Serum & what else?

[4damind]

The opposite to serum is an analogue emulation like Repro-5, bx_oberhausen, Obsession, Softube Model 72...
Depending on what Black Friday brings, maybe Arturia V-Collection.
Sytrus has a very analog sound but I agree... a bit cumbersome to use and FM is also not everyone's favourite.

[LazyBaba]

Hello! And thanks for all the great suggestions!

I don't really like Image Line's instruments (they do sound great, but they aren't really very joyful to use IMHO - expect maybe FLEX since it has more "modern" feel to it IYKWIM).

Maybe I'll have some spare time on weekend to try more demos of these suggested ones

Thanks again!

[themerx]

You use VSTi's "almost" daily? I use them 5-6 hours every day, more on weekends, and I've been doing it for more than 20 years now. Most VSTi are largely interchangeable. Some make it easier to do this or that but I could play you 30 songs I've worked on in the last six months and you wouldn't be able to tell me which synth I used for even one part. That's the nature of synths.

Such stupid talk. Even if you've been sitting at the PC for 10 hours for 50 years, that doesn't mean you have a clue. I've seen other of your posts and they're just as meaningless as this one. and if someone contradicts you, you freak out. can you give us real arguments? can you really get into the matter? No, you can't, because you simply have no idea. "The synths all sound the same," says someone who doesn't understand complex synthesizers. someone who doesn't understand that you need wavetables for more complex waves or that you need samples for special transitions and that layers are good for combining the individual elements into one sound.
But an osc and a filter are enough to meet your needs.

do us a favor. if you have no idea, just shut up!

[cowby]

sorry OP I didn't go thru each of the reply.

But Rapid and Tone 2's Gladiator or Icarus worth to demo

[SamDi]

Serum filters are by far superior to Sylenth one.. sylenth1 filters are really basics..

Interesting, how opinions can differ. But let me put my statement on some concrete examples. Just take the patch at startup from sylenth: Arp 303 Saw

Show me how to do it in Serum to sound better!

To spare you some work I can send you my attempt. How can it be improved to exceed Sylenth's sound quality?

ARP Acid 303.fxp.zip

I am curious.

[parawave]

Sylenth, Rapid, Dune 3, Spire. One of these is not like the others.
Guess which one supports multi samples and Granular Synthesis

If you want to play the features card, then MSoundFactory, MUX Modular, and Falcon would all put this to shame.

Sometimes it's all about workflow, accessibility, and community support. Features aren't everything.

So true I agree!! You can get good sound with all synths mentioned here, but what is good for your work process? What feel good for you to use? Think this is maybe most important!

This is true. I think in the end it's a matter of what advantages/disadvantages you personally prefer.
Falcon for example is substantially more expensive that Rapid, about 300€ (when not discounted). Could be a deciding factor. MSoundFactory and MUX Modulator on the other hand are cheaper (I think). But workflow wise they are all very modular and especially Falcon seems to be a bit hard to grasp. The tree structure design is far off from a single page synth design. Rapids UI is also not a single page design, but it's all about how far you take it.
In the design stage of Rapid there were countless design decisions made that explicitely avoided an overengineered and too broad list/tree/node (stream?) based approach.
Don't forget: A general approach also demands a general and almost scientific approach to sound design. Especially for editing patches this could be a creative brake if too many steps are required to "get a patch". And also compare the CPU consumption! From a software architecture standpoint, free modules are always more CPU hungry, because certain computing optimizations are not possible in a dynamic computing node.

Also wasn't one of the authors demands no dongle (iLok), easy on CPU and good for especially (EDM) leads?

[drdriller]

Interesting, how opinions can differ. But let me put my statement on some concrete examples. Just take the patch at startup from sylenth: Arp 303 Saw

Show me how to do it in Serum to sound better!

To spare you some work I can send you my attempt. How can it be improved to exceed Sylenth's sound quality?

ARP Acid 303.fxp.zip

I am curious.

good idea , i'll need an arpegiattor, can i use ableton one's ?

i don't get what you mean by sound quality so i can't improve it, but i can try to copy the preset.

[SamDi]

In the design stage of Rapid there were countless design decisions made that explicitely avoided an overengineered and too broad list/tree/node (stream?) based approach.

I know it's off-topic, but when you are already here:
Rapid would be such a nice good-sounding synth, but having no opportunity to sidechain modulations is a big blocker, because for me it's essential. Is it planned once to regard it in your design decisions?

