Serum VST in Reason (is it stable, is it worthwile buying?)

[Propellerhands]

Few days ago I tried Serum VST demo in Reason 11 (fell in love after watching hours and hours of tutorials on how to use it and its features).

I consider buying this plugin in near future (to make my own sounds, not use presets). By the information I gathered over a week or so it is probably one of the highest quality VSTs out there till this day and also it is relatively easy to use and understand. And the price seems reasonable too.


The QUESTION:

But what's stopping me right now is its stability in Reason. I tried only demo, which switches off after 20 minutes of use so I can't get a clear picture of it. Also when it switches off, it crashes Reason too and sometimes I have to re-open it again. So I am not sure is it because of demo version or is it VST itself, or is it Reason which still doesn't quite support third party VSTs properly?

So people who use Serum in Reason, please state your opinions. And in general, how well does Reason handle third party plugins in a long run?

[Loque]

I am curious about this too. How does Serum compares to Phase Plant, Pigments, Avenger, Dune3, eXpanse, Thorn, Diversion and others? I didnt noticed any big updates of Serum in the last couple of years and it nearly never is on sale and i think 200 bucks is way too much for such an old thing.

[Popey]

I must admit I use studio one most of the time now but never had any problems/crashes using serum within reason (have used plugin since 11 so would have used serum in reason since last 10. Update)

As for Loque's question I find serum really easy to design patches in but it doesn't do anything much different than pigments, dune 3, thorn etc. To me each synth sounds different (I don't have the technical knowledge to say why but assume possibly filters play a big part). Serums ease of use means I reach for it a lot but the same applies to pigments. Of the synths you mention probably dune 3 sounds most pleasing to me but pigments and serum have drag and drop which is quicker than matrix in dune 3. All three are awesome synths in my opinion.

[Propellerhands]

I must admit I use studio one most of the time now but never had any problems/crashes using serum within reason (have used plugin since 11 so would have used serum in reason since last 10. Update)

As for Loque's question I find serum really easy to design patches in but it doesn't do anything much different than pigments, dune 3, thorn etc. To me each synth sounds different (I don't have the technical knowledge to say why but assume possibly filters play a big part). Serums ease of use means I reach for it a lot but the same applies to pigments. Of the synths you mention probably dune 3 sounds most pleasing to me but pigments and serum have drag and drop which is quicker than matrix in dune 3. All three are awesome synths in my opinion.

Thank you for the answer.

[Loque]

I must admit I use studio one most of the time now but never had any problems/crashes using serum within reason (have used plugin since 11 so would have used serum in reason since last 10. Update)

As for Loque's question I find serum really easy to design patches in but it doesn't do anything much different than pigments, dune 3, thorn etc. To me each synth sounds different (I don't have the technical knowledge to say why but assume possibly filters play a big part). Serums ease of use means I reach for it a lot but the same applies to pigments. Of the synths you mention probably dune 3 sounds most pleasing to me but pigments and serum have drag and drop which is quicker than matrix in dune 3. All three are awesome synths in my opinion.

Thanks. I stay with my current favorites and one of this is Phase Plant. Awsome synth! Hopefully more to come in future.

[dan_g]

i use serum mainly for my bass design. the only "flaw" i can find while using it: some of the knobs have a slight lag when i try to change for example the LFO speed from 1/4 to 1/2. all in all serum had no single crash since im using it with reason. i Love it

[Popey]

I must admit I use studio one most of the time now but never had any problems/crashes using serum within reason (have used plugin since 11 so would have used serum in reason since last 10. Update)

As for Loque's question I find serum really easy to design patches in but it doesn't do anything much different than pigments, dune 3, thorn etc. To me each synth sounds different (I don't have the technical knowledge to say why but assume possibly filters play a big part). Serums ease of use means I reach for it a lot but the same applies to pigments. Of the synths you mention probably dune 3 sounds most pleasing to me but pigments and serum have drag and drop which is quicker than matrix in dune 3. All three are awesome synths in my opinion.

Thanks. I stay with my current favorites and one of this is Phase Plant. Awsome synth! Hopefully more to come in future.

I haven't got Phaseplant but heard good things about it. That said I really have to close my wallet sometime soon and i have so many synths i will soon be reaching saturation point .

