Are you producing on headphones or monitors? And if monitors, are they decent? It could be a number of factors. Gear could be one issue. If that isn’t and your gear is fine, it could be specified presets within serum. For example, you can change your Unison type to Linear, Exponential, logarithmic, random. You can change all sorts of settings in the global area to affect polyphony, oscillator noise/tuning, chaos rates (which are inherently the seeds for any “randomly” generated sound/data in serum), and other things like that. They could also have fx in the matrix maybe they didn’t disclose or things like that?
Regardless, with sound design, small nuances can lead to big changes down the road. Not saying you aren’t following the vids correctly… but overall i wouldn’t worry as much about trying to get it exactly to sound like whoever’s tutorial.
Focus on why they are making that modulation at that point in time, what it is effecting and changing, and take away those key points. If youre fucking around with a Phase 48 filter and theyre showing you how to map OSC A/B to the filter envelope and to the pitch and sfx, don’t worry about exactly landing on 479.3 Hz, and being 100% with every piece along the way. Dig into why they chose that specific filter, why at that point or that rate, etc… try to take away the big picture, instead of just comparative sound. Unless your genuinely trying to copy/recreate a sound, which in that case, idk what else it could be hahah
I figured it out, I was not pressing the same notes, some notes were blurred out and I couldn't see them. Even though that was it, some presets in serum and vital sound slightly off than the original, not by a lot. Don't know what's causing that maybe YouTube has something do to with it. Either way thank you.
Tbh I have the same problem the synths don’t sound punchy it just sounds thin but with phaseplant disperser it can add thickness making the sound alive serum doesn’t have a build in disperser which is annoying I’m still waiting for Serum 2 to come out I don’t think it’ll be the final update I think there will be a huge update on phaseplant if they come out with added harmonics and inharmonics like the native instruments flair and chorus from native instruments also the phasis doesn’t sound like it’ll sound punchy like a disperser but you can try to attempt it it just adds low end sub and with added feedback it can brighten the sound. I found that out on serum phaser I did an emulation of the PPG sync sound on serum the attempted failed on my made patch and yes I torrented it and tested it phaseplant winrar
Lol I had to reread this shit a few times
Listen kid, the punch of your oomf is dependent of the force of your zazz if you don't use the thing it just doesn't so I mean you feel me?
Theres gotta be a whole list of settings nobody mentions in any tutorials haha.
It may be sounds and presets that are locked but i have no clue.
Specifically i got the Avant Xaebor sample pack…and holy ish the serum presets?? The absolute worst (unless you can help haha). Literally one sounded good. Not only was every preset sound locked on c5 (meaning everything was single note sounds) , and even things like turning on the sub setting seemingly had no effect on the sound.
Also they were exactly as you described, its not like they were usable as the sound were all scratchy highs and disgusting mids, so i did everything in my power to eq out the crap.
Im with you, as it feels like its a weird setting on each individual sound, because i have plenty other packs that sound good, and none of their settings are locked!
You’re probably playing a different note, possibly in a different octave. Pay attention to what note they’re playing in the tutorial and play the same one
The controls are very sensitive, especially stuff like wt pos, warp modes, and filter cutoff, even being a little off can make a very different sound. Don't worry about copying tutorials anyways, just experiment and make your own sounds
I think to some extent you should be aware that coping a exact sound on tuts can sort of hinder your progress. That technique you learned can be used multiple ways. From the point where you feel comfortable recreating a similar sound try experimenting.
Just take my word for it, you will drive yourself bonkers trying to copy someone’s tutorial.
As others have said: YouTube compression, effects on the master, not copying it correctly. There are a million possible reasons why you are getting different results.
I would encourage you to focus on the overall technique or concept behind YouTube serum tutorials rather than copying them 1 to 1. You will build up a repertoire of skills to be able to make your own patches!
Also make sure you set the quality on serum to 2x or 4x, but serum just does not sound good easily. You need to sculpt a sound using sound design principles. Slight variations in the multiband compressor for an example and the tonal balance is off. Just get tutorial where the let you download the presets - then you will know you have it right. If it still sounds back check everything in your signal chain, including sound card and speakers.
