Serum Sound Design Masterclass TUTORIAL PACK
2.1 GB
Serum has firmly established itself as one of the best soft synths on the market today, with powerful wavetable synthesis capabilities and a stylish and intuitive user interface. On this course from Senior Tutor Rob Jones, you’ll be guided through every area of the instrument and shown numerous examples of how to design a wide variety of different patches, from basses and leads to pads and FX.
The tutorials begin by focussing on the unique aspects of each of the main synth sections, manipulating waveforms in the oscillator section, adding sub layers and boosting transients, applying dual-filtering, and giving examples of the numerous ways of modulating sounds. Rob then provides a thorough guide to the FX rack, including lessons on each of the individual effects.
After explaining what wavetable synthesis is and how exactly it’s implemented in Serum, as well as the different ways of creating your own wavetable, there are a series of patch design modules, constructing multiple leads, an acid bass and evolving FM pad. The course then ends with a realtime sound design and arrangement module, in which Serum is used to design all of the main sounds in a Neuro-style break, which is laid out in Ableton Live.
After signing up to the course, students get immediate access to the 4 hours of streamed tutorials, along with the presets made, the Ableton Live project and samples, plus a bonus pack of presets from Loopmasters.
Course Breakdown
Module 1 – Oscillators & Filters
An overview of the 4 sound generators (oscillators A and B/sub/noise sections) and filter section, walking through the main controls and features in each area.
- Lesson 1 – Oscillators – 7.20
- Lesson 2 – Sub – 2.49
- Lesson 3 – Noise – 4.17
- Lesson 4 – Filter Section – 6.34
Module 2 – Modulation & Mod Matrix
A guide to using the modulators on Serum, namely how to assign and edit envelopes and LFOs, both in main GUI and Matrix section.
- Lesson 1 – Envelope Parameters – 3.48
- Lesson 2 – Modulating with Envelopes – 6.08
- Lesson 3 – LFO Modulation – 7.40
- Lesson 4 – Additional LFO Settings – 3.23
- Lesson 5 – Velocity Modulation – 8.45
- Lesson 6 – Note Modulation – 2.00
Module 3 – FX
A walkthrough of how to apply effects to sounds in Serum, including a guide to individual effects and demonstration of the way in which they process a patch.
- Lesson 1 – Chorus – 3.21
- Lesson 2 – Hyper/Dimension – 2.03
- Lesson 3 – Delay – 2.23
- Lesson 4 – Flanger – 2.19
- Lesson 5 – Phaser – 1.48
- Lesson 6 – Reverb – 2.16
- Lesson 7 – Distortion – 3.01
- Lesson 8 – Filter – 0.28
- Lesson 9 – Compressor – 0.58
- Lesson 10 – EQ – 1.13
Module 4 – Global Settings
A rundown of the different options in the Global area, including pitching controls, Chaos LFOs, additional Unison voicing settings and preferences.
- Lesson 1 – Oscillator and Chaos Controls – 3.57
- Lesson 2 – Unison Voice Settings and Global Preferences – 4.47
Module 5 – Wavetable Synthesis
A detailed guide to wavetable synthesis and the different ways it’s implemented in Serum, including a guide to wavetable envelope and LFO modulation, as well as how to create wavetables by drawing and importing samples.
- Lesson 1 – Wavetable Synthesis Intro – 8.13
- Lesson 2 – Adding an Extra Wavetable Layer with Osc B – 4.31
- Lesson 3 – Creating a Wavetable by Drawing – 3.10
- Lesson 4 – Creating a Wavetable by Sample Import – 4.40
Module 6 – Patch Creation I – Acid Bass
Rob creates a classic acid bass patch, utilising wavetable stacking, filtering, envelope modulation and effects processing techniques.
- Lesson 1 – Setting up Osc A and B – 6.29
- Lesson 2 – Adding Unison Voices and Filtering – 4.40
- Lesson 3 – FX Processing – 4.32
Module 7 – Patch Creation II – Sweeping Lead
A lengthier lead patch, which gently sweeps through its wavetables is put together, complete with multiple rapid LFO mod assignments, unison interval spreading, an assortment of filtering and FX.
- Lesson 1 – Setting up Osc A and B – 8.47
- Lesson 2 – Filtering and EQ – 6.34
- Lesson 3 – Additional FX Processing – 7.30
Module 8 – Patch Creation III – Reesey Pluck Lead
A snappy lead patch is constructed using comb filtered, stacked wavetables, shaped with brief envelopes and expanded with various delays.
- Lesson 1 – Oscillator, Filter and Modulators Setup – 9.41
- Lesson 2 – Adding Effects – 5.02
Module 9 – Patch Creation IV – Evolving FM Pad
Rob shows how to set up oscillators in FM mode, whilst creating a slower-paced, undulating pad, with numerous spacial effects and modulating dual-notch filtering.
- Lesson 1 – Setting up Osc A and B – 8.17
- Lesson 2 – Filtering and FX – 8.18
- Lesson 3 – Osc A Adjustments – 3.45
Module 10 – Creating a Neuro Break
A realtime sound design and arrangement session, using Serum to create all the sounds in a Neuro Break, including a Big Lead, Neuro Bass, FX Impact and Riser. All sounds are designed from scratch, then sequenced and automated across the intro, breakdown and drop sections.
- Lesson 1 – Big Lead Design – 8.30
- Lesson 2 – Sequencing the Intro – 9.46
- Lesson 3 – Neuro Bass Design – 6.45
- Lesson 4 – Sequencing the Bass – 9.09
- Lesson 5 – Bass Automation – 8.58
- Lesson 6 – Impact FX – 11.31
- Lesson 7 – Riser FX – 5.33
- Lesson 8 – Arrangement Tweaks – 5.05
Bonus Module – 6 Effective Sound Design Techniques
6 Bonus Sound Design Techniques, expanding on some areas learned earlier on the course and showing another example of patch design and sequencing in a groove. Techniques include sample importing, creating custom wavetables, wavetable morph, multimode filtering, multiband compression and assigning macros. (14.07)
