Serum in 2020

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I also love the interface and workflow but the CPu use and the sound of the filters isn't the most appealing to me.
dedication to flying

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I think the strength of Serum comes from how widely it was adapted with the emergence of producers on YouTube. Which means if you're looking for a preset for a sound you like, most likely, you will be able to find it. The same goes for learning how to make one yourself. I think the trinity of Serum, Massive and Sylenth in this sense stands up nicely.
Take care :wink:

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Spire is much more pleasing to my ear than Serum.

Spire: Low end can be full, warm, thick, and deep. One of the smoothest built-in reverb I've heard in a plugin.

Serum: I think sounds fairly thin, harsh, and the bottom end leaves me unimpressed. Can Serum do more "acoustic" instrument sounds? Yes, but they don't sound that good. If you have acoustic instrument libraries, as I do, you'll probably find using those will be far more impressive sounding instead of trying to using some wanna-be acoustic sounds in a synth.

Sylenth1 is also a contender in the digital realm. I really enjoy its sounds. To me, Sylenth can nail those wide, sparkly sounds great. But I am a sucker for a synth that can extend into the deep bass tones without sounding gurgly or too spread. Tight and thick is how I like my bass, and Spire again does it better, IMO.

Here's an example:

SPIRE Deep House: https://soundcloud.com/smokeyloops/deep ... eyloopscom

SERUM Deep House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6FwjGb1mJU

The difference is HUGE. If you disagree... then find me a Serum demo that sounds as good in the bass tones as Spire.

For me, Spire + sample libraries for Kontakt is far, far, FAR more useful than Serum. But if you could only afford 1 instrument under $200 that can kinda do it all (but not that great), then Serum it is. Though at that price point, I'd rather use Avenger for that purpose. Avenger's sampled acoustic instruments sound much better than Serum, although I would still prefer to use a suitable Kontakt library. Avenger's bottom end is also much thicker and satisfying than Serum, though the sounds in general tend to be a little busy and not as crisp sounding as I'd like. Spire seems to really nail the digital realm of sounds without being over complicated.

For what it's wroth, I've invested a LOT more into Serum than Spire or Avenger and I still never found true love with it. I wish I had one instrument that could do it all, but it's not possible. The godly Omnipshere is great, but the loading, relatively sluggish response, and high CPU load makes me reach for Spire over it almost EVERY time I want a clean, simple digital sound.

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What a nonsense... :dog:.... :pray:

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Trancit wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 3:28 pm What a nonsense... :dog:.... :pray:
What are you referring to?

If you're referring to my post, then please find me any two songs of the same or very similar style, one made with Serum and the other with Spire. I bet Spire will sound better overall. I own all the synths mentioned in my post for several years. I go by my ears, not by what I feel better saying just because I spent money on it...

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Try this one (blind test). Sometime I liked it better than Diva :o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1ptFQglQjg
Pigments - Diva - Tal U-No-LX - Tal Sampler

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Edited
Last edited by Vortifex on Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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GMusic wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 2:04 pm Spire is much more pleasing to my ear than Serum.

Spire: Low end can be full, warm, thick, and deep. One of the smoothest built-in reverb I've heard in a plugin.

Serum: I think sounds fairly thin, harsh, and the bottom end leaves me unimpressed ...
This is your personal preference :shrug: I personally dont like synths that smear up the whole lowend. You can use plugins like Wavesfactory Spectre if you need to boost the low end.

Serum is a workhorse synth. Workflow and ease of use are unmatched (only PhasePlant comes close in my opinion). I tested Spire for two times ... sorry, but the shape sequencer is unusable. It's damn hard to hit an 2x2 pixel anchor with your mouse :dog: If your music isnt dependent on complex modulation, spire is surely a great synth, but otherwise ... nah. And soundwise ... it's been a while since i tested it, but it's not in the same league as u-he. But thats just my personal preference :)

And Serum can of course do analog style sounds. You'll find a lot of melodic techno tutorials and presets lately:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW166TzeR3E

Edit: And Serum is the only synth in 2020 that can modulate MSEG anchors ... how cool is that :wheee:

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Here is another video showing Serum can sound pretty analog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYWU-5jd4w

In Serum I think you can do almost anything that you put your mind to. It really is quite versatile and I love it!

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GMusic wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 4:38 pm
Trancit wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 3:28 pm What a nonsense... :dog:.... :pray:
What are you referring to?

If you're referring to my post, then please find me any two songs of the same or very similar style, one made with Serum and the other with Spire. I bet Spire will sound better overall. I own all the synths mentioned in my post for several years. I go by my ears, not by what I feel better saying just because I spent money on it...
Yes, I was refering to you... and I hope all the reasons the other mentioned are already enough for you to get an idea why I wrote this comment...

Second: It is absolutely bollocks to try to judge about the sound quality of 2 synths by comparing some demo songs as they are less about the quality of the synth but more about 1. the taste and 2. the mood and 3. the mixing skills of the people done these demos...

The 2 songs you posted already have a felt RMS difference of perhaps 5db which gives already completely different impressions about the sound...