To get on-topic: Serum has one of the most developed mod-matrices on the market (side-chaining, uni-polar vs. bi-polar, transfer-curves, inverting, etc .) difficult (don't know why - normally it should be easy) to beat it there.

[parawave]

In the design stage of Rapid there were countless design decisions made that explicitely avoided an overengineered and too broad list/tree/node (stream?) based approach.

I know it's off-topic, but when you are already here:
Rapid would be such a nice good-sounding synth, but having no opportunity to sidechain modulations is a big blocker, because for me it's essential. Is it planned once to regard it in your design decisions?

To get on-topic: Serum has one of the most developed mod-matrices on the market (side-chaining, uni-polar vs. bi-polar, transfer-curves, inverting, etc .) difficult (don't know why - normally it should be easy) to beat it there.

Can you elaborate? What exactly is meant by side chaining? An example would be helful.
MSEGs will come. And with them transfer curves and modulation mapping and what not.
Or do you perhaps mean combining two modulation sources?

[SamDi]

Can you elaborate? What exactly is meant by side chaining? An example would be helful.
MSEGs will come. And with them transfer curves and modulation mapping and what not.
Or do you perhaps mean combining two modulation sources?

I mean, that you can modulate the amount of a modulation. Example: to set an LFO on OSC pitch as vibrato and then control the amount via aftertouch. Sometimes this is called "sidechaining", I guess analog to a compressor, where the sidechain controls the VCA.

I thought you have already MSEGs, but just recognize that's rather sequence shapes. Of course all these new features are appreciated

[martinjuenke]

Here comes the Serum killer:
https://audioplugin.deals/deal-1/

[biscuitdough]

I think OP got the answer early on, and doesn't like the preset browsers of any of the synths that fit the sound requirements (warm sounding for EDM, thus, Sylenth, Dune, Spire).

Fathom was expressly designed to be the second synth in your setup. There's a mono demo, and the Pro version is a bargain. It comes down to whether it handles presets the way you want, and what you mean by "warm".

[glokraw]

A lot depends on desire to sequence/arpeggiate sounds, as well as add a new synth. If you'd like that midi-out, that includes a good synth or two, SynthMaster One and Synthmaster 2 both have a midi out to drive Serum sounds. Otherwise, you could of course use the free BlueArp with the U-he synth of your choice, several of which have excellent built-in sequencing. Zebra 2 is amazingly versatile, as evidenced by the many free and commercial soundsets, and with many videos to cover key workflow, it's a great long-term investment, with version 3 sailing in, currently just over Jupiter's horizon

[EnGee]

A lot depends on desire to sequence/arpeggiate sounds, as well as add a new synth. If you'd like that midi-out, that includes a good synth or two, SynthMaster One and Synthmaster 2 both have a midi out to drive Serum sounds. Otherwise, you could of course use the free BlueArp with the U-he synth of your choice, several of which have excellent built-in sequencing. Zebra 2 is amazingly versatile, as evidenced by the many free and commercial soundsets, and with many videos to cover key workflow, it's a great long-term investment, with version 3 sailing in, currently just over Jupiter's horizon

Just came to post about SynthMaster!

Yes, another vote for SynthMaster! I have SM1 and found it very easy to use with a great flexibility. Anyway, I don't do EDM but sometimes I just like to have fun and SM1 is really great for EDM. It is also very reasonably priced and affordable.

Personally, I would choose Massive X above Serum. It might be the "ideal" synth because it can do most everything (it has Monark filter, so it can do nice analog sounds).
Anyway, I love those weird sounds and they fit me quite well. NI is famous for such sounds! So that I still love FM8, Absynth and the good old Massive. They just inspire me more than anything else! So, what I want to say is, it's really about what inspires you more in the genre of music you like! It doesn't matter what specs or what others say! For that you need to demo and demo again. It needs time to pick your favourite synths. I believe some synths and instruments can affect us for life and can continue to inspire us.

[drdriller]

Interesting, how opinions can differ. But let me put my statement on some concrete examples. Just take the patch at startup from sylenth: Arp 303 Saw

Show me how to do it in Serum to sound better!

To spare you some work I can send you my attempt. How can it be improved to exceed Sylenth's sound quality?

ARP Acid 303.fxp.zip

I am curious.

your patch is nod bad, the automation on the filter is a nice try to simulate the arpeg, but to get close to the original you have to use an arpeggiator or a midi sequence, because of the same envelope played on each note repeat. (btw i think it's a standard filter with less drive & fat..)

i will build my own, i started and have the timbre but i didn't find a step mode on the ableton arpeggiator, i'll look when i get more time (or maybe just write a midi sequence..)