[Ulpu]

For me the Serum demo is crashing all the time (not crashing Reason, only the Serum VST plugin). Haven't have anything like this with any other VST demos or full versions :/

[Loque]

Thanks. I stay with my current favorites and one of this is Phase Plant. Awsome synth! Hopefully more to come in future.

I haven't got Phaseplant but heard good things about it. That said I really have to close my wallet sometime soon and i have so many synths i will soon be reaching saturation point .

I can understand this. I did not payed much since i already had a lot of Kilohearts stuff. And in combination with the other Kilohearts stuff Phase Plant is really great. Just the Snapheap and Multipass and all the other FX inside the FX chains! All can be modulated and can be polyphonic too. Just amazing. And the sound quality is really good too. Kilohearts makes awsome and modern stuff

[Popey]

I haven't got Phaseplant but heard good things about it. That said I really have to close my wallet sometime soon and i have so many synths i will soon be reaching saturation point .

I can understand this. I did not payed much since i already had a lot of Kilohearts stuff. And in combination with the other Kilohearts stuff Phase Plant is really great. Just the Snapheap and Multipass and all the other FX inside the FX chains! All can be modulated and can be polyphonic too. Just amazing. And the sound quality is really good too. Kilohearts makes awsome and modern stuff

No doubt I will get it at some point. One question regarding snapheap/snapins is I think I have seen these sold separately so are they fx units in their own right that can be used independently or are they just part of phaseplant and add ons?

[Loque]

I can understand this. I did not payed much since i already had a lot of Kilohearts stuff. And in combination with the other Kilohearts stuff Phase Plant is really great. Just the Snapheap and Multipass and all the other FX inside the FX chains! All can be modulated and can be polyphonic too. Just amazing. And the sound quality is really good too. Kilohearts makes awsome and modern stuff

No doubt I will get it at some point. One question regarding snapheap/snapins is I think I have seen these sold separately so are they fx units in their own right that can be used independently or are they just part of phaseplant and add ons?

Phaseplant itself is just the synth without any fx. You need to get free fx pack to get at least some basic fx.
The other fx are sold separately and Snapheap is for free (not sure atm!).
Multipass is the multi-frequency-splitting version of Multipass and can also hold all fx. This is also sold separately.
All fx can be used as standalon VST fx and also in Phase Plant, Mulitpass and Snapheap. And Multipass and Snapheap can be used in Phase Plant too.

That said, you can use everything everywhere. From time to time you get a cross grad offer RE<->VST, so you can get them as VST or RE too.

If you have the Ultimate bundle, you have everything from Phase Plan, over Multipass, the EQs and all FX.

Font forget, you can have patches for each, have randomization, exchange between Phase Plant, Multipass, Snapheap and in Phase Plant you can use everything in Polypnic if you like. Crazy.

Did i alread mentioned, you can modulate e.g. Snapheap from within Phase Plant?

Hopefully Reasonstudio read this...

[Popey]

No doubt I will get it at some point. One question regarding snapheap/snapins is I think I have seen these sold separately so are they fx units in their own right that can be used independently or are they just part of phaseplant and add ons?

Phaseplant itself is just the synth without any fx. You need to get free fx pack to get at least some basic fx.
The other fx are sold separately and Snapheap is for free (not sure atm!).
Multipass is the multi-frequency-splitting version of Multipass and can also hold all fx. This is also sold separately.
All fx can be used as standalon VST fx and also in Phase Plant, Mulitpass and Snapheap. And Multipass and Snapheap can be used in Phase Plant too.

That said, you can use everything everywhere. From time to time you get a cross grad offer RE<->VST, so you can get them as VST or RE too.

If you have the Ultimate bundle, you have everything from Phase Plan, over Multipass, the EQs and all FX.

Font forget, you can have patches for each, have randomization, exchange between Phase Plant, Multipass, Snapheap and in Phase Plant you can use everything in Polypnic if you like. Crazy.

Did i alread mentioned, you can modulate e.g. Snapheap from within Phase Plant?

Hopefully Reasonstudio read this...

