Leads are where Serum 2 shows off. Unison, warp modes, three oscillators, a mixer. It is also where people overdo it and end up with a sound that is wide, bright, and impossible to mix.
Here is the lead patch I build most often. Three steps, three screenshots of the plugin at each step, and a table of every value at the end. Copy it, then bend it into your own thing.
Step 1: One Saw, No Unison Yet
Init the preset from MENU, then move WT POS on OSC A to frame 2 of Basic Shapes. That is the saw. Leave OCT at zero this time. Leads sit an octave or two above bass, and the default range is right.
Play a few notes. Yes, it is plain. Resist the urge to reach for unison right now. If the single voice does not sound good, seven detuned copies of it will not either.
What I listen for at this stage: is the pitch range right, and does the raw tone have enough top end for the part. If the melody is going to sit under vocals, a square on frame 4 can be a better start than the saw.
Step 2: Unison, a Second Oscillator, and a Filter
Now the fun part. On OSC A, click the UNISON field and drag it up to 7. Set DETUNE around 22 percent and BLEND around 75. Click the UNISON field once more and the wavetable display shows the seven voices as vertical lines, which is a good way to see how far they spread.
Seven is the classic number. It is wide without turning into a cloud. Sixteen voices sounds impressive alone and disappears in a mix.
Turn on OSC B. Set it to the square on frame 4, drop OCT to -1, and give it 3 unison voices with a smaller detune, around 12 percent. This is the body under the saw. Keep its LEVEL lower than OSC A, roughly 60 percent.
Enable FILTER 1, leave it on MG Low 12, set CUTOFF to about 60 percent with a little resonance. Route both oscillators into it by lighting the A and B buttons in the filter panel. A 12 dB slope keeps the top end alive. A 24 dB slope on a lead tends to dull it.
Set ENV 1 to a 10 ms attack, 400 ms decay, sustain around -3 dB and a 350 ms release. The slower attack softens the click at the start of each note, and the release lets notes overlap slightly during fast runs.
If you want to go deeper on the unison settings, the gear button next to the UNISON field opens a panel with detune mode, stack, width and range. I break all of it down in Serum 2 unison explained.
Step 3: The FX Chain
Click the FX tab and add four effects in this order: Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Equalizer.
Chorus at 30 percent mix, slow rate, small depth. Unison already made the sound wide, so the chorus is there to blur the edges, not add more width.
Delay with the L and R times set differently, 375 ms and 250 ms, feedback around 30 percent and mix under 20. Different times per side give a stereo bounce without a ping-pong mode. Set the delay filter low, around 2 kHz, so the repeats sit behind the dry note.
Reverb on the Plate type, size around 55, mix about 20 percent. Plate is brighter and shorter than Hall, which suits a lead that has to stay in front.
Equalizer last, with a high-pass around 120 Hz. This is the most important effect in the chain. A lead with low end fights the bass, and this one band fixes it.
One more stop: the MIX tab. With two oscillators and a filter it is worth seeing the balance on faders. If OSC B is too loud the lead gets tubby, and the mixer makes that obvious in a way the OSC page does not.
All the Values
| Section | Setting | Value |
|---|---|---|
| OSC A | Table / frame / unison / detune / blend | Basic Shapes / 2 (saw) / 7 / 22% / 75 |
| OSC B | Frame / OCT / unison / detune / level | 4 (square) / -1 / 3 / 12% / 60% |
| FILTER 1 | Type / cutoff / res | MG Low 12 / 60% / 10% |
| ENV 1 | A / D / S / R | 10 ms / 400 ms / -3 dB / 350 ms |
| FX | Chain | Chorus 30%, Delay 375/250 ms, Plate reverb 20%, EQ HPF 120 Hz |
Making It Yours
Three changes I make depending on the track.
For trance and big room, set OSC A’s detune mode to Super in the unison panel and push detune to 30 percent. That is the supersaw recipe, which has its own article.
For a softer, retro lead, swap the saw for a triangle on frame 3, drop unison to 3 voices, and add the Phaser effect before the chorus.
For hyperpop and modern pop, turn the Distortion effect on before the chorus with the Overdrive mode at a low mix, then add a Hyper/Dimension effect. The dimension part adds a width that unison cannot.
The free Serum 2 preset pack includes leads built on this exact skeleton. Load one, look at the unison and FX settings, and compare them with the table above. When you need a specific style, the Serum 2 presets catalog is sorted by genre, and the bundles cover several genres in one download.
FAQ
How many unison voices should a lead have in Serum 2?
Seven for a wide lead, three for a focused one. Sixteen looks big on paper but blurs into a wash and burns CPU. The number in the UNISON field changes color as CPU use climbs.
Why does my Serum 2 lead sound harsh?
Almost always too much high end from unison plus a bright reverb. Pull the filter cutoff down a little, set the delay and reverb filters lower, and put a gentle EQ cut around 3 kHz.
Should a lead be mono or poly?
Poly for chords and overlapping notes, mono with legato for a solo line with slides. For a mono lead, switch on MONO and LEGATO in the VOICING panel and add a little PORTA time.
Which Serum 2 effects are essential for leads?
A delay and a high-pass EQ. Chorus and reverb are taste. The high-pass is the one people forget, and it is the reason a lead either sits in a mix or fights the bass.
Can I make a lead with only one oscillator?
Yes. OSC A with 7 unison voices and the FX chain from Step 3 is a usable lead on its own. The second oscillator adds body, which matters most when the lead is the main hook of the track.
I run Monosounds.studio and make the packs myself. Ten-plus years of producing, 97+ releases, 16,000+ downloads. Every Serum 2 preset we ship passes a CPU check on a mid-range laptop and gets used in a real track before release. If it does not survive a mix, it does not go in the pack.
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