Official Serum 2 thread!

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Instruments Discussion
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Igro wrote: Wed Jul 09, 2025 7:11 pm
swilow11 wrote: Wed Jul 09, 2025 12:42 pm Sort of confused. They're mentioned "envelopes" plural and then just envelope 1.
I'm wondering too. How Pigments managed to do this differently? Or PhasePlant? And 100 more synths.
So if I don't use ENV1 (set max values for decay and release), then ENV2 will be clicky when applied to OSC1 volume? What a puzzle...
Serum 2 kind of emulates the kind of free running of some analog synths where the oscillator is running all the time and the Amp envelope is controlling the VCA so you can hear it. So the phase of the oscillator isn't reset when you play a note but the envelope is.

On very short attacks you can get clicks because you are opening the VCA randomly through the cycle of the wave. So if the wave is at a non zero phase you get a click.

By default Serum uses random oscillator phase so you could encounter situations where you get a click. You can set it to be the same phase buy it might sound more machine gun like for faster musical parts.

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kraster wrote: Wed Jul 09, 2025 7:37 pm
Igro wrote: Wed Jul 09, 2025 7:11 pm
swilow11 wrote: Wed Jul 09, 2025 12:42 pm Sort of confused. They're mentioned "envelopes" plural and then just envelope 1.
I'm wondering too. How Pigments managed to do this differently? Or PhasePlant? And 100 more synths.
So if I don't use ENV1 (set max values for decay and release), then ENV2 will be clicky when applied to OSC1 volume? What a puzzle...
Serum 2 kind of emulates the kind of free running of some analog synths where the oscillator is running all the time and the Amp envelope is controlling the VCA so you can hear it. So the phase of the oscillator isn't reset when you play a note but the envelope is.

On very short attacks you can get clicks because you are opening the VCA randomly through the cycle of the wave. So if the wave is at a non zero phase you get a click.

By default Serum uses random oscillator phase so you could encounter situations where you get a click. You can set it to be the same phase buy it might sound more machine gun like for faster musical parts.
They mentioned that this is not relevant to the phase. You can reset the phase of every key press if you select "Per Voice" in the OSC menu (you need it if you want to get a stable transient in the kick, for example).

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Phase isn't the issue, it really wouldn't matter at what point the phase is retriggering if the issue is voice stealing.

But yes, many hardware synths operate in the way that Serum does. Which isn't ideal but you can just use an LFO in envelope mode to overcome it.

Kinda like how Vital allows the user to select how voice stealing is implemented. Not sure if Serum 2 has anything like this.

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I just checked Pigments 6. And while it does reset the envelope, this causes a strong click. Not very useful then. So I now understand, why Serum does this that way (I had a chat with the developers). Dawesome synths, UAD synths behave the same way as Serum 2. There are only quite a few synths, that implemented some sort of smoothing algorithms, to prevent that (PhasePlant, for instance). So I'm over with my own rant now. :)
Last edited by Igro on Thu Jul 10, 2025 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Is there supposed to be an error message if you load an SFZ that takes too much memory? Trying to load some Karoryfer Vengeful Cello sfz and nothing happens---but there's no error message indicating that the samples are too large. No multisamples indicated in gui, no audio when playing.

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Stan Navi wrote: Fri Mar 21, 2025 7:13 pm
Here is a video of converting Bitwig Multisample file, but it is also true for converting other formats. Though pure wav to SFZ failed for me. Bitwig Multisample to SFZ works great. I didn't try other options .
You could have mentioned that it uses the free ConvertWithMoss and is not a feature included in Bitwig.

https://www.mossgrabers.de/Software/Con ... hMoss.html

But thanks.

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Igro wrote: Thu Jul 10, 2025 11:12 am I just checked Pigments 6. And while it does reset the envelope, this causes a strong click. Not very useful then. So I now understand, why Serum does this that way (I had a chat with the developers). Dawesome synths, UAD synths behave the same way as Serum 2. There are only quite a few synths, that implemented some sort of smoothing algorithms, to prevent that (PhasePlant, for instance). So I'm over with my own rant now. :)
Interesting. I hadn't really thought to check other synths.

I'm sort of wondering why the same issue doesn't occur when using LFOs as envelopes. But I guess when you look at an LFO in Serum, the final node is always the same as the highest node value. And this can cause discontinuity clicks so maybe I've answered my question.

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swilow11 wrote: Thu Jul 10, 2025 10:53 pm
Igro wrote: Thu Jul 10, 2025 11:12 am I just checked Pigments 6. And while it does reset the envelope, this causes a strong click. Not very useful then. So I now understand, why Serum does this that way (I had a chat with the developers). Dawesome synths, UAD synths behave the same way as Serum 2. There are only quite a few synths, that implemented some sort of smoothing algorithms, to prevent that (PhasePlant, for instance). So I'm over with my own rant now. :)
Interesting. I hadn't really thought to check other synths.

I'm sort of wondering why the same issue doesn't occur when using LFOs as envelopes. But I guess when you look at an LFO in Serum, the final node is always the same as the highest node value. And this can cause discontinuity clicks so maybe I've answered my question.
Could be cool though if the added an option to override this behavior. If Gforce synths could do this nicely without any clicks, then anyone can.

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Igro wrote: Fri Jul 11, 2025 6:54 am If Gforce synths could do this nicely without any clicks, then anyone can.
Ouch! :hihi:
ABEFLGMOPPRRST :phones:

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liquidsound wrote: Fri Jul 11, 2025 11:35 am
Igro wrote: Fri Jul 11, 2025 6:54 am If Gforce synths could do this nicely without any clicks, then anyone can.
Ouch! :hihi:
Ahh, wrong wording. Obviously Gforce stuff is top notch. I mean if one company can do this, then others may achieve this too.

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A few weeks later, and I would have to say that the 2.0.20 update made Serum 2 easier to choose to use in projects on my old Threadripper PC. The improvement is good enough for my use cases that I don't have to pause for a moment and wonder if it will end up overloading a core later down the line.

(On my M1 Mac, of course, it's always been great.)

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Serum 2 AT SOME SETTINGS can be more CPU heavy than other synths (when you use Serum 2 as a typical subtractive synth, you won't notice the CPU load). It depends on which module is used. But I noticed, that those modules audio quality is very high. I can't even complain about it. And I usually do.
I guess Steve wanted to make something future-proof. Even Serum 2 sampler is higher quality than the Bitwig Sampler. The granular engine module audio quality is way better than in Pigment 6.

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This guy does a hands-on walkthrough of Nova Explosion. Just listen to these Serum 2 cinematic sounds! :tu:

Download the FREE demo pack here - https://newloops.com/products/nova-expl ... -2-presets
Pigments Presets, Omnisphere Expansions, Dune, Serum, and Thorn Sound Packs. Diva, Zebra, TAL, and Repro Sound Banks. :love: Massive discounts - https://NewLoops.com

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Beginning to see some light in the tunnel.
Added a new ambient demo called "A Walk In The Forest", featuring two pads, one soundscape and a dark sequence.
Everything heard come from "Shadows Of Luring Attraction 2".
Please enjoy.

https://soundcloud.com/leap-into-the-vo ... the-forest
Soundsets and presets for Absynth.
Sounds and presets for UVI Falcon "Iterata X".
Bazille soundset - Crystalline Textures 3.

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