The reason the feature is not entirely apparent upon first loading the synth is because it is not directly accessible from the main screen of Serum’s UI, or as a draggable mod source in the way that the Mod Wheel (simply labelled ‘Mod’) is. Of course there are many types of sound and even entire genres (read: Synthwave) that have little use for such additional expressive control, but for those of use who want to take our MIDI keyboard meanderings to the next level, then aftertouch mod is something you’re going to want to become familiar with! If you want to pair your volume envelope with other parameters, such as Filter cutoff, then all you have to do is map ‘Env 1’ to the ‘Cutoff’ dial and you will have an envelope which modulates both parameters at once.Īssigning single modulation sources to multiple parameters is a powerful way to build up networks of modulation, sonic movement and control in the sound your synth produces, and mimics how real instruments respond to a performer’s actions in the acoustic world.įor example when a guitarist plucks a string with a plectrum, the more force he or she applies to the string, the louder the resulting note.Ĭrucially however, this isn’t the only acoustic ‘parameter’ that the performer’s action affects it also increases the apparent brightness of the sound (a bigger vibration of the string will produce more harmonics or partials), the length of the transient or attack portion of the sound, how long the note decays for and several other aspects of the sound the guitar makes.Ī somewhat ‘hidden’ feature of Serum (that’s if you haven’t read the manual, of course!), aftertouch modulation is pretty important in creating expressive presets and sounds which respond to a number of different gestures from the performer. This is why when you change any of the ADSR settings for this envelope, you will alter the way Serum’s overall output volume is shaped. What isn’t immediately obvious from Serum’s interface however, is that the first envelope, ‘Env 1’, is already hardwired to act as a volume envelope across the output of all oscillators. A classic use for an envelope is to shape the volume or amplitude of the output of a synth’s oscillators, which is perfectly possible in Serum by mapping an envelope to one or more of the 4 oscillator ‘Level’ knobs. Serum offers 3 assignable envelopes which can be mapped to a vast array of different parameters. Today, I’d like to share my top 5 of these lesser known yet extremely powerful features with you, which I very much hope you can take away and use to further your studies within the wonderful world of synthesis and sound design. fxp presets of all shapes and sizes, and all that time spent in the company of just a single user interface has resulted in an extensive knowledge of some of Serum’s quirkier, hidden or otherwise more advanced features. It has fast become one of the best-loved and most used soft synths in the game, cementing its place as the primary synth we create presets for at ModeAudio some years ago now too. Xfer Records’ Serum soft synth, created by producer and Deadmau5 collaborator Steve Duda, is a powerhouse of sonic possibility which took the music production community by storm back when it first dropped in 2015.
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