Official Serum 2 thread!

[Rivanni]

Version 2.0.24 still hasn't fixed the blurry font in some parts of the UI when scaling. What a pity.

I sent them an email last night with some updates to my original email, and this time, they replied that

it is to be expected.
We are not able to render everything perfectly sharp at anything other than 100 or 200%.
Serum 2 skins contain graphics for 100% and 200%, and many of these graphics contain text for labels etc.
For other zoom levels, these graphics are resampled, so the final result is not tack sharp.
Dynamically rendered text does not require resampling; these are the elements you have pointed out as not blurry.

I pointed out that the white text on the left side of the FX and Global page is sharp at various zoom levels. The text in the popups that display the parameter and value is also sharp, as are the blue and pink indicators around the dials. The oscillator, filter, velo, and note shapes are sharp. However, the Envelope and LFO shapes are blurry. And these are just a few examples.
Things are not even tack-sharp at 200%, and you would expect perfect scaling at 400%, but no.

Their reply makes little sense. Why not render all text dynamically instead of including it in graphics? Why is there a difference between the various shapes (which are not static graphics)? Why aren't better graphics used for the different zoom levels?
I can tolerate the slightly blurry graphics in some areas, but not blurry text throughout the whole interface.

[jules99]

Version 2.0.24 still hasn't fixed the blurry font in some parts of the UI when scaling. What a pity.

I sent them an email last night with some updates to my original email, and this time, they replied that

it is to be expected.
We are not able to render everything perfectly sharp at anything other than 100 or 200%.
.

Their reply makes little sense.

This is why most companies shy away from anything other than email support. Imagine not 1, but 10-100 commenters like you on every post a company make knowing what's better for them, how, what they decide they do "makes little sense" and how YOU know how it should be done.

As much as I get your frustration of having blurry text, getting a clear answer and saying it "makes little sense" without being on the Serum 2 team and having in-depth knowledge of their workflows and product policies... makes little sense.

[Rivanni]

Version 2.0.24 still hasn't fixed the blurry font in some parts of the UI when scaling. What a pity.

I sent them an email last night with some updates to my original email, and this time, they replied that

it is to be expected.
We are not able to render everything perfectly sharp at anything other than 100 or 200%.
.

Their reply makes little sense.

This is why most companies shy away from anything other than email support. Imagine not 1, but 10-100 commenters like you on every post a company make knowing what's better for them, how, what they decide they do "makes little sense" and how YOU know how it should be done.

As much as I get your frustration of having blurry text, getting a clear answer and saying it "makes little sense" without being on the Serum 2 team and having in-depth knowledge of their workflows and product policies... makes little sense.

I reached out to support via email, so your first point makes no sense (pun intended).

I never claimed to know how everything should be done, nor did I suggest what is better for them.
The only thing I said was what’s not working properly for ME (and some other users).

The answer I received wasn't clear, and I can't understand why you think it was, without knowing the content of the email.
I sent a follow-up email asking for clarification, which I got. According to it, the blurry text issue won't be resolved. They won't add more static graphics for the other zoom levels, and it are these graphics that contain most of the text.

Their initial response also didn't make sense because the use of static images didn't explain why the Envelope and LFO shapes are blurry and all the other shapes are not. Those Envelope and LFO shapes are not based on static images. I don't need to understand their workflows or policies in detail to see and know this.
Anyway, in their last email, they mentioned they'll look into possible improvements in this area.

[swilow11]

^Are blurry fonts making your music blurry?

One thing I'm curious about. When you apply modulation, is there a pattern behind whether Serum assigns it as bipolar or unipolar by default? And what about modulation amount? It always feels slightly random to me.

2 things I'd like- the ability to fully save LFO settings, shapes, retrigger options, and rate. And s better to assign and modify Auxiliary modulation. If I drag LFO 2 onto the rate of LFO one, I have to adjust the amount/type in the matrix. I really love how Phase Plant does this.

[swilow11]

Another 3 things that I'd love:

1. With the new SVF, this can get insanely loud and fast. Same with the spectral oscillator, especially if use warps like mirror. Love how Current has soft/hard clipping on every effect and across multiple other parameters. Would be great if Serum 2 had the option to add soft clipping to these two sections at least.

2. Also just having a clipper in the FX rack..I know you can use the distortion fx in soft clip mode but I'm more interested in clipping as part of my dynamics control.

