Serum in 2020

[SLiC]

I still love and use Serum, it still gets updates (permanently in beta ) and still has so unique functionality, a famously easy to use drag and drop GUI and great visual feedback as to what's happening....it gest the job done. The only WT synth I sue more often now is Rapid which is gradually getting used more that Serum for me personally since 1.7 and that is mainly down to liking the layers concept and some more interesting and expansive built in fx.

[antic604]

I'd say, keep it.

It's not that he has a choice

True, lol.

Anyway, what I dislike about Serum is that it's so expensive. I still don't get why peeps like Duda don't do sales. It's stupid from a business point of view.

Why would he, though? I think it still sells, especially since Splice had it at rent-to-own. I personally know few people that were using pirate versions and went on with the $9.99/month deal (or whatever it is/was).

[chk071]

Maybe it still sells. As far as I'm concerned, in other software branches, the sales rapidly fall after the initial release, and you can maybe expect 1/10 of the initial sales after 2 years.

TBH, I wouldn't buy Serum for that price, neither full price nor rent-to-own. Almost 200 € is simply insane. I'd rather put 100 more on top of that, and buy a nice analog synth. Or buy 2 other good payware synths. IMO, soft synths are in general overpriced. I'd rather expect 100-129 € for a decently featured soft synth. That way they might even prevent some people from going the warez way (no excuse, just saying that some might rather consider buying the software then).

[vertibration]

What are your thoughts on this in 2020?

I own a licence, and can't seem to find a use for it in any of my stuff. It just sounds harsh to my ears compared to many other wavetable style synthesizers.

I remember when it was released how it was hyped so much, but now in 2020 does it still live up to that hype??

I don't think so, in fact I think its kind of underwhelming. It also sucks Duda won't allow licence transfers or even respond to requests to delete my account.

It sounds to me like you havnt invested the time into learning this synth and what it can do. There is a reason its popular. Especially with sound designers, and its widely used in the Drum and Bass community, arguably the best sound designers around. You contacted Duda to do a licence transfer, and you want to delete your account. So what is the point of you posting on this forum other than to get attention?

[pdxindy]

I find Serum tends to sound sterile and hard... it can be worked around, but there are other synths I immediately like the sound of more.

The other thing I don't like about Serum is that there is no realtime interpolation between frames.

[foosnark]

What are your thoughts on this in 2020?

Putting "in 2020" in a thread title about synths seems to be the most 2020 thing ever, aside from coronavirus...

Anyway. I have always thought Serum was excellent and I still do. I'm not the type who expects one synth to do everything well, but I very much like what it does.

When I got into modular in 2017, I stopped software synths for the most part (except for a few in specific niches, once in a while). But Serum remains a useful tool for creating and converting wavetables that I can use with my SynthTech E520.

[Tannaliini]

My view to Serum:
-Price; I was first very much “absolutely never gonna pay any synth so much money!”. But after testing it, seeing/feeling how easy it is to use I started to see it’s value.

-No discount: This is good and bad. Good since I don’t need to think “if I buy it now, it might be -98% tomorrow!!” - which is the case with many many synths. It feels like all the other synths have high prices but time to time the prices drop REALLY low. Yeah it would be nice if Serum was cheaper, but then again it might be worth the price.

- The sound is quite “harsh”. But it can sound really nice. Especially on plucks, basses and even for risers etc. but if looking for “softer” sound Serum might not be the synth for that.

[teilo]

Serum is still one of the most inspiring synths I own.

[mdstudio]

Serum is my favorite synth (it's so simple to work with, yet has some advanced workflows with formula parser, resampling etc).

As for harshness, couldn't you just roll off the highs?

[Yorrrrrr]

I still like the possibilities it offers, but somehow I don't like the sound. Every time I try to use it, somehow I end up in DUNE 3.

[pdxindy]

Regarding resynthesis of audio into wavetables, I find Icarus overall does the task more to my liking.

[pdxindy]

As for harshness, couldn't you just roll off the highs?

Photography is not exactly a great analogy, but two photos can look different... one harder and one softer and it is not about whether one of them has the brighter pixels darkened (equivalent to rolling off the high end)

Serum kinda seems like a photo with the 'clarity' parameter turned way up... and or sharpness way up. Neither of those functions are directly related to how bright an image is.

[jackoo]

what's the point with these topics?
It's not like synths sound worse with each passing year.

Serum is as good as it ever was. Perhaps it's getting better because it's receiving updates.
In music, I don't see new shiny instruments making older instruments obsolete.

What's wrong with using synths 5 years old, or from last decade?
If there was any hype with any synth there must have been something special about it. And these things don't just disappear.

it sounds harsh? so it sounds harsher in 2020 compared to the years before?
does it sound harsh, because now new instruments appeared which sound less harsh?

PS: I never owned / used Serum

[Trancit]

Serum is for me the most active developed synth ever and the unchallenged king of all wavetable synths...
There is a good reason why you see nearly all people using Serum as goto but just a few Avenger/Rapid/Dune 3/ Icarus etc...

Everything just works, is easy accessable and sounds fantastic while being moderate on CPU (with this high level of undistorted sound in mind which of course costs extra CPU) and loading up in a blink of the eye...

The sheer amount and quality of free updates it got over all the years make the initial investment an absolut no-brainer...
I never understood the widespread opinion of sounding "harsh", "cold", "digital" or "steril"

I understand that it has a very "clean" high quality sound with less distortion than 99% of all VSTi´s out there, which I see as an advantage:
It´s much much easier to add a dirty or in general different character to a clean sound than trying to do the opposite... and often it´s just a matter of choosing the right wavetable

Last but not least: Serum is a pure feature monster... for me this synth is a masterpiece and I want to to thank Steve Duda for having put that much effort into his baby and still doesn´t stop!!

[chk071]

what's the point with these topics?
It's not like synths sound worse with each passing year.

Serum is as good as it ever was. Perhaps it's getting better because it's receiving updates.
In music, I don't see new shiny instruments making older instruments obsolete.

What's wrong with using synths 5 years old, or from last decade?
If there was any hype with any synth there must have been something special about it. And these things don't just disappear.

Dunno. I think that many synths superseded Sylenth1. Although it's still pretty darn good for the things people mostly buy it for (supersaw Trance stuff).