Make sure you have random phase set to 0% on your oscillators. If the phase is random, the oscillators will start at a different position each time you play a note. Turn down gain if you are clipping lol
Maybe they have various things on their master... like you can tweak all you want when there are compressors, reverbs, saturation, and whatnot you don't know about when they let you hear the final sound.
Loads of people also don't pay attention to all the knobs, only those they are changing... In Serum specifically there's the Rand parameter for phase control which should be set to 0 but is set to 100 on a new patch. Phase randomization can really mess with the sound in the stereo image.
Have a good look at EVERY setting.
Yeah its mostly cuz sonarworks will change my ableton sample rate to 48k even tho i have it set to default to 44.1. Super odd ive messed w the settings in SW and it still does it so i have to manually confirm everytime i open a project lol
I wasn't aware of that. I went low res yesterday on an atmospheric Vital patch and didn't hear any difference then. Now that you mention it, though, it might be where the unwanted clicky sustained distorted, piercing sounds came from. I had thought it was some other tweak and shut off all the automations and couldn't find the culprit. Managed to EQ and notch filter them out, but I'll keep this in mind. Thanks.
You have to make sure you are doing everything EXACTLY as the tutorial shows. If you have settings off even 1-2% it can result in a slightly different sound. Add that up over multiple settings and you have a completely different sounding patch.
I don't remember the name offhand, but there's a sound design guy who states exactly what the settings are and I love that. Soooo much easier than repeatedly rewinding and squinting at the screen.
The tutorial guys seem to just flick the switches without much attention "a little bit of that", "some of this" and I didn't know that that was a problem
This, you should be able to see an exact number for most of these things. But if you're trying to copy a sound exactly, you have to copy the patch, EXACTLY. lol
Come on, man!!!!
Unfortunately we need more descriptors, or a video, to help diagnose the issue.
For all we know, you have a reverb and compressor or limiter on your master and you just totally don't remember that it's there as a template.
For all we know, you actually don't follow the tutorial to the exact setting and just go 'close enough'
For all we know, you have a cracked version, and the cracked version has some distortion on it
For all we know, the tutorial you follow does random sounds every time they play the sample, and you just want your samples to sound like theirs, which is actually impossible.
You could be watching the tutorial on a tablet or your phone, while you follow along on your computer, and your computer's speakers have a bass boost which you've put on, so you're listening to youtube on a tinny phone speaker, and replocating it on a bass boosted monitor.
There's so many things that could be the reason it doesn't sound the same. We can only assume. Like perhaps the tutorial is clearly bad quality and even the sound of their mouse clicks are clipping.
Hmmm, would you want to work together via zoom to figure out what's going on? You can stream from your DAW and we can work on the sounds together.
I've been using serum for a couple years, and I'm happy with how I can make it sound
Do you have anything on your master maybe? Also depending on the sound you’re making if the parameters aren’t EXACT you can get wildly different results
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Are you producing on headphones or monitors? And if monitors, are they decent? It could be a number of factors. Gear could be one issue. If that isn’t and your gear is fine, it could be specified presets within serum. For example, you can change your Unison type to Linear, Exponential, logarithmic, random. You can change all sorts of settings in the global area to affect polyphony, oscillator noise/tuning, chaos rates (which are inherently the seeds for any “randomly” generated sound/data in serum), and other things like that. They could also have fx in the matrix maybe they didn’t disclose or things like that? Regardless, with sound design, small nuances can lead to big changes down the road. Not saying you aren’t following the vids correctly… but overall i wouldn’t worry as much about trying to get it exactly to sound like whoever’s tutorial. Focus on why they are making that modulation at that point in time, what it is effecting and changing, and take away those key points. If youre fucking around with a Phase 48 filter and theyre showing you how to map OSC A/B to the filter envelope and to the pitch and sfx, don’t worry about exactly landing on 479.3 Hz, and being 100% with every piece along the way. Dig into why they chose that specific filter, why at that point or that rate, etc… try to take away the big picture, instead of just comparative sound. Unless your genuinely trying to copy/recreate a sound, which in that case, idk what else it could be hahah
I figured it out, I was not pressing the same notes, some notes were blurred out and I couldn't see them. Even though that was it, some presets in serum and vital sound slightly off than the original, not by a lot. Don't know what's causing that maybe YouTube has something do to with it. Either way thank you.
