When you first start as a music producer you might open your DAW and find there are so many options for synthesizers. You look around and when you finally choose one, the interface may be overwhelming and/or confusing. But there are a couple of options (one free and one paid) that stand above the rest for a number of reasons and they are Vital & Serum. I want to share my reasons why as a beginner, you should go out and get one of these synths right away.
Visual Interface
Pretty much every synth has certain foundational aspects such as wavetables, amp and mod envelopes, basic filters, LFOs, etc. But if you are unfamiliar with how to use these knobs and how to dial them in correctly then they can be a challenge to use. One of the great aspects about Serum and Vital is that they are helpful for visual learners. All those foundational aspects I mentioned above are presented visually on Serum and Vital. If you’re not quite sure how an envelope works, then you can at least see how the sound travels when you hit a note and watch it sustain or decay depending on your settings. You can also see how a wavetable changes or warps over time.
Easy Ways to Link Parameters
One of the trickiest parts of learning sound design as a beginner is learning how to link the various parts together. You might know that an envelope is supposed to shape your sound, but not quite sure how it all works. Luckily, Vital and Serum have a quick drag and drop method for linking almost any parameter. This makes it quick and easy to dial in the right setting.
A Solid FX Chain
One of the things that is inconsistent from one synth to another is the effects (FX) you can add to your sounds. Although most come with some sort of effects, the quality can vary dramatically and you’re often left looking to other plug-ins to do the job. Now I won’t claim that Vital and Serum have all the effects you’ll need, but they are solid and will definitely augment the sounds you create. That way you don’t need to search for more plug-ins which helps your workflow.
A Large Community of Users
This is an underrated aspect of these two synths, but one that should not be overlooked. Serum has really become one of the digital industry standards for music producers and Vital has quickly grown since its debut just a few years ago. Having such a large community is great because there are so many tutorials and presets available. Although there are many other great digital synths, the sheer amount of information about these two synths puts them over the top for beginners.
If you want to learn more about how to use these synths, check out my ‘Sound Design Basics’ series on Youtube. The great thing is you can follow along on either synth as I explain the foundations of sound design that can apply to any synth.
Here are the download links:
https://xferrecords.com/products/serum
Hope you found this blog helpful. Feel free to comment on any blogs you’d like to see in the future!
Synth Designer 
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