Official Serum 2 thread!

[sempondr]

...I'm not sure I can justify it...

You will also get free updates for life.

[tumface]

I gather Serum never went on sale, and that makes the intro price window for this seem like a one-off. However, it's not a ground-breaking product any more, and the standard price of $249 look a little unrealistic in today's market. $189 is a stretch for me, and I'm wondering whether to just get it on the basis that there's probably a lot of good free presets around for version 1. I certainly wouldn't be paying the full price, so this would appear the only time I might get to own it...I'm not sure I can justify it.

Serum 2 is not Serum 1 with an extra oscillator and filter. It does a lot of new stuff that is not obvious just from looking at screenshots. Things that are rare to see in synthesizers, especially ones with an interface as easy to use as Serum. Multiple types of FM and PM. Cross-feedback audio rate modulation. Freely routable audio rate modulation of filters. Audio rate modulation using the output of a filter to something else. New component modeled filters. Oscillators in sampler mode can do slicing. Spectral oscillators can also do slicing. I could go on.

[enCiphered]

I gather Serum never went on sale, and that makes the intro price window for this seem like a one-off. However, it's not a ground-breaking product any more, and the standard price of $249 look a little unrealistic in today's market. $189 is a stretch for me, and I'm wondering whether to just get it on the basis that there's probably a lot of good free presets around for version 1. I certainly wouldn't be paying the full price, so this would appear the only time I might get to own it...I'm not sure I can justify it.

If you are thinking about getting Serum 2 to use the ocean of presets out there and the ones that will come in the future, I can guarantee you will never really feel that the price is justified. This synth is built for creativity. The real magic happens when you start programming your own sounds. It is insanely fun, intuitive, and powerful in a way that keeps surprising you the more you use it.
Once you spend even a little time with it, you will realize it is easily one of the best investments you can make in your music. Serum 2 is not just an update, it is a full evolution of an already industry-leading synth. It nails Everything!
The interface alone is a masterpiece. Nothing comes even close.
Its honestly in a league of its own and the price is completely worth it.

[Sinisterbr]

It really looks like an incredible synth, but maybe it's a little too late to the party for some people? I already own (and love) some of its nearest competitors. $249 is too steep for me as well, I can't justify it these days.

[sempondr]

Version 2.0.18 is out
2025-04-26
Release Notes
- Fixed "Revert to Saved" greyed out after loading a session
- Fixed Conv IRs sounding wrong after adjusting parameters
- Fixed Crash when Hybridizing some presets
- Fixed inconsistent modulation output for sources routed to a mix of per-voice and non-per-voice params
- Fixed Pitch Bend smoothing
- Fixed 2.0.17 Parameter Automation recall of effect parameters offset by one index after project reload

[Morty-C-137]

After my initial knee-jerk response over some of the workflows I was not used to or perhaps would have liked differently I am fully enamored by Serum now and so I bought it this week after playing around with the demo and getting to know it for 4-5 weeks.

I just kept coming up with fun things every time and liked the sounds I got a lot. There are still a few things I would like to see workflow wise though. Small improvements.

Edit: plus Serum FX is a huge bonus! To me the fx sound great and we can use a lot of instances of each. Nice go-2 FX rack with cool modulation options. Only thing I am missing there is perhaps an audio follower modulation that we can apply to any parameter that responds to the incoming audio.

[vitocorleone123]

Struggling with MPE and Serum2 in Studio One 7 with my new Roli M.
Other synths just work (e.g., Vital is easier to use MPE with... even my hardware synths are easier).

[cb8rwh]

When you say you are struggling with MPE, what aspect, or is it just not working at all?

[pierb]

has performance on Apple Silicon improved since release?

(sorry, I haven't read all the pages in this thread)

[jrwaltb]

It really looks like an incredible synth, but maybe it's a little too late to the party for some people? I already own (and love) some of its nearest competitors. $249 is too steep for me as well, I can't justify it these days.

No man, if anything everyone else is now scrambling to match what Serum brings to the table. Its like cutting edge in almost everything and for sure the oscillators set the new standard in terms of what is possible. Its daunting at first and I am still realizing what it can do but it just set the bar in ways I did not believe was even possible. The sampler alone is better than most samplers including the details concerning looping, slicing, slice to midi, loop modes,beg/end modulation, exporting midi slices, unison and warping with built in resampling that is one module! Wavetable/granular/spectrum beat ABleton's offerings except wavtable still has better sound to wavetable conversion. "Late to the party", its for sure the new leader but that does not mean the others are bad.

[rod_zero]

It really looks like an incredible synth, but maybe it's a little too late to the party for some people? I already own (and love) some of its nearest competitors. $249 is too steep for me as well, I can't justify it these days.