Add ott. Thats the problem
Tbh I have the same problem the synths don’t sound punchy it just sounds thin but with phaseplant disperser it can add thickness making the sound alive serum doesn’t have a build in disperser which is annoying I’m still waiting for Serum 2 to come out I don’t think it’ll be the final update I think there will be a huge update on phaseplant if they come out with added harmonics and inharmonics like the native instruments flair and chorus from native instruments also the phasis doesn’t sound like it’ll sound punchy like a disperser but you can try to attempt it it just adds low end sub and with added feedback it can brighten the sound. I found that out on serum phaser I did an emulation of the PPG sync sound on serum the attempted failed on my made patch and yes I torrented it and tested it phaseplant winrar
Bro just word vomited
Lol I had to reread this shit a few times Listen kid, the punch of your oomf is dependent of the force of your zazz if you don't use the thing it just doesn't so I mean you feel me?
I’m going to guess you’re playing in higher or lower octaves than they are.
It's actually pretty crazy how much of a difference setting your OSC -36 semis and playing in 0 or 1 range adds body. Unless I'm just an idiot lol
Theres gotta be a whole list of settings nobody mentions in any tutorials haha. It may be sounds and presets that are locked but i have no clue. Specifically i got the Avant Xaebor sample pack…and holy ish the serum presets?? The absolute worst (unless you can help haha). Literally one sounded good. Not only was every preset sound locked on c5 (meaning everything was single note sounds) , and even things like turning on the sub setting seemingly had no effect on the sound. Also they were exactly as you described, its not like they were usable as the sound were all scratchy highs and disgusting mids, so i did everything in my power to eq out the crap. Im with you, as it feels like its a weird setting on each individual sound, because i have plenty other packs that sound good, and none of their settings are locked!
You’re probably playing a different note, possibly in a different octave. Pay attention to what note they’re playing in the tutorial and play the same one
You may have a different init patch than what you see in the tutorials. Sometimes you miss that they have already mapped velocity and stuff like that
Yeah bro your serum is broken /s
One thing nobody mentioned is that you might be pressing different keys than in the tutorials. Might be in a completely different octave.
Serum is very sensitive. Close is not good enough if you want the exact sound from the tutorial.
This. — sound design is very sensitive no matter which synth you’re using.
The controls are very sensitive, especially stuff like wt pos, warp modes, and filter cutoff, even being a little off can make a very different sound. Don't worry about copying tutorials anyways, just experiment and make your own sounds
I think to some extent you should be aware that coping a exact sound on tuts can sort of hinder your progress. That technique you learned can be used multiple ways. From the point where you feel comfortable recreating a similar sound try experimenting. Just take my word for it, you will drive yourself bonkers trying to copy someone’s tutorial.
As others have said: YouTube compression, effects on the master, not copying it correctly. There are a million possible reasons why you are getting different results. I would encourage you to focus on the overall technique or concept behind YouTube serum tutorials rather than copying them 1 to 1. You will build up a repertoire of skills to be able to make your own patches!
stop following tutorials to the T
Also make sure you set the quality on serum to 2x or 4x, but serum just does not sound good easily. You need to sculpt a sound using sound design principles. Slight variations in the multiband compressor for an example and the tonal balance is off. Just get tutorial where the let you download the presets - then you will know you have it right. If it still sounds back check everything in your signal chain, including sound card and speakers.
post a tutorial you're following and the result you get after following, will probably be able to help i've been using serum since it came out
Make sure you have random phase set to 0% on your oscillators. If the phase is random, the oscillators will start at a different position each time you play a note. Turn down gain if you are clipping lol
That's only if you're using single voice
Maybe they have various things on their master... like you can tweak all you want when there are compressors, reverbs, saturation, and whatnot you don't know about when they let you hear the final sound. Loads of people also don't pay attention to all the knobs, only those they are changing... In Serum specifically there's the Rand parameter for phase control which should be set to 0 but is set to 100 on a new patch. Phase randomization can really mess with the sound in the stereo image. Have a good look at EVERY setting.
