Serum with only 2 wavetables can sound amazing...

[Tannaliini]

I've been playing with many different demos lately (big names, small names).
And I am really amazed about Serum's sounds.
First I was very skeptical could Serum offer variety of sounds since it has "only" 2 oscs/wavetables (and 1 sub + 1 noise). But more I test it, more I find it can offer very good variety of sounds.

I am just interested how come some synths might have 4 oscs (or even more) but all of their sounds are very similar to each other? When Serum using only 2 oscs can create more variety of sounds?

Even when I go through the factory sounds: with Serum all the sounds sound some how different to each other. But then some synths with more oscs + more functions have many duplicate sounds (I mean totally same sounds with a different names)? Even some synths that use mix of samples + wavetables still offer the same sounds in their factory presets - the exactly same sounds with different names? I'm not a great sound designer, so when I hear factory presets having many duplicated sounds I feel like if the real sound designers can't get unique sounds out of a synth - how could I? And sure it is frustrating to browse a preset list that is hyped "over 1k sounds!" when there are same sound several times

Anyone else feeling the same/noticed same?

Edit: I don't say Serum has "best" sound, or "best" factory presets. This is just something I've noticed when trying many demos now.

[fuzzlightyear]

Not sure if this is old news, but Serum is now included in Magix's ACID Pro 10 Suite.

When you ask the question “What’s the best wavetable synthesizer?” around Sweetwater, you’ll hear a bunch of electronic musicians say “Xfer Serum” in unison. But what’s really cool, is that it’s an exclusive part of ACID Pro 10 Suite! This top-shelf virtual instrument boasts high-quality sound, along with an eye-grabbing, workflow-oriented interface that makes creating and editing patches fun. If you want to get up and running fast, you can grab any of the thousands of built-in, professionally crafted presets. Or if you want to dive deep, there’s an unlimited level of tweakability on tap. Wherever you want to go, Serum will get you there.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ndows-only

[teilo]

Curious why you ever thought that "only 2" oscillators would limit the sound design possibilities of a synth. You are basically describing the vast majority of commercial polyphonic synths, many of which have only the basic wave forms, a relatively limited filter, and only a handful of modulation sources. Even with those limitations, the sound design possibilities are tremendous. Any limitation is in the imagination of the sound designer.

Serum has two wavetable oscillators with, for all practical purposes, an infinite number of different waveforms. It also has a third sub oscillator and a basic sampler (the noice oscillator), so that makes four oscillators. It has way more filter types, and way more modulation sources (and more flexible) than your average poly-synth, and an excellent modulatable effects section.

Plus it has had years of refinement, collaboration with professional producers, and wide usage, particularly in dubstep. Why in the world would you think it was limited?

[AnX]

Good story

[Tannaliini]

Curious why you ever thought that "only 2" oscillators would limit the sound design possibilities of a synth. You are basically describing the vast majority of commercial polyphonic synths, many of which have only the basic wave forms, a relatively limited filter, and only a handful of modulation sources. Even with those limitations, the sound design possibilities are tremendous. Any limitation is in the imagination of the sound designer.

Serum has two wavetable oscillators with, for all practical purposes, an infinite number of different waveforms. It also has a third sub oscillator and a basic sampler (the noice oscillator), so that makes four oscillators. It has way more filter types, and way more modulation sources (and more flexible) than your average poly-synth, and an excellent modulatable effects section.

Plus it has had years of refinement, collaboration with professional producers, and wide usage, particularly in dubstep. Why in the world would you think it was limited?

Maybe because I don't know about sound designing (like I stated in the post I made)

[OzoneJunkie]

I had the same revelation a few months ago. Maybe that's all obvious to others here. Particularly interesting for me was that often brostep sounds I'm going for don't even require complex wavetables. Between Serum and Operator (in Ableton), I often think I could do most of what I need with just those 2.

I do have a bunch of synths, in part because I have some that don't allow license transfers, but also, because I think often it's the presets that exhibit more skill and imagination than I'm currently capable of as far as sound design. And I've recently gotten to the point where I don't have personal hangups about using presets.

[chk071]

Some synths definitely have a amazingly thick sound with only a few oscillators/voices running at the same time. On others, you can engage 4 stacks of unison oscillators, and they will still sound thin. I assume that it's what the OP experienced here.

[Tannaliini]

Some synths definitely have a amazingly thick sound with only a few oscillators/voices running at the same time. On others, you can engage 4 stacks of unison oscillators, and they will still sound thin. I assume that it's what the OP experienced here.

Not only sounding “thin”. But the sound might be same from preset to preset. I mean you can have thin sound but it still can sound different.

[FarleyCZ]

...as my grandma used to say: "It's not about the number of oscillators you have, it's about what you can do with them."

[Cepheus]

...as my grandma used to say: "It's not about the number of oscillators you have, it's about what you can do with them."

Grandma Moog (?) was a wise person. Anyway, don't forget the the endless FM possibilities between te Serum Oscillators. You never know what you gonna get

[db3]

I've been playing with the Serum demo recently. I think I can kind of relate to what the OP is saying, in that the fidelity of the wavetable oscillators seems to produce a range of more distinct tones. I suspect this might be partly due to the DSP work of Laurent de Soras (Ohmforce).

[e@rs]

You never know what you gonna get

Hybridize!!!

[MMaarrkk]

It's definitely what you can do with them, more than the fact that there are just two.

[zerocrossing]

I've been playing with many different demos lately (big names, small names).
And I am really amazed about Serum's sounds.
First I was very skeptical could Serum offer variety of sounds since it has "only" 2 oscs/wavetables (and 1 sub + 1 noise). But more I test it, more I find it can offer very good variety of sounds.

I am just interested how come some synths might have 4 oscs (or even more) but all of their sounds are very similar to each other? When Serum using only 2 oscs can create more variety of sounds?

Even when I go through the factory sounds: with Serum all the sounds sound some how different to each other. But then some synths with more oscs + more functions have many duplicate sounds (I mean totally same sounds with a different names)? Even some synths that use mix of samples + wavetables still offer the same sounds in their factory presets - the exactly same sounds with different names? I'm not a great sound designer, so when I hear factory presets having many duplicated sounds I feel like if the real sound designers can't get unique sounds out of a synth - how could I? And sure it is frustrating to browse a preset list that is hyped "over 1k sounds!" when there are same sound several times

Anyone else feeling the same/noticed same?

Edit: I don't say Serum has "best" sound, or "best" factory presets. This is just something I've noticed when trying many demos now.

What you’re talking about isn’t capabilities, it’s about marketing. You hear a lot of the same sounds over and over again because they are sounds that are popular in music and they sell synths. Developers put them in their factory presets because it’s more or less demanded. I ignore those presets and make my own. Demos are normally just a sort of proof that a plugin can deliver on a certain level of sound quality and maybe a little bit about what kind of character a synth can deliver. A good example is the Tone2 synths. I swear they all come with presets that sound the same as every other Tone2 synth. It’s like Marcus says, “OK, let’s remake the same set of sounds for this new synth.” Once you start digging in, you’ll find they’re excellent sounding instruments with their own personalities, but you have to do the work yourself.

[Gamma-UT]

I don't think it's a case of sound designers remaking the same sounds deliberately. I think it's more about individual styles through to being stuck in a rut. You get a similar thing with Rob Papen's synths. The different sound designer Rob tends to call on have particular styles, which don't necessarily call out the attributes of each specific synth.

You don't seem to get it so much with synths that have a large set of third-party sound designers (u-he etc) because you are drawing from a larger pool.