Is Serum worth cashing out for, when you get Vital for free?

[rodepanda]

Would Serum be worth it even if you already have Ableton Wavetable? Is it just the workflow that's different or are there any big differences in the sound output?

[Biscotto]

Yes all the way.

[Biome_Digital]

As cold and hard as they are, Serums filters can actually sound very phatt! I like Serum and the developer is pretty responsive too.

[Biome_Digital]

Would Serum be worth it even if you already have Ableton Wavetable? Is it just the workflow that's different or are there any big differences in the sound output?

Personally I think there is a big difference between the 2. I would go with Serum myself.

[Biome_Digital]

I don't have it but I do think it's worth it for the number of presets out there alone.

please keep in mind we have a great many very good sound designers for many, many synths here who offer their presets at a very reasonable price. I am quite sure all will greatly appreciate the support as well

damn right!!

[Biome_Digital]

plus serum has more wave morph modes and more filter types and more skins. serum also have an fx version.
But theres no point in comparing these two questioning what is better. they are different.
And vital dont run on some older GPU (yeah i cant run it) . Anyway, these are just tools, and the one that matters is the music made with them.
You can find many comparison on the net, heres one: https://soundpeaks.net/blog/serum-vs-vital

A a very useful comparison - thanks.

[PieBerger]

Personally I would wait for Serum 2 before parting my with $189. Serum is a great synth but it has a lot of fierce competition in 2021, not just from Vital. You might want to look at some other synths like Pigments, Phase Plant or Rapid, since between them they have some additional features like sampling/multisample, granular, additive, more complex FM/audiorate and resynthesis, that neither Serum nor Vital have. For a few bucks extra you could probably pick up Falcon second hand. $189 with no sales for a NFR synth license is pricey, especially with Vital on the scene covering much the same ground for $0.

[Biome_Digital]

Personally I would wait for Serum 2 before parting my with $189. Serum is a great synth but it has a lot of fierce competition in 2021, not just from Vital. You might want to look at some other synths like Pigments, Phase Plant or Rapid, since between them they have some additional features like sampling/multisample, granular, additive, more complex FM/audiorate and resynthesis, that neither Serum nor Vital have. For a few bucks extra you could probably pick up Falcon second hand. $189 with no sales for a NFR synth license is pricey, especially with Vital on the scene covering much the same ground for $0.

All good points. But I wonder if Serum 2 would be a free upgrade or not

[PieBerger]

Personally I would wait for Serum 2 before parting my with $189. Serum is a great synth but it has a lot of fierce competition in 2021, not just from Vital. You might want to look at some other synths like Pigments, Phase Plant or Rapid, since between them they have some additional features like sampling/multisample, granular, additive, more complex FM/audiorate and resynthesis, that neither Serum nor Vital have. For a few bucks extra you could probably pick up Falcon second hand. $189 with no sales for a NFR synth license is pricey, especially with Vital on the scene covering much the same ground for $0.

All good points. But I wonder if Serum 2 would be a free upgrade or not

AFAIK it will be a free upgrade, great for existing users, myself included, but since no one knows when it will be released or what new features it will bring to the table, I personally don't think it's smart to buy in blind and hope for the best, but OP or anyone else can spend their money however they like

[Biome_Digital]

Personally I would wait for Serum 2 before parting my with $189. Serum is a great synth but it has a lot of fierce competition in 2021, not just from Vital. You might want to look at some other synths like Pigments, Phase Plant or Rapid, since between them they have some additional features like sampling/multisample, granular, additive, more complex FM/audiorate and resynthesis, that neither Serum nor Vital have. For a few bucks extra you could probably pick up Falcon second hand. $189 with no sales for a NFR synth license is pricey, especially with Vital on the scene covering much the same ground for $0.

All good points. But I wonder if Serum 2 would be a free upgrade or not

AFAIK it will be a free upgrade, great for existing users, myself included, but since no one knows when it will be released or what new features it will bring to the table, I personally don't think it's smart to buy in blind and hope for the best, but OP or anyone else can spend their money however they like

Of course, I do think Serum can only get better. If it had some engines similar to pigments, that would be great. Sample and granular at the very least.

[darkinners]

First I don't have Serum but I do have Vital and like OP, paid for it after few days of using it. It's a very well-thought-out and REALLY powerful soft synth. I personally have no desire to get Serum.
I have plenty of soft synths free and paid ones.
Serum may sound slightly different (or better? depends on who you ask) than Vital but from my understanding, there's not much that you can do in Serum that you can't do in Vital if any at all, except for the picture to wavetable thingy but Vital can use Serum wavetable too.

If I ever going to buy Serum, the sole reason would be the insane amount of presets/soundbank/tutorials available on the internet, that is the only thing that I can think of where Serum basically has a clear advantage by a huge margin over every other alternative there is, not only to Vital.

[nIGhT-SoN]

For me Serum wins when it comes to UI, easier to use and get what you want, it's not about the sound.

[YnJ]

Here's an opinion that might not make me popular, as a wavetable player Pigments is better than Vital and Serum. I got Pigments a while ago, but haven't really looked at the wavetable players until recently. When you play similar wavetables as for example sawforms from different analogue synths in Vital, they don't sound that different and all have this distinct Vital sound. Serum is a lot better, the difference and character of the different wavetables were noticeable and similar to when played in Pigments, though they were richer and had even more character when played in Pigments

I tested different wavetables using only one at a time, and with only an envelope to modulate the position, no filters and no effects, and no detuning. Adding Pigments filters, which are amazing, and effects, the difference is even more in favour of Pigments. Pigments doesn't have any wavetable editor, so at least Serum will still be useful for editing, and at least Vital sound different and is fun to use, so I'm not replacing any of them completely

[electro4sale]

Serum was the first vst I bought after taking a 15 year break from music. Great purchase. I just found out about Vital a few months ago but hardly used it yet.

[flori89]

Serum was the first vst I bought after taking a 15 year break from music. Great purchase. I just found out about Vital a few months ago but hardly used it yet.

I'm eyeing Serum, but so far I fail to see what it does better then Vital. Aren't they pretty much the same? There are much more presets for Serum available floating around, but apart from that, what's the difference?