Sound Design Challenge: Recreating this emotional, screaming Lead (Sylenth1/Serum)

[TheBlackBone]

Hi everyone,
I’m new here and I'm not quite sure if this fits here. If not, feel free to move or delete it.

I’m trying to re-engineer a very specific lead sound from the attached audio snippet, but I’m struggling to get it exactly right. I’m not 100% sure if this snippet fits the typical style here, but I hope someone can help me out!

Important Note on the Sample:
In the attached snippet, you can hear some pads and a bassline playing in the background. However, I am only interested in recreating the main lead sound that sits on top.

The Sound:
I’m looking for that "screaming," emotional, and very fluid lead character. It has a sharp, piercing top-end but maintains a very strong, warm mid-presence. In the original snippet, the lead feels like a cohesive "wall," whereas my attempts always sound a bit fragmented.

My Tools: Sylenth1,Serum 2, Standard processing (Distortion, OTT, WaveShaper, etc.)

What I’ve tried so far:
I've experimented with layered Super-Saws, using one layer at Octave 0 and another at Octave +1. I’m using pitch envelopes for the initial "peaking" effect and different distortion modes (like Clipping or Foldback) to match that gritty, dense texture. The first note plays on G#5

The Main Issue:
My version still feels too "static" and "harsh." If you look at the original in a spectrum analyzer, the lead's harmonics seem to flow and "fall off" naturally during longer notes. My version looks like a "wall of needles" in SPAN and lacks that "singing" or "breathing" quality.

How would you approach this? Is there a specific modulation trick (Filter/Pitch), a certain way to layer noise, or a bus-processing technique I might be missing to get that emotional "flow"?

Any advice on oscillator settings, layering or the FX chain would be amazing.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[CHOOS]

Desktop.zip

Vital presets + midi

its pretty close
The lead had a bit of squarishness to it which could be from the 1st oscillator in Vital and distortion will do that a little bit too. bit of both mixed with a saw gives it a close clone of the sound.

The pitch-drop-attack adds that little bit extra. and I hear that in the original as well

[Touch The Universe]

can i get a longer sample or a link to the full track?

[TheBlackBone]

Hi CHOOS,

Thank you so much for this, and sorry for the late reply! I've been away from the project for a bit, but I just tested your presets and MIDI, and they are incredibly close to the original. Wow!

Your analysis is spot on. Mixing that subtle "squarishness" from the first oscillator with a saw and the right distortion is exactly what gives it that dense, emotional character I was chasing. And that pitch-drop attack completes it perfectly.

This is an amazing starting point for me to work with. Thanks also to touch the universe here for the quick and responses right from the start!

Cheers!