3. A basic gain utility would be great too. All the fx slots have gain control and more accessible than Serum 1. The utility can be used as such. But having a gain utility outside of that particular structure would see a lot of use for me.

4. Ok, I know I said 3 but. I love having multiple busses but the implementing is sometimes puzzling to me. I think Phase Plant do this exceptionally well- you just choose which lane send each generator to and then route those fx lanes as you wish. With S2, it's always slightly confusing. I often find myself having to do things in a less intuitive way, setting routing to NONE but dialling in the amount I want to send. I usually get what I want here eventually but a simpler method, like Phase Plant would be awesome.

[waxdoctor]

If you're in Ableton Live , right-click the plugin in the list and disable AutoScale. Otherwise I'd suggest to open a support ticket on the website, ideally with a screenshot and display/host info.

I do not have this option in Live 12.3. (latest macos).

[swilow11]

Encountered my first ever bug in Serum 2.

I created a bass patch with a macro controlling the volume of an oscillator. I duplicated the patch, grouped it with the original, and created a macro in Bitwig to control both the volume macros in Serum. For some reason, in the original/non duplicated patch, whenever I instantiate a new FX module, the volume macro in that instance of Serum jumps to its maximum value.

I wonder if anyone has found something like this before.

[HHUKRadio]

Missing ARP and CLIP presets in Serum 2.

Hi all

I'm running the latest version of Serum 2 on Windows in Cubase.

I appear to be missing a bunch of Arp and Clip presets. The files are there in the default folder but they're not appearing as an option to select in the dropdown list when using either the Bank or Pattern box in the ARP and CLIP editors.

I've run the database check tool a few times but it doesn't make any difference. There are many more presets available in the Serum 2 folder than actually showing in my Serum 2.

I opened the Serum 2 presets folder FROM Serum 2 to make sure it was looking in the same place as me which is was.

I'm wondering if these arp and clip factory presets have to be loaded differently?

I posted in the official forum earlier but thought I may get a quicker response from you knowledgeable people here

Cheers

Adam

UPDATE: I may have answered my own question. It appears the other CLIP presets appear only after you have drawn in a note or imported a MIDI file onto the main window of the CLIP section.

[secomo]

From Ableton arrangement window i can't drag samples straight into Serum2 samples etc. Is there a way i can fix that? I seem to recall it working some releases ago.

From Live's browser it is possible. But it requires more clicks than dragging a clip into Serum.

macos Live 12

[Sampleconstruct]

Video featuring the patch “Deep Orbit“ from an upcoming sound library for Serum 2 - combining spectral and wavetable oscillators with plenty of modulation mayhem.

[tumface]

From Ableton arrangement window i can't drag samples straight into Serum2 samples etc. Is there a way i can fix that? I seem to recall it working some releases ago.

From Live's browser it is possible. But it requires more clicks than dragging a clip into Serum.

macos Live 12

Hmm. It works for me in Live 12.2. Are you using the VST3 version of Serum 2?

[HOTF]

The voice control section is so well done, easy to use and useful I use it on every patch.

[Essent]

I am after a very particular sound. Think Serum 2 can deliver so it is high on my list.

[DorianBloom]

Outside of the reverb I think Current has the best FX suite of all of them.

YES! I love the FX in Current but the reverb is one of the worse ever! Hope they do something about it... but then they'd break compatibility with previous patches.

Then there's Avenger which is also another beast of a synth. A bit more complex and less immediate but enormously capable.

LOVE Avenger, my most powerful synth. I think the FXs are even better than Current! Those new Ruta FXs are some of the best!

Interesting. I havent bought the Avenger update yet. It seems the FX are the biggest addition to the latest version? Debating whether it's worth upgrading or not.
Might have to check that out a little closer.
Have so many synths now! I am actually starting to get into Serum 2 quite a bit. We really are spoiled for choice at the moment.

[swilow11]

Serum 2 has essentially had me sell of 80% of my soft synths. I still use Phase Plant, Massive X, FM8, Bitwig grid and Tal Mod, but Serum 2 does about 70% of the work now. So good.

Does anyone else experience the 'bug' when changing unisons voices? It's also a feature in S1, the arrows don't always function when clicking. It seems to sometimes work better when you expand the plugin window though. It's an odd bug to have persisted between versions.