Synthmaster vs Serum

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kv331 wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 8:32 am
W23 wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:58 pm You can’t beat 9 bucks a month
Well you can: $15/month for Slate Everything Bundle, just saying :wink:

(Synthmaster is part of Slate Everything Bundle. They haven't announced it yet, as I guess they're also waiting for v3.0)

...
Wow, really congrats on that... :tu: :party:

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Icarus and Hive :clown:

Seriously though demo Serum and Demo SynthMaster 2.9 & One. Only you can tell us which one you would prefer to use.

Most people asking this question really want Serum but wonder if they should get SM instead 'cos it's cheaper and also has wavetables and more features etc. Like others alluded to already, they sound different. If you want Serum... buy Serum!

Also download the demos of Icarus and Hive while you're at it :hihi: (Hive 2 comes out soon!)
You might prefer one of those!

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Greenstorm33 wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:41 pm Both are good
Serum:
Better user interface and workflow. SynthMaster isn't bad, but some things like managing modulations are a bit more clunky. Also, all modulations in Serum are animated, but SynthMaster's aren't (yet). SM's scaling on some its controls seems weird to me (a big part of the range of the env decay knobs is very short times), while Serum doesn't have this.

Many more filter types, including a bunch of comb/flanger "filters" and unique things like the reverb filter and scream filters. One thing SM does have that's kind of unique is a filter with a continuously variable slope.

Better effects. Especially notable is the distortion. SM only has a waveshaper with a few breakpoints. Serum's distortion has a bunch of algorithms plus a dual waveshaper with arbitrary breakpoints. Serum also has a built-in OTT multiband compressor, which is almost a must for certain EDM genres (hilariously it seems like half of Serum tutorials are just someone spending 9 minutes making a mediocre sound and then slapping the multiband compressor on it at the end). Finally, you get another instance of Serum's many-multimode-filter in the FX section.

More flexible Wavetable oscs. Serum has more ways to warp wavetables. Also in what to me is a baffling design choice, using many of SM's "warp" modes requires you to sacrifice the oscillator phase control because the warp setting uses the same knob.

Better LFOs: Serum's 4 LFOs are really looping (or not if you want) MSEGs with great workflow (add as many breakpoints as you want, wherever). SM has two MSEGs per layer in addition to traditional LFOs but they're not as nice.

Best-in-class wavetable editor. SM doesn't have any wavetable editing at all (yet).

Many more tutorials available. Most are targeted towards EDM, but still if that's your thing it's something to consider.

SynthMaster:
Much more CPU friendly. Serum is a notorious CPU hog, while SM is one of the most CPU-friendly synth I own.

Significantly more extensive architecture. Serum is two wavetable oscillators, and sub, and a sample osc fed into a single filter. SM has two layers with two main oscillators (see below) and 4 mod/sub oscillators fed through two filters and then a chain of per-layer fx each. In addition to oscillator unison there is unison per-layer.

More oscillator modes. In addition to wavetable oscillators and basic oscillators, SM has sample oscs (not as friendly as Serum's but supporting multisampled sounds), "additive" osc mode with up to 8 waveforms at different pitches, volumes, etc., and vector osc mode that lets you mix four different waveforms.

Arp/sequencer. Serum doesn't have this functionality at all.

More modulators.

(Many) more and more varied presets out of the box.

Major upgrade in the near future.

Quite a bit cheaper (buy on sale!).

Both:
Great sound

FX version of the synths (though I'd much rather have SerumFX due to the aforementioned differences in FX)
Perfectly stated.
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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Two different synths, completely. Synthmaster is a more "all around" synth and cheaper by a ton. If I had to choose, I'd go with Synthmaster.

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Well it's not only about the money,many people (sit on buy button with 150euro - like me)just can't decide which one will work better for them and don't want to spend more time and money for something not so suitable to their needs,that fit better to their sound preferences.Then comes the price :)

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That's why they make Demos for the vast majority of plugins. :wink:
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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VELLTONE MUSIC wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:16 pm Well it's not only about the money,many people (sit on buy button with 150euro - like me)just can't decide which one will work better for them and don't want to spend more time and money for something not so suitable to their needs,that fit better to their sound preferences.Then comes the price :)
That's why demoing the synths is important. Nobody can tell someone else which synth would be better for them, and which one will inspire them the most creatively etc. (Teksonik beat me to it)

There's also popularity to consider, if you want preset packs and YouTube tutorials etc then Serum is a great choice because it's the most popular synth at the moment! But maybe over popularity could be a minus, because they don't want the most popular synth because it has the most heard/overused sounds etc.