No man, if anything everyone else is now scrambling to match what Serum brings to the table. Its like cutting edge in almost everything and for sure the oscillators set the new standard in terms of what is possible. Its daunting at first and I am still realizing what it can do but it just set the bar in ways I did not believe was even possible. The sampler alone is better than most samplers including the details concerning looping, slicing, slice to midi, loop modes,beg/end modulation, exporting midi slices, unison and warping with built in resampling that is one module! Wavetable/granular/spectrum beat ABleton's offerings except wavtable still has better sound to wavetable conversion. "Late to the party", its for sure the new leader but that does not mean the others are bad.

While it is doing several things better than others Pigments and Current have a very similar feature set.

[Sinisterbr]

It really looks like an incredible synth, but maybe it's a little too late to the party for some people? I already own (and love) some of its nearest competitors. $249 is too steep for me as well, I can't justify it these days.

No man, if anything everyone else is now scrambling to match what Serum brings to the table. Its like cutting edge in almost everything and for sure the oscillators set the new standard in terms of what is possible. Its daunting at first and I am still realizing what it can do but it just set the bar in ways I did not believe was even possible. The sampler alone is better than most samplers including the details concerning looping, slicing, slice to midi, loop modes,beg/end modulation, exporting midi slices, unison and warping with built in resampling that is one module! Wavetable/granular/spectrum beat ABleton's offerings except wavtable still has better sound to wavetable conversion. "Late to the party", its for sure the new leader but that does not mean the others are bad.

While it is doing several things better than others Pigments and Current have a very similar feature set.

And Phaseplant. And Massive X.
My point is, I'm satisfied with what I have. I don't doubt Serum 2 is better than any other synth ever, but I don't feel I need it. However, it's worth mention I consider myself a composer. I personally don't like tweaking around a synth for too long. I just want them to sound great, have enough flexibility and good workflow. Besides, I have already mastered my synths. I can just focus on my music now.

[jrwaltb]

It really looks like an incredible synth, but maybe it's a little too late to the party for some people? I already own (and love) some of its nearest competitors. $249 is too steep for me as well, I can't justify it these days.

No man, if anything everyone else is now scrambling to match what Serum brings to the table. Its like cutting edge in almost everything and for sure the oscillators set the new standard in terms of what is possible. Its daunting at first and I am still realizing what it can do but it just set the bar in ways I did not believe was even possible. The sampler alone is better than most samplers including the details concerning looping, slicing, slice to midi, loop modes,beg/end modulation, exporting midi slices, unison and warping with built in resampling that is one module! Wavetable/granular/spectrum beat ABleton's offerings except wavtable still has better sound to wavetable conversion. "Late to the party", its for sure the new leader but that does not mean the others are bad.

While it is doing several things better than others Pigments and Current have a very similar feature set.

And Phaseplant. And Massive X.
My point is, I'm satisfied with what I have. I don't doubt Serum 2 is better than any other synth ever, but I don't feel I need it. However, it's worth mention I consider myself a composer. I personally don't like tweaking around a synth for too long. I just want them to sound great, have enough flexibility and good workflow. Besides, I have already mastered my synths. I can just focus on my music now.

Disagree especially regarding Phaseplant (which I own) Every single thing I wish Phaseplant had in terms of oscillator detail's Serum 2 has. The sampler in Serum2 might be the best software sampler on the market and that is just one module, how many times have people requested a sequencer for Phaseplant?

True about what you said about the music and Phaseplant is still a really good synth. I am just saying these things because they are true but none of this means anything when it comes to making music.

[concealed identity]

Can you expand the sampler window yet for slicing? I didn't catch it in any patch notes, but someone here said they have plans to add that feature in the near future.

[swilow11]

It really looks like an incredible synth, but maybe it's a little too late to the party for some people? I already own (and love) some of its nearest competitors. $249 is too steep for me as well, I can't justify it these days.

No man, if anything everyone else is now scrambling to match what Serum brings to the table. Its like cutting edge in almost everything and for sure the oscillators set the new standard in terms of what is possible. Its daunting at first and I am still realizing what it can do but it just set the bar in ways I did not believe was even possible. The sampler alone is better than most samplers including the details concerning looping, slicing, slice to midi, loop modes,beg/end modulation, exporting midi slices, unison and warping with built in resampling that is one module! Wavetable/granular/spectrum beat ABleton's offerings except wavtable still has better sound to wavetable conversion. "Late to the party", its for sure the new leader but that does not mean the others are bad.

While it is doing several things better than others Pigments and Current have a very similar feature set.

On the surface, Pigments/Current are similar but Serum goes way deeper than both. Particularly noteworthy is Serums ability to use oscillators as mod sources, modulating LFO nodes, clip launcher, spectral engine with warp modes, etc. Serum has many more modulation sources than Pigments or Current, plus the resynthesis engine and wavetable editor which neither of the other two have.

Current probably has nicer overall FX than Serum, despite the reverb. The Waveshifter is seriously brilliant. Also finding the granular engine in Current much less resource heavy than Serums. But even so, I would consider Current to be a significantly more 'simple' synth than Serum, and really quite different to it. Both get used a lot by me (tend to forget about Pigments tbh).