Ok so I have watched a few videos on phaseplant and as a lover of synthesis my next action was to check my online bank. Noticed there is a 10 day trial so that's me entertained tomorrow and will get the free snapheap plugins whilst I am at it. Thanks for info, appreciated loque.

[Loque]

Phaseplant itself is just the synth without any fx. You need to get free fx pack to get at least some basic fx.
The other fx are sold separately and Snapheap is for free (not sure atm!).
Multipass is the multi-frequency-splitting version of Multipass and can also hold all fx. This is also sold separately.
All fx can be used as standalon VST fx and also in Phase Plant, Mulitpass and Snapheap. And Multipass and Snapheap can be used in Phase Plant too.

That said, you can use everything everywhere. From time to time you get a cross grad offer RE<->VST, so you can get them as VST or RE too.

If you have the Ultimate bundle, you have everything from Phase Plan, over Multipass, the EQs and all FX.

Font forget, you can have patches for each, have randomization, exchange between Phase Plant, Multipass, Snapheap and in Phase Plant you can use everything in Polypnic if you like. Crazy.

Did i alread mentioned, you can modulate e.g. Snapheap from within Phase Plant?

Hopefully Reasonstudio read this...

Ok so I have watched a few videos on phaseplant and as a lover of synthesis my next action was to check my online bank. Noticed there is a 10 day trial so that's me entertained tomorrow and will get the free snapheap plugins whilst I am at it. Thanks for info, appreciated loque.

Your welcome. Have fun.

[Boombastix]

Few days ago I tried Serum VST demo in Reason 11 (fell in love after watching hours and hours of tutorials on how to use it and its features).

I consider buying this plugin in near future (to make my own sounds, not use presets). By the information I gathered over a week or so it is probably one of the highest quality VSTs out there till this day and also it is relatively easy to use and understand. And the price seems reasonable too.


The QUESTION:

But what's stopping me right now is its stability in Reason. I tried only demo, which switches off after 20 minutes of use so I can't get a clear picture of it. Also when it switches off, it crashes Reason too and sometimes I have to re-open it again. So I am not sure is it because of demo version or is it VST itself, or is it Reason which still doesn't quite support third party VSTs properly?

So people who use Serum in Reason, please state your opinions. And in general, how well does Reason handle third party plugins in a long run?

IMO it came out at the right time and became a standard. Other VSTs have caught (or passed) up a long time ago, so nothing special about it except that there is a ton of presets for it. But then you can get Synthmaster Player with 1000+ sounds for $9 bucks. Or Arturia Analog Lab

I would look at a synth that can manipulate samples in addition to wavetables, or having more than two oscillators. Spire, Pigments, Ana2, Dune 3. You can load Serum wavetables in Expanse and get 4 oscillators.

Heck, you get Synthmaster Player, Arturia Analog Lab, and Pigments for less money. Or get the SynthRig on May Madness sale with RESpire and a dozen other synths for less money.

The only reason to get Serum is if you must be compatible with someone else. It is not bad, but CPU hungry and over-priced compared to everything else.
If you gonna spend that money, I would demo some of the Tone2 as well before deciding.

[Propellerhands]

For me the Serum demo is crashing all the time (not crashing Reason, only the Serum VST plugin). Haven't have anything like this with any other VST demos or full versions :/

Yeah that's why I am kind on a fence of buying it. It crashes a lot as a DEMO version, however according to other users it doesn't crash for them. So I hope it is only demo version that is buggy or doesn't play well with Reason. I don't know.

[Ulpu]

IMO it came out at the right time and became a standard. Other VSTs have caught (or passed) up a long time ago, so nothing special about it except that there is a ton of presets for it. But then you can get Synthmaster Player with 1000+ sounds for $9 bucks. Or Arturia Analog Lab

I would look at a synth that can manipulate samples in addition to wavetables, or having more than two oscillators. Spire, Pigments, Ana2, Dune 3. You can load Serum wavetables in Expanse and get 4 oscillators.

Heck, you get Synthmaster Player, Arturia Analog Lab, and Pigments for less money. Or get the SynthRig on May Madness sale with RESpire and a dozen other synths for less money.

The only reason to get Serum is if you must be compatible with someone else. It is not bad, but CPU hungry and over-priced compared to everything else.
If you gonna spend that money, I would demo some of the Tone2 as well before deciding.

