No Samples, No Wavetables
Serum Models, the new Serum preset pack designed by renowned sound designer and college professor, Francis Preve, includes an array of acoustic sounds including Violins, Cellos, Reed, as well as plucked instruments like Kotos, Guitars, and a variety of fretted instruments. Also included are compelling recreations of exotic world percussion, ranging from Congas and Bongos, to unusual Asian drums.
By leveraging Serum’s deeper filtering options, “Serum Models” focuses on synthesis techniques that don’t rely on samples or wavetables. There are zero instrument samples whatsoever in this collection. Instead, the pack uses Serum’s extensive comb filtering tools to create truly acoustic-sounding instruments with articulated performance dynamics via velocity, macros, and modulation wheel to shape the sounds in real-time. As you can hear in the demo video below, the results are really impressive!
Not Your Average Serum Presets
As Preve explains, “Having used Serum since before its introduction, I’ve come to realize that its synthesis engine is capable of far more than what currently exists in the preset pack market. I’ve always suspected that certain physical modeling synths may overstate their capabilities, so I set out to demonstrate that familiar processing tools can also accomplish many of the same tasks as ‘waveguides’. ‘Serum Models’ is an example of how to push a softsynth far beyond its initial applications.”
Serum Models takes Preve’s decades of synthesis experience to deliver an entirely new instrumental experience from one of the world’s most acclaimed synthesizers, Xfer Serum.
The Serum Models preset collection contains:
- 24 Plucks and Guitars
- 18 Drum, Percussion, and Mallets
- 3 Bass
- 9 Solo and Orchestral Strings
- 11 Brass and Horn
- 15 Wind and Reed
- 14 Synth and Choir
- 7 Sound Effects
Also included: All Ableton Live 11 Project files used to make the demo examples.
Price: $29.
To learn more about Serum Models and order your copy, visit the Xfer preset page. If you are into this kind of sounds, check out our feature on Noisy 2 by Expressive E and our Applied Acoustics Chromaphone 3 review.