If you want to judge about 2 synths, take both demos and programm the same sounds in them as good as you can... compare them (you will already hear huge differences as nobody is able to programm 2 identical sounds in series in 2 different instruments) try to match them...

...then you´ll notice the difference is at max a personal preference but never ever something a little bit EQ or different EQ settings and perhaps a bit of saturation wouldn´t eliminate completely... stuff you´ll do in a mix/real life sceneario anyway to your taste...

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audiot wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:21 pm ...

Edit: And Serum is the only synth in 2020 that can modulate MSEG anchors ... how cool is that :wheee:
I would go even further... since it´s release all the free updates with new features would be nearly enough to make a second synth...

Serum is one if not the one with the most (and most useful) free new feature updates ever... this thing is a monster of a synth and one can clearly see the passion Steve invests into it´s developement...

I am very very happy I´ve chosen to support him making one of the most revolutionary instrument even more outstanding and more functional...
Well done Steve!!! :tu:

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Trancit wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:30 pm
GMusic wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 4:38 pm
Trancit wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 3:28 pm What a nonsense... :dog:.... :pray:
What are you referring to?

If you're referring to my post, then please find me any two songs of the same or very similar style, one made with Serum and the other with Spire. I bet Spire will sound better overall. I own all the synths mentioned in my post for several years. I go by my ears, not by what I feel better saying just because I spent money on it...
Yes, I was refering to you... and I hope all the reasons the other mentioned are already enough for you to get an idea why I wrote this comment...

Second: It is absolutely bollocks to try to judge about the sound quality of 2 synths by comparing some demo songs as they are less about the quality of the synth but more about 1. the taste and 2. the mood and 3. the mixing skills of the people done these demos...

The 2 songs you posted already have a felt RMS difference of perhaps 5db which gives already completely different impressions about the sound...

If you want to judge about 2 synths, take both demos and programm the same sounds in them as good as you can... compare them (you will already hear huge differences as nobody is able to programm 2 identical sounds in series in 2 different instruments) try to match them...

...then you´ll notice the difference is at max a personal preference but never ever something a little bit EQ or different EQ settings and perhaps a bit of saturation wouldn´t eliminate completely... stuff you´ll do in a mix/real life sceneario anyway to your taste...
Thanks. That's definitely a lot more insightful than a reply of "what a nonsense" and a face palm smiley. 8)

You are correct regarding the sound level difference in the examples I posted. Those were just two I found quickly of similar genre. But I increased my amp volume to compensate and to me Spire in that comparison, especially pertaining to the the low end, still sounded better IMO. It was just one comparison and which is why I asked for other examples if you disagreed.

As mentioned, I've been using these synths for years and it's just my personal preference and opinion. That is what forums are about. If things had absolute answers, discussion would not be needed. I'm no fanboy or loyal to any plugin. I own too many for my own good :) I like Serum, but I just use Spire more and find the sound signature more suited to my taste of music. I wish there was an end game, one stop shop plugin, but there isn't. Too many sound signatutes and pros and cons of every plugin.

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Serum has been my 'go to' synth for 2 years. For leads , it does anything I want , its strength is the ease with which complexity can be added. It's a work of genius.

However, I recently saw phase plant , and feel that it is becoming my new 'serum'. It can do all that I wanted from Serum and a lot more.

The only thing Serum has , that phase plant doesn't is the Note-onRand modulator....and I used it a lot in making leads, it is very helpful for modulating wavetables on a lead because it can give a 'human' feel to a wavetable that has a similar flavour. As the name suggests, each note on event generates a random number that can be used as a modulator.

Phase plant has everything I would want , except this. I can use velocity and tweak the setting using max/min utility but this isn't quite the thing I am looking for, though it gets close to it.

Ableton (I don't use it anymore) used to have a Notre on midi generator and a random midi generator that you could sum together to get the effect I am looking for....

Question :- is there a 3rd party plugin that can modulate synth parameters from 'outside' the synth that will help me do what I am looking to do in phase plant

despite the Kilohearts synth becoming my new Serum, I will still play old sets that used Serum and I love my old leads I made on Serum.....it really is a masterpiece of design , and I think if Steve did a few radical things to it , it could easily return to being my most used synth.
Zen

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Serum is still popular. I chose something else that I thought sounded better. Sometimes popular is good, sometimes there’s alternatives. Try them and pick the one you like best and f... everyone else

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Trancit wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:37 pm
audiot wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:21 pm ...

Edit: And Serum is the only synth in 2020 that can modulate MSEG anchors ... how cool is that :wheee:
I would go even further... since it´s release all the free updates with new features would be nearly enough to make a second synth...

Serum is one if not the one with the most (and most useful) free new feature updates ever... this thing is a monster of a synth and one can clearly see the passion Steve invests into it´s developement...

I am very very happy I´ve chosen to support him making one of the most revolutionary instrument even more outstanding and more functional...
Well done Steve!!! :tu:
Serum has definitly one of the longest lifecycles i've seen in the softsynth department :clap: I'm not a fan of developers, that throw out paid updates every two or three years. So yeah, Steve is definitly a nice and generous guy. I contacted him only once and he responded within 24 hours :o

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