Serum — Mac download

Sample-rate reduction as a filter process — that tells you a lot about where Serum slots into a project.

Track insert — Serum is a wavetable synthesizer built for creating, importing, editing, transforming, and modulating wavetables in real time. Drop it on a synth track and shape from the oscillator up.

Bus duties — Less common, but the filter types found in LFOTool plus the additional new filters make it useful for movement on a return bus. Wavetable modulation can feed a shared reverb or delay without eating a channel strip.

Typical jobs — Basslines, pads, plucks, and textures where unison spread matters. Each wavetable oscillator has advanced unison parameters, so width control happens before you touch a stereo tool.

Session limits — The interface is English. It runs on macOS 10.13 and later, on ARM and x86 64-bit Macs. Serum 2 is part of Xfer Records' VST suite, so it fits a folder of tools rather than a single one-off.

Starting a drop from an init patch and a wavetable

Typical Tuesday. You open a project with a half-finished drop. The bass patch sounds thin. You load Serum on the track and start from init.

1. Pick a wavetable. Browse the built-in set or drag in a sample. Serum converts it to a wavetable in real time. You land on something saw-like but with movement in the upper partials.
2. Shape the frame. Set oscillator A to 16 voices. That alone thickens the low end before any processing.
3. Spread the unison. Pull the Unison WT Pos knob. Each voice grabs a different waveform from the wavetable. The sound stops being one static saw and starts shifting.
4. Add note tracking. Route a comb filter to follow the played note. Now the resonant peaks sit musically, not randomly.
5. Lay a second layer. Turn on the stack settings and set an octave above. One pressed note now sounds like a small chord. You check mono compatibility — still holds.
6. Reduce the sample rate. Insert the sample-rate reduction filter after the main filter. Dial it to taste. The top end turns slightly crunchy, which sits the bass in the mix without extra EQ.
7. Record the take. Play a two-bar loop. The movement is already there, so you skip automation for now. Cmd+S. Move on.

Filter routing or closed cutoff kills the sound

• No sound after loading. Check that the oscillator output is routed to the filter. A fresh init can sit with the filter closed. Open the cutoff and bring the mix knob up.
• Unison sounds phasey. Pull back the Unison Warp amount. A little goes a long way with 16 voices. Too much and the low end smears.
• Wavetable import looks wrong. Serum needs the sample length to match the expected table size. Trim or loop the source before import, then re-import.
• High CPU on an older Mac. Drop the unison voices from 16 to 8 while you build the patch. Bring them back before the final bounce.
• Stack settings make every note too big. Use the stack only on the main lead or bass. Leave pads and stabs without stacking, or the arrangement turns to mud.
• DAW doesn't see Serum after install. Rescan your plugin folders. The installer places it in the standard VST and AU paths, but some DAWs need a manual rescan.

Workflow: making a pluck that cuts through

Goal: a pluck for a busy drop. Short, bright, with movement. You have ten minutes.

1. Init the patch. Load Serum, start from the default state.
2. Choose a wavetable. Pick something glassy. You want upper harmonics from the start.
3. Set the envelope. Amp envelope: instant attack, short decay, no sustain. Filter envelope: slightly longer decay so the brightness slides down.
4. Add a flanger. Insert it after the filter. Set it to track the note. The flanger now moves with the pitch instead of at a fixed rate.
5. Route the mod. Assign an LFO to the WT Pos. Set the LFO to one-shot mode. On every note, the wavetable position sweeps once, then stops.
6. Layer a fifth. In stack settings, add a note a fifth above. Keep the volume low. The pluck gains presence without sounding like a chord.
7. Check the attack. Bounce a four-bar loop. The transient should be clear. If not, raise the filter envelope amount slightly.
8. Save the preset. Name it clearly. You will use it again next week.

Map Unison WT Pos to velocity for touch response

• Unison WT Pos as a mod target. Map it to velocity. Softer notes play narrower waveforms, harder notes go wide. One knob, instant expression.
• Dual filter switching. Set two filter types on the same insert and use a mod source to crossfade between them. You get a moving filter without drawing automation.
• Sample-rate reduction as a tone shaper, not an effect. Dial it to 2–4% and place it after the main filter. The highs dull slightly, which can replace a de-esser on bright pads.
• Comb filter note tracking. Works on plucks and basses. Tune the comb to the root note and the resonances line up with the scale.
• Stack settings for quick octave layers. Faster than duplicating the track. One instance handles the whole layer set.
• Right-click to clear a modulation assignment. Saves hunting through the mod matrix when a routing gets tangled.
• Cmd+click on a knob resets it to default. Standard macOS behaviour, but it works across the whole interface. Useful when a patch drifts.

What's new in 2.0.24

• New Ignore VST3 Note IDs setting — works around note identifier quirks in some hosts.
• Automatable parameter shortcuts now supported in Pro Tools.
• Fixed data loss when opening projects or sessions saved in newer Serum 2 builds.
• Tooltips display correctly in Digital Performer again.
• Intermittent crashes in Digital Performer sorted.
• ACIDized WAV files with empty strc chunks now load without issue.
• Clip Player macro automation updates now work properly in Bitwig Studio.
• MPE values held after voice stealing preserved correctly.
• Piano Roll note preview now respects the velocity of the note you click.
• Avoided a crash when bad data hits Serum's processor.
• Settings interface fixed — was broken since 2.0.22.
• Previous/Next preset buttons no longer jump to ARP — Aardvark after loading a session.
• Pro Tools hang on Windows shutdown fixed.
• Interface scaling corrected in JUCE hosts with non-100% Windows display scaling.

• macOS 10.13 or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel 64-bit