Of course this is utter nonsense. What you mean actually is that you can create kind of the same env, filter env, similar filter slope, overall impression with most of the synths. However the beauty comes then from the little details, as I already tried to explain. For example, how does the filter actually sound? How is the oversampling done (so how is it sounding)? Are are you saying that for example Diva, as a contrast example, sounds the same?
Of course you then could emulate an analog emulation also in Serum 2, adding a lot of randomness. But then you are already limited, there are âonlyâ 8 LFOs, and you would use a lot of random processors. Plus itâs then a tedious workflow already. Synths like Zebra2 already have this built-in as an automatic option.
That said I also donât really like the filters in Serum. I cannot even tell what it is exactly, or maybe itâs the OSCs instead? The saturation in the filters sounds to me kind of âcheapâ like soft clipping or so. I have the same impression with Massive X, but not at all with Zebra2 or Korg Multi/Poly for example. Maybe it just lacks of tiny modulation, too statical sounding. But it seems to be also some kind of âuglyâ brightness, almost like it had a hidden slight eqing on the output or so (maybe just the presets used an eq, I donât know).
And then you even canât do a lot of stuff in Serum 2 due to the very statical processing structure. If you donât understand that, ok, you mostly likely wonât miss such stuff either. But I can tell you that you are missing a lot of sound types then.
Just to compare impressions: Do you have a similar impression regarding the filters? That there is some kind of slight attenuation around 4-6kHz or so?
Lot of cross OSC operations seem to produce unneccessary much high frequency content. Might be that Serum 2 is mathematically more correct than other synths, while others process it in a more musical way?
What is pretty cool is that you can do all the cross osc stuff with plain samples, too. Might be interesting to explore also for Renoise, its instruments structure.
Iâve already had the chance to test Serum 2 in-depth. However, I feel like itâs consuming a lot of CPU resources, so much so that it quickly saturates in many presets with multiple voices. Does anyone else experience the same? I use an i7 7700K; itâs a bit old now, but itâs always performed very well even with many VSTi files loaded. But Serum 2 is consuming too much in this case. Maybe I need to optimize something in Serum 2âs settings.
Indeed. Iâm on WIn10, SoundBlaster Z, Intel Core i5 9600K.
I played a lot with the Granular Synth and had no problems at all. But today I was about to check some of the factory presets, and there are some presets that were killing my CPU. After pressing 5 keys the CPU was at 100% and I got this message:
So what I did is to switch from DirectSound to Asio (Creative SBZ series Asio), switched my soundcard settings from StereoDirect to Stereo 2.0 and now there are no more audio crashes. But CPU is still high when playing some of the stuff. So yeah, indeed Serum 2 requires a lot more CPU than v1. Never faced anything like this in v1.
What I was saying is that the same type of synths can create the same type of sounds. Whether weâre talking about basses, pads, plucks, synths or whatever. Whatâs different is the handling and maybe some functions, which results in those âlittle detailsâ that no one will notice in the mix. Iâve never seen someone listening to music saying âWhoooa nice, that pad was clearly made in Zebraâ or whatever. No one can tell just by listening to that sound, because a synth is a synth. You know?
This is quote from your two different posts, I hope itâs ok.
I can agree with that and⌠not at the same time.
The goal may be finishing songs or just have fun creating music or playing instrument. Someone who plays guitar and do not record it, still can be very happy musicial. Music is a hobby, not hard work in factory (even if these days more and more musicians calls themselves âmusic producersâ instead of âmusiciansâ or âcomposersâ).
My friend is an angler and he fishes with a rod. He has dozens of these rods. He doesnât sell these fish, he doesnât even eat them, he just usually releases them after. Does that mean he should fishing using wooden stick and some string, because itâs not worth investing if itâs just a hobby? What is the difference (for a fish) if heâs using this fishing rod or another? Or maybe he should get a job on a fishing boat so that instead of ten fish he can catch 200 kg?
Spending money on a hobby, even if someone likes just playing with various synths, is not waste of money. Buying new 80" TV is a waste of money (and time), but not buying synths. And finishing songs is something nice, but playing with music in general (even if just one of 50 songs will be finished) and playing with various synths is also fun.
So if someone have 100 synths and likes to play with them - I see no difference between this and buying new LEGO set or new video game.
For sure. But personally I distinguish between composing and sound designing. These are two different pairs of shoes, even if in some cases thereâs a smooth transition between those two. So if someone likes to play around with sounds on different synths, paying attention to all those âvery little detailsâ, following the motto âthe journey is the rewardâ, cool. But thatâs something different than composing music, and synths, which are instruments, actually were built to create music with. Music is the composition and arrangement of sounds, and when youâre arranging sounds, those âvery little detailsâ doesnât matter anymore, because they get drowned in the mix. So no need to buy thousands of synths if you like to compose music. Thatâs basically what I said. And I appreciate Serum as an instrument, but sometimes I also âplay aroundâ with sounds, because I like the way how itâs done in Serum. Imho in contrary to many other synths itâs easy to understand.
I think this is basically all wrong. In what universe does timbre not matter? You are taking a personal aversion to sound design and applying it as a broad theory of music creation. In reality, everyone with a passing familiarity of music production knows that modern composers spend more time on timbre than ever. The notion that it doesnât matter what synth you use to make music with is absurd on itâs face, technological innovation by synth manufactuers are directly responsible for entire genres of music!
âevery type of synth can do the same soundsâ no they cannot lmao.
Not sure if you understood what I was trying to say, but anyway, please educate me. Which synths exactly were responsible for entire genres of music within the past decades? Iâm psyched to hear about those technological innovations and resulting new genres. And are you sure about what âmodern composersâ are doing? As far as I can see modern composers are reproducing already existing styles, thereâs nothing new to listen to.
I wonder if serum 2 can handle keytracked decimation without artifacts post filters et c. So far Iâve only found Zebra 2 and Softtube modular doing it fairly well. Thatâs my personal hallmark for a good subtractive synthesizer
Falcon isnât working? Falcon actually can put fx on voice layer. Did you try it? Maybe just resample / lofi-sample play then? Iâve seen a video that Serum 2 is very easy to handle when it comes to resample. But I forgot what for you are using it. Hm, seems to be hard to find a proper value for keyfollow.
BINGO! My poor old ass still gets a lot of mileage out of Waldorf Largo, Tone 2 products, Zebra, and Surge XT. All for the reason of low CPU hit. (not to mention Renoise) Heck VItal sends my CPU through the roof, yet those crazy kids today simply adore it. Of course I am not a preset guy , so I can usually eek out whatever sound I can think of out of the aforementioned.
Is it the same for you that the GUI rendering of Serum2 somehow negatively affects the GUI rendering of Renoise? When lots of voices are active in Serum and thereâs a lot of visual movement, the rendering in Renoise starts to lag for me. This only happens with Serum2, for example, Serum1 runs completely smoothly. Iâm on Windows 11 with a Nvidia GPU.
