Serum Synth

Question 1

What is a wavetable?

How are pitch and timbre determined?

Answer 1

A sample of audio thats played back in a looping fashion.

Pitch - determined by the rate (speed between repeats)

Timbre - determined by the content of the waveform

Question 2

How many sub-tables can Serum have up to?

Alt name for sub-tables

Answer 2

256

sub-tables = frames (single cycle waves)

Question 3

How to switch between 2D and 3D view of oscillator and what does the green, grey, and yellow colors mean?

Answer 3

Click the oscillator window to toggle

Green - each line is a single frame

Grey - the interpolated (transition area) between each frame

Yellow - the current frame that is audible/selected by the wavetable position knob

Question 4

How to tell if a preset has been altered or if your original sound has not been saved?

Answer 4

A floppy disk icon will show next to the name AND the sound name in the oscillator will have a blue tint

Question 5

How to add a modulator to affect octave, semitones, and fine at the same time?

Answer 5

Add the modulation parameter to the CRS (Coarse) parameter in the oscillator box

Question 6

Unison voices

What is the “magic” number of voices to use per osc?

What is the function of the Unison Blend knob

Answer 6

magic number = 7 voices

Unison blend is basically a dry/wet knob between hearing the main 1 voice and the added unison voices.

Question 7

How many semitones in an octave?

How many cents in a semitone?

What parameter stands for “cents” in Serum?

Answer 7

12 semitones in an octave

100 cents in a semitone

FIN = cents parameter in serum

Question 8

In Serum matrix - what value change in the “amount” slider gives you 1 octave change?

Answer 8

+/- 9

Question 9

What is key tracking in the filter section?

Answer 9

It affects the filter results depending on what note is played

Question 10

What is the “NOTE” graph parameter on the middle right?

Answer 10

It is the note modulator that adds “key tracking” to any parameter

Question 11

What is bipolar vs unipolar modulation?

How to change the envelope modulation from bipolar to unipolar

Answer 11

iBipolar - modulates both ways
Unipolar - modulates with the starting value being what is currently on the parameter

shift + alt + click the modulation icon on the selected nob

Question 12

How to check which envelopes/LFOs are assigned to what parameter?

Answer 12

Right click the label at the top by the crosshairs

Question 13

How to set parameters to be specific lengths (ex: make the pitch envelope happen over 2 bars?)

Answer 13

Use fractions with 1st number being the actual length desired and the 2nd indicating the timing reference based on BPM

(EX) 2/1 = effect to happen over 2 bars based on 1 bar @ the BPM of the session

Question 14

How do you enter legato mode in the LFO section?

Answer 14

Set the initialize option to “OFF” instead of TRIG or ENV

Question 15

What do these functions do in the LFO section?

TRIG
ENV
OFF

Answer 15

TRIG - keeps retriggering LFO as long as the note is held

ENV - only triggers LFO once per note no matter the length

OFF - legato mode. LFO starts from where it left off when you change notes

Question 16

With the Phase/Random Knobs - how do you ensure that the effect will trigger from the same spot every time a new note is played?

Answer 16

Turn the knobs all the way to the right so the parameter reads “MEM” instead of numbers

Question 17

What is “glide” referred to as in Serum

Answer 17

Portamento

Question 18

How does the “always” option affect portamento?

Answer 18

No matter what there will be a glide with notes played whether notes are overlapping or not

Question 19

In the voicing section what does “legato” do?

Answer 19

When notes overlap it does not re-trigger the amp envelope. The envelope picks up from when the last note was played.

Question 20

While using portamento what does “scaled” do?

Answer 20

It adjusts the glide to where it only plays the notes within a scale (resulting in faster glide)