disagree!): I think wavetable synths, and also most additive synths, make it very easy to add a whole lot of upper harmonics. Doing so tends to de-emphasize the fundamental and first few harmonics. The result is a perceived thinness or harshness. Considerable care is required when creating patches on these kinds of synths, so that the upper frequencies don't overwhelm the lower partials.

I think that's partially true.



Ah, I crack myself up. But seriously, we've talked about digital synths being "cold" since DX7 days. Guitar amps since transistor days. I'm sure pianos are talked about in such a way as well. Funny, I was just in a thread on Gearslutz where someone described the DX7s "warmth" compared to software. It's all relative I guess. Anyway, I mentioned some techniques to warm and beef up Serum's sound that work really well but aren't very apparent in the presets.

Listen to Codex though, with the same wavetable and basic filter settings. It's a totally different sound. It's as if the designers at Waves said, "no one would ever want that kind of harshness, let's make sure it doesn't happen." So, you lose flexibility on one hand, but on the other you have a more instantly likable sound.

I hear this a lot in software instruments. Some sound very "cold" and "clinical" to me. (I don't like to use the word "thin" on a synth capable of such bass as Serum) NI synths, including Massive, come to mind. I remember thinking Tone2's Saurus and Nemesis were cold, where Diva and Toxic biohazard were warm. I don't think of it as a value judgement though, just like I don't judge a hot cup of coffee against a glass of iced tea. Both have places in my world.

Very true, DX7 was thought of as cold and different for the synths that came before it.

Of course, it ended up a classic, outselling ALL synths that came before it.

I think Serums Strength is its ability to do clean sounds, dark sounds, bright sounds, classic sounds etc.

It is not confined to simply one sonic characteristic.

That what makes it such a great synth, the type of sound it gets, are based on the type of sound the programmer wants.

It allows a choice, many choices actually, and more so then the average synth.

The oscillators sound fine to me, it's the filters that sound cold and thin. The gain staging for the filter resonance saturation just isn't very good, so they sound weak when using a lot of resonance.

[zeep]

What is the best way to make a simple sinewave shape LFO for say Vibrato?

As SLiC mentioned, there's a button in the LFO section to browse shapes.

The default sine isn't a perfect sine shape, though. I recall Steve wanting to include a better one back in the day, must've forgotten about it.

Here's a quick screeny of how to draw a more accurate shape for the time being:



You can also grab it from my preset 'PD Ethereal Compass' and save as a custom shape. (Hmm...I had macros for that preset, think I gave him an old version )

Quick tip if you're not aware - holding Alt while dragging curves will adjust all curves equally, which is sweet for creating sines. =]

Thanks for the help. I saved the sine wave shape from PD Ethereal Compass now.

[PatchAdamz]

I'm reading all these negative comments about the sound quality, and it just doesn't jibe with my own experience. Here's what I think (and please feel free to disagree!): I think wavetable synths, and also most additive synths, make it very easy to add a whole lot of upper harmonics. Doing so tends to de-emphasize the fundamental and first few harmonics. The result is a perceived thinness or harshness. Considerable care is required when creating patches on these kinds of synths, so that the upper frequencies don't overwhelm the lower partials.

I think that's partially true.



Ah, I crack myself up. But seriously, we've talked about digital synths being "cold" since DX7 days. Guitar amps since transistor days. I'm sure pianos are talked about in such a way as well. Funny, I was just in a thread on Gearslutz where someone described the DX7s "warmth" compared to software. It's all relative I guess. Anyway, I mentioned some techniques to warm and beef up Serum's sound that work really well but aren't very apparent in the presets.

Listen to Codex though, with the same wavetable and basic filter settings. It's a totally different sound. It's as if the designers at Waves said, "no one would ever want that kind of harshness, let's make sure it doesn't happen." So, you lose flexibility on one hand, but on the other you have a more instantly likable sound.

I hear this a lot in software instruments. Some sound very "cold" and "clinical" to me. (I don't like to use the word "thin" on a synth capable of such bass as Serum) NI synths, including Massive, come to mind. I remember thinking Tone2's Saurus and Nemesis were cold, where Diva and Toxic biohazard were warm. I don't think of it as a value judgement though, just like I don't judge a hot cup of coffee against a glass of iced tea. Both have places in my world.

Very true, DX7 was thought of as cold and different for the synths that came before it.

Of course, it ended up a classic, outselling ALL synths that came before it.

I think Serums Strength is its ability to do clean sounds, dark sounds, bright sounds, classic sounds etc.

It is not confined to simply one sonic characteristic.

That what makes it such a great synth, the type of sound it gets, are based on the type of sound the programmer wants.

It allows a choice, many choices actually, and more so then the average synth.

The oscillators sound fine to me, it's the filters that sound cold and thin. The gain staging for the filter resonance saturation just isn't very good, so they sound weak when using a lot of resonance.

Well, which filters specifically sound thin?

Serum has a large number of filter types.

By nature, many of those filters could not sound thin simply due to what sound is allowed to pass threw.

[db3]

And now.. build a song around it

There you go

"Your Box account may be temporarily unavailable"

I'm not having much luck today
I've really gone to town and spent whole another 15min on this for touch more Serum...if it works
https://app.box.com/shared/static/pioca ... i1qo9x.mp3

[blackflag]

They all do when compared to Zebra, Diva, or Dune2. The only filters that sound halfway decent with high resonance are the german and french LP filters, but even they don't sound all that spectacular in my opinion, the gain staging "drive" knob just doesn't really add enough saturation to any of them. This has nothing to do with the oscillators, I'm using a simple saw wave to test them.

[Sampleconstruct]

Statements like this should be supported by facts, e.g. audio examples, otherwise they are just words. I strongly disagree with this cold filter fantasy.

[BDeep]

Maybe you just prefer a filter with a different characteristic. They're all just different flavors. I never liked the filter in ACE, but that doesn't even remotely suggest there's something wrong with it.
I immediately gelled with Serum's filters, I like the way they behave with resonance open. But yeah, they're not glorified waveshapers, so much is true. Good thing IMO by the way.

[jc_vt]

Many have probably seen the extensive series of Serum tutorials on YouTube by Dorian Day. He has recently released a bundle of two sets of patches for Serum, taking a slightly different approach than the very good ones already mentioned in this topic. Here's what one of the bundle contains, the other is similar:

Includes:
-69 Wavetables (64 Analog Plugin processed, 1 Sine, 1 Triangle, 1 Square, 1 Saw, 1 VIP Tables, watch walkthrough for more info)
-320 Waveframes (64 Sine, 64 Triangle, 64 Square, 64 Saw, 64 VIP)
-25 Universal Presets with wavetable doubling
-10 Ableton Rack Presets with wavetable quadrupling
-4 MIDI files used in demos
-Instruction guide and Sound Design guide
-Bonus: Presets used to treat tables in proprietary and Ableton AU format.

You can check it out at
http://www.sicktwistedminds.com/downloa ... le-bundle/