E.m.p Synth Review - Xfer Records Serum

When it comes to electronic music production, you need to make sure you're geared up with the right equipment if you're looking at making some serious bangers! In the current generation, wavetable synthesis seems to be a very popular method of producing electronic music. Specifically, there have been 3 different wavetable synthesisers that have been known to crush the dance music industry in the last 20 years: Native Instruments Massive, Xfer Records Serum and Lennar Digital's Sylenth1. However, the one everybody seems to talk about and love is Serum, lets take a closer look shall we?

xfer records and the birth of serum

The recording company, Xfer Records was founded in 2005 by DJ/Producer's Steve Duda and Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5), also known as the BSOD duo. Whilst deadmau5 played an important role in the company, the real mastermind behind the creation of the multitude of VST plugins was DJ/Producer, Steve Duda. Some of these VST plugins consisted of a MIDI FX plug-in known as Cthulhu, a drum sequencer known as Nerve, and the most famous and well known of them all, Serum (Xfer Records, 2018).

The EDM wizard himself, Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5). Image: (Jess Baumung, 2016)

The music production god, Steve Duda. Image: (Duda, n.d.)

Why Serum? Whats the difference?

When compared to the sound design and music production of the other market leaders in synthesis such as N.I's Massive, Serum doesn't necessarily stand out that much. However, what does set Xfer Record's Serum apart from the other synthesisers is its musical versatility among electronic genres and the fact that it physically displays the waveform in which the producer is altering. Whilst the other wavetable synthesisers have relatively the same production ability, they have absolutely no visual representation of the waveforms. However, with that being said it should be taken into account that Serum was developed and released 7 years after wavetable synthesisers such as N.I's Massive hit the markets. Obviously, within the last 7 years the technology put towards electronic music production has heavily advanced and Serum is just one of the products to prove that. Serum was also in development for about a year before its actual debut on the synth market and by the looks of it, that time paid off as it quickly became the favourite EDM 'dream' tool for producers. I will also being making a blog on N.I's Massive in the near future for those of you who are curious towards its mechanics as well!

Now down to the specifics, Serum has 4 oscillators, 2 of them being dedicated to the sub and noise. Furthermore, all of the parameters within these given oscillators are able to be modulated with the built-in envelopes, mod-wheels and LFO's that come with Serum. What's more is that they are simple drag and drop motion controls .This makes it so much easier for newcomers to electronic music production to find their way around and get to work without getting too overwhelmed at first glance. With this much control over the manipulation of sound, designing your own from scratch has never been easier.

But wait, there's more! Even though Serum is known for being a wavetable synthesiser, the abilities it has towards Frequency Modulation (FM) should not be overlooked! Inside the given oscillators of serum, there are several different warp modes you can apply to sounds. One of these warp modes is known as 'FM from A'. By applying this effect to the right wavetable such as a saw wave, you can easily create very well known, hard hitting, digital bass synths used in popular genres such as Dubstep and Bass House. A company known as ASDR Sounds also did a video tutorial on this specifically and the link for that will be provided below (ASDR Sounds, 2016).

https://www.adsrsounds.com/serum-tutorials/huge-sounds-fm-warp-mode-serum/

to finish...

Whilst I have never actually used Serum myself, I have gained quite an interesting amount of knowledge on this synth over the last year as my co-workers and influences have used it in many projects in the past. As for myself, I actually come from a background of using Native Instruments Massive. As I mentioned earlier, I will also be writing a synth review on Massive in the near future and I look forward to showing you guys what I work with personally. Overall however, even though it may seem like a weird statement to make considering I've never used it, I do prefer Serum over Massive. It has an absolutely beautiful interface and is incredibly easy to navigate, especially if you have used other wavetable synthesisers before. To finish, if you're getting into electronic music production and are looking for the perfect synth to start with, Serum is your first step to greatness.

works cited:

- Lyttle, L, 2018, 'Synth Review - Xfer Records Serum', Last Date Viewed: 6/3/18 (Large influence and inspiration for this blog! Go check his blog out for more details on Serum!) https://liamlyttle.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/synth-review-xfer-records-serum/

- A&E Television Networks, 2018, 'Deadmau5 Biography', Last Date Viewed: 3/3/18 https://www.biography.com/people/deadmau5-21229493

- Xfer Records, 2018, Last Date Viewed: 1/3/18 - https://www.xferrecords.com/

- Bein, K, 2016, 'deadmau5 to Instruct Private Music Production With MasterClass: Exclusive', Last Date Viewed: 3/3/18 https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7580279/deadmau5-music-production-class-online-masterclass

- Nagle, P, 'Xfer Records Serum', Last Date Viewed: 3/3/18 https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/xfer-records-serum

- ASDR Sounds, 2016, 'Huge Sounds With FM Warp Mode In Serum', Last Date Viewed: 3/3/18 - https://www.adsrsounds.com/serum-tutorials/huge-sounds-fm-warp-mode-serum/

- https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/massive/