Yeah, the price is very deep with Serum...
There is also FREE Synthmaster Player version (maybe "only" 500 sounds or something). But that is a good starting point, if you like the sounds/feel of it, then you can buy the Synthmaster Player - or even the Synthmaster One.

Pigments have been working very well, no problems (using the demo version). It has some very very nice sounds. And I haven't counted duplicate sounds in it's factory presets. At least not yet. I mean some synths seem to have MANY duplicates - just different names + maybe some very small alternations example different reverb. So their sound libraries are HUGE, but actually there are many duplicates and you need to go through all of them when browsing the sounds.

Can't really say if Serum has duplicates, since it's keep crashing But what I've manage to hear, is quite nice. But are they better than Pigments?

Let's see if the Reason Studios will bring something sweet for May Madness

[Soeno]

i didn't noticed any crashes on Reason 10, enjoying the resize capability, it's old but very good imo

[Oquasec]

If you feel like adding vsts you can use the toggle to enable em again.
The bridge in reason adds the controls to existing plugins.
If the tool is of interest to you then use it

[gregmarksimpson]

Few days ago I tried Serum VST demo in Reason 11 (fell in love after watching hours and hours of tutorials on how to use it and its features).

I consider buying this plugin in near future (to make my own sounds, not use presets). By the information I gathered over a week or so it is probably one of the highest quality VSTs out there till this day and also it is relatively easy to use and understand. And the price seems reasonable too.


The QUESTION:

But what's stopping me right now is its stability in Reason. I tried only demo, which switches off after 20 minutes of use so I can't get a clear picture of it. Also when it switches off, it crashes Reason too and sometimes I have to re-open it again. So I am not sure is it because of demo version or is it VST itself, or is it Reason which still doesn't quite support third party VSTs properly?

So people who use Serum in Reason, please state your opinions. And in general, how well does Reason handle third party plugins in a long run?

Have you tried playing with Europa enough?

I only say this because there are a lot of benefits to getting good with Europa. It's a rock-solid native device and it's also far more CPU friendly than Serum.

Whilst Europa has a different character to Serum, with the right wavetables loaded into it (now it supports loading external wavetables, unlike when it first came out); it can sound really, really good!!. As far as I'm aware you should even be able to find the folder where Serum has its factory wavetables installed, and load them directly into Europa...

[Oquasec]

How each plug handles dsp is different so when you decide to learn one gotta stick to it the whole way through to fully reap the benefits.

[gregmarksimpson]

How each plug handles dsp is different so when you decide to learn one gotta stick to it the whole way through to fully reap the benefits.

Absolutely but if you're in Reason and you've got a great Wavetable synth there, it's worth trying out thoroughly to see if it does the job. I know it's not as popular a device as Serum (just like Thor isn't as popular a device as Sylenth1) but the Reason devices can still sound great with the right programming...

[Ulpu]

Absolutely but if you're in Reason and you've got a great Wavetable synth there, it's worth trying out thoroughly to see if it does the job. I know it's not as popular a device as Serum (just like Thor isn't as popular a device as Sylenth1) but the Reason devices can still sound great with the right programming...

I find myself often drooling after a specific VST since it's been praised by others. And maybe it's used by some high name producers (and it might even have some sounds by some famous producers). But when trying out the demo version might totally change my mind (the look of the instrument is not appealing for me, feels clumsy or something).

Europa has some pretty sweet factory presets. Like really nice sounds. And I think there are even some good FREE soundbanks for Europa (and naturally paid versions also). Not saying Europa is better than Serum, or Serum is better. Just an observation.

[Oquasec]

I don't really care too much since expanse, europa & serum support eachother's wavetables.
I just wanna spend less time studying so I'ma stick to what I already own (Expanse/Europa)

[EdGrip]

Europa is a brilliant synth.
And now you can have eXpanse and load it with RRP in any software you like, AND use its mad CV connections to make it the centre of a 1-channel modulation masterpiece.

[Ulpu]

For me, Reason is better as a DAW, so I don't want to use Reason inside other DAWs
I wouldn't mind using FL Studio inside Reason (I know I can use it as VST inside Reason).