Is Xfer Serum still worth full price?

[RABid]

Serum came out at a time when I was not buying VST's and for the next few years I never considered it. Now I am picking up a few VST's and notice that it is still highly rated. Very highly. On the other hand, it never goes on sale and there is more competition. I picked up the mid level of Vital which I like. Also got Phase Plant on sale. Does anyone here use Serum? Can you give me your opinion?

[Anderton]

There's a trial version of Serum, so you can at least check it out. I haven't used it, but I often go for "underdog" synths in a similar genre because then I know they won't sound like what other people use. For wavetable synthesis, I got hooked on Waves' Codex a long time ago (it's been around since 2014). Its price has worked its way down over the years to $30. What got me interested originally is that you can load your own audio files and turn them into wavetables (which Serum does too). There's a demo available. I also like Massive X, which came with Komplete. It might matter to you that it doesn't run in standalone mode.

 

Attack magazine did a ranking of the top 10 wavetable synthesizers. Normally you can take any ratings with a grain of salt, but it's interesting to see the universe of what's out there. They love Serum, by the way. If cost is an issue, the 10 are listed from lower to higher price.

[RABid]

I did quite a bit of research last night. One thing I found while reading forums is that the sounds is considered digital. Not "bad" digital. More akin to wavetable digital. Some people like it and some don't. For me it is a matter of am I missing that sound. But, typical for me. While grazing the KVR forum for information I found posts on U-He's upcoming release of Zebra 3 and their Zebra 2 legacy edition that comes out soon. The legacy edition includes all of the current expansion packs. Turns out that I qualify for the legacy version and for Zebra 3 when it is released because I own both Zebra 2 and Zebra Dark. That was nice. ... I showed my appreciation by hopping onto the U-He site and upgrading Hive from version 1 to 2. I had already visited GForce where I upgraded Oddity from 1 to 3, and ImPOScar from 1 to 2. These were all $20 each. That makes it even harder to justify paying $180 for a single synth.

[Anderton]

31 minutes ago, RABid said:

I did quite a bit of research last night. One thing I found while reading forums is that the sounds is considered digital. Not "bad" digital. More akin to wavetable digital. Some people like it and some don't. For me it is a matter of am I missing that sound. 

 

Wavetable synths are their own type of sound, and yes, they're "digital." Morphing through the wavetables is what makes them come alive, though.

 

Search on  "free PPG" emulation plug-ins, and you can see if you like that type of sound or not. I use Codex mostly where I would have used an FM synthesizer a couple decades ago. It's not the same sound, but it provides a similar sonic character in terms of fitting into productions.

[Tusker]

Robert, I have been looking at these great options also. If you are hankering for wavetable, Serum is very clean sounding. It's popular for a reason. I would think of it as a complement to your analog sounding soft-synths.

 

Common wavetable alternatives to Serum are Vital, Massive X and Pigments. I wouldn't put Zebra 2 (HZ) in the same category because although it provides powerful manipulation of wavetables, Zebra 2 does not include drag-and-drop wavetable import. Zebra 3 will not have it either according to Urs. (BTW on November 15th, Zebra legacy day, let's be sure to download all the commercial U-He patches for Zebra 2/HZ since U-He is giving them to users for free. It's a nice little thanksgiving gift!) 

 

Kilohearts' Phase Plant is worth separate mention as it has wavetable and additional functions to rival Zebra. It has more audio-rate FM capabilities than Zebra if you are into that sort of thing. (I am.) So it can be a central workhorse synth. I would place it a notch above Pigments which is also multi-capable. UVI Falcon is also multi-capable so I am looking into it. Unfortunately, Kilohearts' purchase and subscription alternatives can be confusing so I have stayed away so far. That could change because Kilohearts is not alone. It seem as though almost everybody (NI, Izotope, Waves etc.) is either contemplating these types of arrangements or at least incentivizing periodic updates to force customer loyalty. We may have to organize our budgets around annuity streams rather than discrete purchases. It's the SAAS way of life.

 

Meanwhile, wavetable drag-and-drop works in Logic Alchemy. It include multi-sample support for the entire Logic sample library. That's insanely great. However, Alchemy's old code sounds a bit ...musty so I am on the hunt for fresh wavetable. Black Friday is coming .... 👍

[RABid]

5 hours ago, Tusker said:

Common wavetable alternatives to Serum are Vital, Massive X and Pigments. I wouldn't put Zebra 2 ..... ..... .....Kilohearts' Phase Plant.....

I'm a long term owner of Zebra. Got Massive X with Komplete. Got Pigments a couple weeks ago when I picked up Belledonne. Bought the mid level of Vital back in May for a good price. Picked up Phase Plant 2 days later on sale for half price. ... ... (sigh) ... ... I'm such a hopeless gear hog, but I love synths. 

[Tusker]

That's a full stable of synths, Robert. Unless you really like Serum's presets, I should think you are covered for Wavetable.  👍

 

As a part of Komplete, did you get Native Instruments' Form? Do you like it?

 

That's one of the more attractive and intuitive wavetable-ish interfaces to me ...

[RABid]

I don't remember Form. Will look for it tonight. Sold a nice set of four Latin Percussion 30th anniversary congas and used that to fund my VST modernization. Upgraded Komplete 13 Collectors Edition this summer when it was %50 off. Will not move to 14 until next year's %50 off sale. The Arturia collection has held most of my interest. They have really improved the sound of the VST's over the years and I love remakes of old analog gear that I cannot get or afford now. I have not tried Pigments yet because I keep loading the 2600, Prophet and Moogs.

[Nowarezman]

I've been very impressed with Pigments.  Arturia is on some kind of a roll for some time now.  

 

I snagged a Korg Modwave off Reverb not long after it came out for relatively cheap.  I've used soft synths for many, many years - but nothing really gets me playing and twiddling like hardware.  It can load Serum wavetables so the universe is available.  

 

nat

 

[RABid]

Well, I'm downloading Serum. With the debate about sound and need, it really came down to something else. I like electronic music. Always have, always will. And there is no denying that Serum has a big place in the history and sound of electronic music the past 8 years. I don't want to miss out. Not getting it for me is like not getting a Moog because you already have an Arp.