[Sing4me88]

Hi all,
            I was wondering if anyone here uses Serum and if so do they reckon it is value for money?

I've been toying with getting it for a while now as a) it is everywhere I look on YouTube; b) every pop producer I speaks to mentions it (almost as if its now an industry standard); c) it has some really cool modern sounds and d) you can buy preset bundles, and even download some for free, in packs that are not only geared towards certain styles but also certain artists (ie Arianna Grande preset pack, Dua Lipa style preset packs etc), which is great as I'm lazy AF and could not be bothered much with having to mess around with settings and parameters I don't much understand!

I think it's currently priced at $129 which isn't going to break the bank but is still more than the cost of just a few pints... I've also been thinking about Ana 2 which is only £50 I think, and that has also come onto my radar and has similar preset packs etc available. I guess I'm keen to know, echoing a discussion on the threat about a great free reverb plug in, if spending the extra £ is actually worth it or if cheaper/free alternative will do the trick.

Keen to hear any thoughts and experiences on either of these two VSTs.

[shadowfax]

Serum looks complicated to me..have you had a look at REFX Nexus? I use this all the time. it's not cheap but defo worth the money
@Sing4me88

[Sing4me88]

Thanks for signposting to REFX Nexus. Haven't heard of it before but a quick Google search shows the popularity of it. A tad more pricey ($199) than Serum but I guess it could be worth it if REFX better meets my needs and is more user friendly. I usually need something fairly idiot proof - is REFX user friendly for complete noobs?

Serum does indeed look a bit complicated but I was hoping that using downloaded pop presets would be a work around for that!

I think I seen somewhere that Serum offers a 3 day trial. I've been, n the most unashamedly and unapologetically cheapskate mindset, been toying with the idea of utilising this free trial period, downloaded as many presets as possible and then going into Audacity to record single note one shots and different single chords of as many presets that I like and then saving them as WAV/MP3 samples (rather than Midi) so that I can come back later and edit them much as I would any loop or sample. Incredibly cheap ass move, I know, but I guess that would allow me to get what I want from Serum while also using the Serum £$ to get either Ana or REFX Nexus, and I guess if I really like Serum I could buy it further down the road if need be. Unless there's some sort of obvious flaw in my cheapskate master plan that I haven't thought of?!?

[shadowfax]

Thanks for signposting to REFX Nexus. Haven't heard of it before but a quick Google search shows the popularity of it. A tad more pricey ($199) than Serum but I guess it could be worth it if REFX better meets my needs and is more user friendly. I usually need something fairly idiot proof - is REFX user friendly for complete noobs?

Serum does indeed look a bit complicated but I was hoping that using downloaded pop presets would be a work around for that!

I think I seen somewhere that Serum offers a 3 day trial. I've been, n the most unashamedly and unapologetically cheapskate mindset, been toying with the idea of utilising this free trial period, downloaded as many presets as possible and then going into Audacity to record single note one shots and different single chords of as many presets that I like and then saving them as WAV/MP3 samples (rather than Midi) so that I can come back later and edit them much as I would any loop or sample. Incredibly cheap ass move, I know, but I guess that would allow me to get what I want from Serum while also using the Serum £$ to get either Ana or REFX Nexus, and I guess if I really like Serum I could buy it further down the road if need be. Unless there's some sort of obvious flaw in my cheapskate master plan that I haven't thought of?!?

Nexus is defo idiot proof, that's why I bought it..LOL
it looks like serum is for sound designers..lots of knobs scare me to death I'm afraid..good luck mate. @Sing4me88

[cowparsleyman]

@Sing4me88 - Wave table synths are great for somethings but not for others, they can generate allsorts of contemporary sounds, which are not always what I need for a song.

If I had to buy just one synth again it would be the rather lack lustre sounding Arturia Pigments, it is rather special, it has both wave table and analogue technology, and these can be mixed together, honestly man, this is very special.

If you are thinking about Serum, and you either know about wavetable synthesis, or want to learn, then Pigments might be for you.

I particularly love the Filters, you get a choice of famous synth's filters, such as Mini Moog, SEM, Matrix12, plus loads more, and they are all very very good. There's a load of LFO options. And the sequencer is a dream, miles better than anything else I've seen and used.

https://www.arturia.com/products/analog-classics/pigments#en

The other synth I'm particularly fond of is an anal;ogue emulation of the Knifonium, by Plugin Alliance, I was looking for an OBX type growl and a while back I bought the Arturia OBX emuluation, but this Knif...by golly it has some depth to it, finding that I don't even bother with the OBX anymore, it does have it's place...

Hope this helps and I'd be interested to know what you go for, and I'd advise not to be influenced by the 'Most producers use it' argument.

(Now I think about it ...I seem to remember watching a Serum v Pigments YouTube...)


Hope this helps

[Sing4me88]

Good call CPM. I have seen/heard/read about Arturia before. It's similarly priced to REFX Nexus so no huge difference cost wise in any of the suggestions so far. There's also a free demo version which I guess could be worth downloading and trying for a while. I guess I really need something that is fairly idiot proof and that can create dark pop/contemporary sounding ads and leads and basses without me having to twiddle with knobs for hours on end - lazy, I know!
I might actually download this free demo and download Serum free demo. There's a demo version of Serum available from Xfer that only allows you 20 mins at a time before you have to reload it. A bit of a pain in the ass having to quickly capture everything as a WAV before the 20 mins expire but for the time being it might allow me to get a bit of a feel for it and see if it's 'the one' for me. Likewise with the Arturia demo. Echoing what was said on the reverb plug-in thread, sometimes finding out what people don't use and why they've no use for it is very helpful. With the demos I guess there should be a natural pull towards one or other and then the decision can be made from there.

Very helpful feedback - thanks guys.

[cowparsleyman]

@Sing4me88 - Serum generates anlot of secondary sales from preset packs, aimed at users that want quick sounds, you won’t need those with pigments. and in my experience its much easier to get the sound you want with pigments.

Enjoy your comparison and let me know what you went for, bear in mind that there will probably be a huge discount around Black Friday in November...

[Grubstar]

Hi
I have to agree witrh Shadowfax I use Nexus all the time it is very easy to use and has a huge amount of very usable presets. When I'm busy trying to write and produce it is my go to synth and although it too has a lot of expansion packs I would doubt that you'd need any for a very long time.