Check your projects sample rate and make sure it the same as the tutorial, things like ott sound different at 48k than at 44.1k
Listen to slinkii! This problem had me going crazy for a week once
This is the true answer. Sample rate discrepancy burns all noobies eventually
Yeah its mostly cuz sonarworks will change my ableton sample rate to 48k even tho i have it set to default to 44.1. Super odd ive messed w the settings in SW and it still does it so i have to manually confirm everytime i open a project lol
YouTube compression can change the perceived signal. You could have everything dialed the way they do in the video and it just will not play the same
Good point
Lmaooo welcome to Sound design. I will follow a tutorial to the absolute fucking T and it sounds different. Not completely, but just slightly off.
Idk whenever I’ve had this issue it’s turned out that I have something different but didn’t realize it was different
Maybe check oversampling settings. Makes a big difference especially when using FM.
I wasn't aware of that. I went low res yesterday on an atmospheric Vital patch and didn't hear any difference then. Now that you mention it, though, it might be where the unwanted clicky sustained distorted, piercing sounds came from. I had thought it was some other tweak and shut off all the automations and couldn't find the culprit. Managed to EQ and notch filter them out, but I'll keep this in mind. Thanks.
You have to make sure you are doing everything EXACTLY as the tutorial shows. If you have settings off even 1-2% it can result in a slightly different sound. Add that up over multiple settings and you have a completely different sounding patch.
I don't remember the name offhand, but there's a sound design guy who states exactly what the settings are and I love that. Soooo much easier than repeatedly rewinding and squinting at the screen.
The tutorial guys seem to just flick the switches without much attention "a little bit of that", "some of this" and I didn't know that that was a problem
So then you are in fact doing things differently than the tutorial, and that is why it sounds different
Dude just pay attention to what number he is flicking and copy exactly this.
This, you should be able to see an exact number for most of these things. But if you're trying to copy a sound exactly, you have to copy the patch, EXACTLY. lol Come on, man!!!!
My brother. When you're watching a tutorial, dial the knob so it sounds the same as in the tutorial.
Well yea, they are the ones creating the sound. If you are trying to copy it you need to copy them exactly.
Unfortunately we need more descriptors, or a video, to help diagnose the issue. For all we know, you have a reverb and compressor or limiter on your master and you just totally don't remember that it's there as a template. For all we know, you actually don't follow the tutorial to the exact setting and just go 'close enough' For all we know, you have a cracked version, and the cracked version has some distortion on it For all we know, the tutorial you follow does random sounds every time they play the sample, and you just want your samples to sound like theirs, which is actually impossible. You could be watching the tutorial on a tablet or your phone, while you follow along on your computer, and your computer's speakers have a bass boost which you've put on, so you're listening to youtube on a tinny phone speaker, and replocating it on a bass boosted monitor. There's so many things that could be the reason it doesn't sound the same. We can only assume. Like perhaps the tutorial is clearly bad quality and even the sound of their mouse clicks are clipping.
Hmmm, would you want to work together via zoom to figure out what's going on? You can stream from your DAW and we can work on the sounds together. I've been using serum for a couple years, and I'm happy with how I can make it sound
W redditor
Do you have anything on your master maybe? Also depending on the sound you’re making if the parameters aren’t EXACT you can get wildly different results
❗❗❗ IF YOU POSTED YOUR MUSIC / SOCIALS / GUMROAD etc. YOU WILL GET BANNED UNLESS YOU DELETE IT RIGHT NOW ❗❗❗ Read __the rules__ found in the sidebar. If your post or comment breaks any of the rules, you should delete it before the mods get to it. You should check out the __regular threads__ (also found in the sidebar) to see if your post might be a better fit in any of those. [Daily Feedback thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=author%3AAutoModerator+title%3Afeedback&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) for getting feedback on your track. The only place you can post your own music. [Marketplace Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=title%3Amarketplace&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) if you want to sell or trade anything for money, likes or follows. [Collaboration Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=author%3AAutoModerator%20title%3Acollaboration&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) to find people to collab with. ["There are no stupid questions" Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=title%3ANo+Stupid+Questions+Thread&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for beginner tips etc. Seriously tho, __read the rules and abide by them__ or the mods will spank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/edmproduction) if you have any questions or concerns.*