Serum 2 in Ableton Live: Setup and Workflow
How I run Serum 2 in Ableton Live: rack-first setup, macro ranges that stay musical, clean automation, and the freeze-then-flatten habit.
Producer guides & studio notes
Sound design breakdowns, production techniques and honest studio advice from the team behind 97+ packs — written for producers who finish tracks.
Best Serum 2 Presets (2026): Free and Paid Packs Compared
The best Serum 2 presets for most producers are, in order: the 626 factory presets that already come with Serum 2, one big free pack to fill the gaps, and then one paid pack in the genre you actually make.…
Is Serum 2 Free? Price, Free Upgrade, Demo and Rent-to-Own
No, Serum 2 is not free. It costs $249 from Xfer Records, and there is no free version. But there are three legal ways to pay less or nothing: it’s a free upgrade if you already own Serum 1, there’s…
Serum 2 in FL Studio: Setup, Presets, Automation
Getting Serum 2 running in FL Studio takes five minutes. The workflow that follows — macros on automation clips, Patcher layers, smart disable — is the useful part.
Wavetable Synthesis Explained Simply
A wavetable is a flipbook of single-cycle waves, and position is the page-turner. Here's the whole concept in plain language, with Serum 2 as the example.
Best DAW for Serum 2? They All Work — Here Is What Matters
Serum 2 sounds identical in every DAW. What differs is automation workflow, macro handling, and community — here's how to pick.
Serum 2 Black Friday 2026: Is Serum 2 on Sale? (Deals Guide)
Is Serum 2 on sale for Black Friday 2026? The price history, four ways to pay less, and where the real Black Friday discounts are.
Serum 2 System Requirements (And What It Actually Runs Like)
What Serum 2 needs on paper, and how it actually behaves on real machines — CPU costs, older laptops, buffer sizes, and the freeze habit that saves projects.
Is Serum 2 Worth It in 2026?
If you own Serum 1, the update is free, so yes. If you're new, here's who should buy Serum 2 and who can honestly skip it.
How to Save Presets in Serum 2 (And Share Them Without Missing Samples)
Saving a preset in Serum 2 is one click. Saving a preset that still works when you send it to someone else is three more, and that is the part people skip. Then the preset arrives with a missing wavetable,…
Can You Sell Music Made with Presets? (Licensing, Simply)
Yes — music made with royalty-free presets is yours to sell. What the license actually covers, the one thing it forbids, and why samples are a different story.
Serum 2 Preset Browser: Search, Tags, Ratings, Previews, and Your Own Folders
Serum 2 ships with 626 factory presets, and if you have bought a few packs you are probably past 2,000. The browser is the only thing standing between you and scrolling. It is good, but most of its features are…
How Many Presets Do You Actually Need?
A preset seller argues for owning fewer presets: why a known set of ~50 sounds beats a hoard of thousands, and a one-month audit to find your real palette.
Serum 2 Glide and Portamento: Mono, Legato, Porta, Always, Scaled
To add glide in Serum 2, turn on MONO and LEGATO in the VOICING panel at the bottom right of the OSC page, then raise the PORTA knob below it and play overlapping notes. Around 200 to 400 ms gives…
Why Your Synth Sounds Thin (7 Fixes in Serum 2)
Thin synths are almost never a synth problem. Seven fixes — unison, layering, EQ, mono checks, register, saturation and reference habits — each under five minutes.
FM Synthesis in Serum 2: How the FM Warp Mode Works (With Screenshots)
Serum 2 does not have an FM engine. It has something better hidden in the warp menu: any oscillator can be frequency-modulated by any other oscillator, the noise, the sub, or either filter. You get FM sounds without leaving the…
Is Using Presets Cheating? No. Here Is Why That Question Will Not Die
The guilt around presets is real, the logic behind it isn't. A look at what the production skill actually is, and why this debate is older than the synthesizer plugin.
The Serum 2 Mixer Tab Explained: Routing, Busses, Direct Out
The MIX tab is new in Serum 2 and it is the tab I open most after OSC. Every sound source in the patch gets a fader, a pan, a routing menu and two bus sends. When a preset sounds…
Are Preset Packs Worth It? An Honest Take from Someone Who Makes Them
I sell preset packs, so take this with salt — but here's the real math on hours versus money, the cases where packs are a waste, and how to audit one before buying.
Serum 2 Multisample Engine: Real Pianos, Strings and Choirs Inside a Synth
The Multisample engine is the part of Serum 2 that people forget is there. It turns any oscillator into a sampled instrument: a grand piano, a Rhodes, a string section, a choir, mapped across the keyboard with velocity layers. And…