Maybe get the synth your friends use so you can exchange patches and projects with them :D

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Teksonik wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:21 pm That's why they make Demos for the vast majority of plugins. :wink:
If save function wasn't disabled on most demos it may be enough,did dozen of cool presets testing many demos and then nothing,can't load them again in the mix and to compare with other ones made with other demo synth.
You can only check and test d default sounds.
Always wonder about that.
You should know better what i'm talking about?
I mean disbling 'save' and 'import' functions is wrong decision,better fully working synth for 2 weeks,then stop functioning or something,just an opinion :)
Last edited by VELLTONE MUSIC on Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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kv331 wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 8:32 am Imagine a wavetable editor where you draw waveforms (freehand or segmented) and then apply time/spectral domain effects (we'll call them wavetable FX)
Nice! Will the users be able to modify the actual waveform by editing its harmonics/partials before any effects take place? I find editing harmonics easier than editing the waveform itself.

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You know why asking what synth to get is a waste of time here?

Once I asked for a list of synths with "extensive" mod matrices.

Someone named Diva.

Diva? Seriously?

One person named a synth with 4 mod slots.

I've since come to learn that asking for advice on synths here is pointless. Go download the demo of the synth you're interested in and see if you like it. If there's no demo, oh well. Don't know what to tell you. I bought Falcon and held my breath during the purchase process. I didn't even know if the synth would work in my DAW. Fortunately, it did and ended up to be one of my best purchases. It didn't have to turn out so well.

Nobody can tell you what synth to get. In every thread, even ones where the OP says "Pick one of the two" you're still going to get people pushing their agenda and naming synths you're not considering.

At then end, you're no closer to choosing a synth than you were before the whole thing started.

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VELLTONE MUSIC wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:32 pm
Teksonik wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:21 pm That's why they make Demos for the vast majority of plugins. :wink:
If save function wasn't disabled on most demos it may be enough,did dozen of cool presets testing many demos and then nothing,can't load them again in the mix and to compare with other ones made with other demo synth.
You can only check and test d default sounds.
Always wonder about that.
You should know better what i'm talking about?
I mean disbling 'save' and 'import' functions is wrong decision,better fully working synth for 2 weeks,then stop functioning or something,just an opinion :)
Well I know that all I need to decide whether to buy something or not is a few minutes. If I'm loving the sound and making patches whether they can be saved or not then I don't need two weeks.

The problem with "fully working synth for 2 weeks" is that it would allow people to use the plugin in a track, spend two weeks working on it then render. Kind of discourages people from buying it.

Anyway if using the demo no matter how limited doesn't tell you what you want to know then asking someone else isn't going to help either....... :shrug:
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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hes just boosting his post count to get in to the buy and sell. nothing to fuss over :hihi:
he mentioned it in one of the other threads :)

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Teksonik wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 3:18 pm
VELLTONE MUSIC wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:32 pm
Teksonik wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:21 pm That's why they make Demos for the vast majority of plugins. :wink:
If save function wasn't disabled on most demos it may be enough,did dozen of cool presets testing many demos and then nothing,can't load them again in the mix and to compare with other ones made with other demo synth.
You can only check and test d default sounds.
Always wonder about that.
You should know better what i'm talking about?
I mean disbling 'save' and 'import' functions is wrong decision,better fully working synth for 2 weeks,then stop functioning or something,just an opinion :)
Well I know that all I need to decide whether to buy something or not is a few minutes. If I'm loving the sound and making patches whether they can be saved or not then I don't need two weeks.

The problem with "fully working synth for 2 weeks" is that it would allow people to use the plugin in a track, spend two weeks working on it then render. Kind of discourages people from buying it.

Anyway if using the demo no matter how limited doesn't tell you what you want to know then asking someone else isn't going to help either....... :shrug:
Just sharing opinion,personally i can't decide for 2 minutes even for 2 days,maybe it's personal,people who buy software will buy it anyway,those who don't will not no matter what ...about almighty vur(s)t opinion about my why i'm writing here,lets deserve it for ones at least intentionally:
HEY I'M OFFERING over 3500 presets for both Synthmasters - 50% OFF this weekend.
Happy now :)

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vurt wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 3:21 pm hes just boosting his post count to get in to the buy and sell. nothing to fuss over :hihi:
he mentioned it in one of the other threads :)
:bang:
Bennetto wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 3:25 pm yes - honestly i needed 5 posts that i can post in the sell & buy forum
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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VELLTONE MUSIC wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 3:43 pm Just sharing opinion,personally i can't decide for 2 minutes even for 2 days,maybe it's personal,people who buy software will buy it anyway,those who don't will not no matter what ...about almighty vur(s)t opinion about my why i'm writing here,lets deserve it for ones at least intentionally:
HEY I'M OFFERING over 3500 presets for both Synthmasters - 50% OFF this weekend.
Happy now :)
I think Vurt was talking about the OP not you..... :tu:

Anyway I sympathize with you and in an ideal world all demos would be unrestricted for a reasonable period but such is not the world we live in today.

It must be difficult for a developer to walk that fine line between presenting their product in the most favorable light while leaving enough out to encourage people to purchase. :?
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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