Serum Vst Plugin

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Aron Eugine

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Aug 4, 2024, 12:31:37 PM8/4/24

to crinrehamo

Did you get serum running yet? As I see it from this end, Serum would not run for you due to High Sierra security and sandboxing. So, you installed, or tried to install a "plug-in like patch" that is supposed to allow Serum to run as a plug-in. This patch is supposed to be installed and launched like a plug-in. Then you should be able to launch Serum.

To clarify, the issue arose when Serum began asking me to enter the license information even though I definitely have a license. I contacted their support team, and they directed me to this tutorial. So when I launch Serum, that is where the bug occurs.

And iirc PPG Infinite is not a pure wave table synth. It loads and analyses wavetables but transforms them somehow into sinusoids which then can be modulated like a wave table. Maybe something like an advanced wave table Synthesizer.

Wavegenerator and Wavemapper allow you to create your own wavetables while Infinite is likely the most user-friendly synth, better for people who don't want to invest the time to create custom wavetables.

Synthmaster One and Obsidian... don't think there is other synth which with at least approximate amount of modulation posibilities like Serum (which is best part of Serum for me - not huge amount of wavetables but it's engine and modulation posibilities) ..

it would be my fullfiled dream to have Serum ported on iOS :-) Unfortunately it will never happen, Steve Duda mentioned in some i terview that some parts of code are very old and a it hard to port to different OS, so there is no chance..

@dendy said:

Synthmaster One and Obsidian... don't think there is other synth which with at least approximate amount of modulation posibilities like Serum .. both which i mentioned are lacking some features of Serum of course... but it is most close you can get to Serum on iOS ...

internal matt's format... atm you cannot import own wavetables... maybe one day importing external wavetables will be possible, but considering huge todo list, i'm not too much optimistic in short term..

The filters are o.k. but the FX are weak (for me st least).

I always wonder whats the fuss is about Serum.

After using the demo i find it cold and thin.

Great for digital sounds, nice GUI and the modulation system is indeed great.

It would not be in my Top 10 list.

The default presets belongs to the worst of any synth. So i liked it a bit better when i did my own but still, just o.K.

Can't wait !!! In case you will be interested in beta testing and possible some factory presets sound design, i'm ready (you can check my work - around 230 patches in Nanostudio Obsidian factory bank is my work, so probably you have good chance if you check random 10-20 patches that lot of them are mine )

@dendy said:

Synthmaster is not very similar to Serum at all, Serum has more parameters/control in its wavetable drawing/morphing/editing of shapes than Synthmaster has for its entire plugin, nothing compares to Serum.

Nobody is saying Synthmaster is bad and it is the closest you might get to Serumnon iOS, but it is not similar or even comparable.

@Turntablist said:

Nobody is saying Synthmaster is bad and it is the closest you might get to Serumnon iOS, but it is not similar or even comparable.

Biggest advantage of Serum is quality of it's wavetable engine. Steve mentioned in interview that this engine was developed based on some insane math made by some mathematician for him, this makes it sound waaay much better than any other synth. Of course there are also other details - modulation capabilities, decent filters, good FXs - but center is that amazing sounding wavetable engine.

no one has ever touched Nave in wavetable control- they master the technology- and it still sounds the best- not as brittle/dry as most wavetable synths- Nave also has very good effects and one of the best sounding filters ever-

Xfer Serum is an advanced wavetable synthesizer plugin developed to provide high-quality sound with a visual and creative interface. It was made specifically to focus on fast and flexible workflows for sound creation.

In wavetable synthesis, the basic sound of the oscillators is created by sampled waveforms whose values are stored in a table. By cycling through the values at different rates, the oscillator can produce different musical pitches. Check out our guide to wavetable synthesis for the full explainer on this technique.

To recap, wavetables are a method of generating sound based on a single sampled waveform expressed as a table of values. In Serum you have two wavetable oscillators available, as well as a sub oscillator and a noise generator.

The unique multi modes allow you to blend between filter styles with a morph control that can also be a great modulation destination. In other modes this control behaves differently, adding fatness to the Moog-style filters or controlling cutoff frequency for a second filter.

The modulation sources themselves are flexible and easily editable, merging traditional rotary controls with draggable curves and tempo sync options. You can even save your custom LFO curves to recall later!

Yes, for the SoundToys plugins, I get the same issue - note, the selected preset from the menu or the Library *does* load, it just doesn't "stick" either in the name box, or selected in the Library, which is annoying (and thus you can't use the up/down arrows or key/MIDI commands to move through presets).

And for some plugins like Native Instruments, Xfer Records Serum or Korg plugins I cannot change between my presets all the time. It's not working using the Previous/Next Setting buttons. not going thru my saved presets.

Yes, like I said above, because the selection doesn't "stick", you can't move to the next or previous patch, because Logic doesn't seem to know/remember the patch you just selected, You can see when you load a preset from the Library, it instantly gets unselected, rather than staying highlighted....

Steve Duda is an American DJ, record producer, audio engineer, manager and software engineer from Menlo Park, California.[1] He is best known for his mid-2000s collaborative electronic music projects with Canadian record producer and DJ deadmau5 under the names "BSOD" and "WTF?" (also with DJ Aero and Tommy Lee)[2][3] and owning the record label and digital music software company Xfer Records.[4] He is also known for creating the VST plugin Serum.[5]

Duda studied music composition at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He later became a member of the Santa Cruz rock bands named The Brothers of Other and Razorface. He later left the bands, and went on to work for the American technology company AVID.

In 1997, Duda left Santa Cruz to become an engineer and programmer for the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, for which he was a programmer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist on their third studio album The Fragile.

In 2005, Duda and Canadian record producer Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5) formed the electro house group BSOD and released their debut single "This Is The Hook" a year later. The song topped the Beatport Top 100 chart, and went on to feature on deadmau5's 2008 compilation album At Play. Later that year, the group self-released their debut album titled Pay Here To Click.[6]

Earlier that year, Duda also made several uncredited collaborations with deadmau5. Most notably, he performed vocals for "Porcelain" and co-wrote "Bitches" from Zimmerman's 2006 album A Little Oblique.

In 2014, Duda programmed, created and released Serum, a VST plugin to be used by DJs and producers in the electronic dance music scene.[9] Its GUI was designed by Lance Thackeray.[10] Serum later won multiple awards.[5]

Looking like the bastard son of Massive and Zebra, Serum is a semi modular hybrid beast that combines subtractive and wavetable synthesis, with creative sampling and effects, all in an elegant, user friendly interface. With a torrent of praise from all corners of the internet, including some notable fans such as Deadmau5, this plugin could not be written off as just another synth, without further exploration...