KVR Audio

keel · Post by **keel** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:06 am

Earlier I said that I don't like Serum, because it sounds metallic and harsh. Now that I have owned Serum 4 months (got the Splice deal), I still think that Serum has harsh, metallic sound, which makes it unpleased to ears. Not talking about the reverb, just the synth itself. Plus Serum use tons of CPU. I made simple 5 note chord melody, made a supersaw patch and CPU meter is running on 100%. To me, the sound vs CPU ratio is bad, very bad.

However, I still like Serum in some sounds and I have been using it on my tracks. I definately keep using, I just wish Steve would do something about that harsh and metallic sound, and the insane CPU usage.

HcDoom · Post by **HcDoom** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:25 am

Yes, Serum is overrated. Sounds so thin, harsh and metallic...totally unuseable...but looks like people love that sound otherwise it wouldnt be so popular. Just check youtube...all kids use only cracked versions of Serum and Sylenth in cracked FL! You can clearly see 95% of time they dont know what they do and why they do it. And those are the people who write on forums and praise Serum to high heavens.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:32 am

HcDoom wrote:Yes, Serum is overrated. Sounds so thin, harsh and metallic...totally unuseable...but looks like people love that sound otherwise it wouldnt be so popular. Just check youtube...all kids use only cracked versions of Serum and Sylenth in cracked FL! You can clearly see 95% of time they dont know what they do and why they do it. And those are the people who write on forums and praise Serum to high heavens.

Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that 95% of world are dumb kids and thieves

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:48 am

If you need big supersaws or smooth analog leads or some juicy filter sweeps, Serum is not the best option. Probably doable but with much more efforts than with other synths dedicated to these tasks. But I often need metallic/mechanical/unnatural tones in my music and I think Serum does it perfectly.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:50 am

Serum is quite capable of awesome “digital” sounds. If you need “analog” sounds get DIVA or Repro-1, etc

Synthman2000 · Post by **Synthman2000** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:52 am

Serum gets a lot of use here. Crystal clear sounds when needed, filters could be a bit dirtier/gritty at times or at least have a few dirtier options, even with the drive the filter sometimes sounds a bit polite. Internal effects are usable which is saying something as often many synths are very poor in the built-in effects dept.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:00 am

HcDoom wrote:Yes, Serum is overrated. Sounds so thin, harsh and metallic...totally unuseable...but looks like people love that sound otherwise it wouldnt be so popular. Just check youtube...all kids use only cracked versions of Serum and Sylenth in cracked FL! You can clearly see 95% of time they dont know what they do and why they do it. And those are the people who write on forums and praise Serum to high heavens.

Totally unuseable? Maybe for you, but that’s just your crazy opinion.

Lot’s of people are finding a use for this synth.

kokotte · Post by **kokotte** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:46 am

keel wrote:Earlier I said that I don't like Serum, because it sounds metallic and harsh. Now that I have owned Serum 4 months (got the Splice deal), I still think that Serum has harsh, metallic sound, which makes it unpleased to ears. Not talking about the reverb, just the synth itself. Plus Serum use tons of CPU. I made simple 5 note chord melody, made a supersaw patch and CPU meter is running on 100%. To me, the sound vs CPU ratio is bad, very bad.

However, I still like Serum in some sounds and I have been using it on my tracks. I definately keep using, I just wish Steve would do something about that harsh and metallic sound, and the insane CPU usage.

It's strange, a supersaw, 7 voices, with a filter, 5 notes chord, my cpu meter is 5%.
if i play a sine a tri or a saw, no metallic sound here, perhaps, it's the presets you selected who have this harsh things in the sound, sometimes, it's good to have some harsh in a mix.

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:50 pm

The thing with Serum CPU use is, unison is literally running more oscillators. Turn on OSC 1 and 2 and set unison to 16 on both and you're running 32 oscillators. Five notes with that setting is running 512 oscillators. Rein it in a little

Supersaw is usually done with a single oscillator (or two, for stereo) with a more complex wave, not with unison. You can create a supersaw wavetable easily enough in Serum -- set crazy unison, and pick "Resample to A+B (Stereo)" under the menu. Kill the unison, make sure A+B are panned and modulate the table positions (preferably with separate LFOs) and you're good. I think it sounds better than the unprocessed unison in some ways

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:00 pm

HcDoom wrote:Yes, Serum is overrated. Sounds so thin, harsh and metallic...totally unuseable...but looks like people love that sound otherwise it wouldnt be so popular. Just check youtube...all kids use only cracked versions of Serum and Sylenth in cracked FL! You can clearly see 95% of time they dont know what they do and why they do it. And those are the people who write on forums and praise Serum to high heavens.

Yeah, Serum is so crappy that it's my best selling library. Why would kids who use cracked versions of a synth spend any money on a library?

KVR. Gotta love this place.

Russell Grand · Post by **Russell Grand** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:10 pm

HcDoom wrote:Yes, Serum is overrated. Sounds so thin, harsh and metallic...totally unuseable...but looks like people love that sound otherwise it wouldnt be so popular. Just check youtube...all kids use only cracked versions of Serum and Sylenth in cracked FL! You can clearly see 95% of time they dont know what they do and why they do it. And those are the people who write on forums and praise Serum to high heavens.

Ummm...no.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:22 pm

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:25 pm

egbert101 wrote:Workman blaming their tools.

That's usually the way it is. At least when I do something that sucks, I don't blame the synth. I put the blame squarely where it belongs.

surreal · Post by **surreal** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:45 pm

recursive one wrote:If you need big supersaws or smooth analog leads or some juicy filter sweeps, Serum is not the best option. Probably doable but with much more efforts than with other synths dedicated to these tasks. But I often need metallic/mechanical/unnatural tones in my music and I think Serum does it perfectly.

What in your opinion is the best Synth for wide juicy supersaws?

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:12 pm

Weird. I post a 10 min track that uses only Serum (except for the bass) and frankly uses it very well and this spawns a thread about how bad Serum is.

KVR....

Official Serum thread!