I mean I don't know what I would buy unless I test it out.

This thread was bigging Serum 2 up, I am offering a counterpoint and saying based on what I have seen, in my experience it might not be all that it's being made out to be. Noone has said a bad word about it so here's mine

 

People who love the Serum will, of course, only say the best. It's like a Mac user, when asked which one to buy, says, of course, buy a Mac. Windows users say, "Buy a Windows PC!"

I don't really like the sound either; it's a bit too cold. The GUI isn't my taste either. I'd like a Pizch sequencer like the one in Rob Papen's Predator! So, purely technically, what it offers is pretty high-end technological advancement.

But there are others, too, like: Rob Papen - Predator, Sonic Academy - Ana 2, Cakewalk - z3ta+ Cakewalk - z3ta+ 2, Minimal Audio - Current 2 Arturia - Pigment , U-HE - Zebra etc.

 

Vital Synth VS Serum - The Ultimate Comparison Video

SERUM vs. VITAL | Sound design battle

 

What do you have for your DAW buffer setting? If you are not tracking, put it on the largest setting available. You can always just switch it back.

 

I am using an Audient Id4, and for some reason when I switch my buffer size from 512 to anything else, it royally fucks my OS to the point that I need to system restore, so I just leave it on 512 samples and hope for the best. Honestly the PC hardware I am using is diabolical

 

What operating system are you using? Wuch DAW you are using?

I highly recommend going down from 512 to 256.

Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

In the Command Prompt window, type the following command, and press ENTER: sfc /scannow
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

1.) Don't let audio glitches ruin your performances! www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

2.) The Ultimate Guide to Optimize your Windows PC for the Stage
https://gigperformer.com/docs/ultimate-guide-to-optimize-windows-for-stage/index.html

3.) LatencyMon 7.31
The LatencyMon software analyzes and identifies which device, which driver or which service is causing audio dropouts or malfunctions. Real-time audio suitability checker for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/2016/2012/2008 (x86 and x64)
Scroll Down to: System Monitoring Tools /www.resplendence.com/downloads

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2025

Windows 10 and Ableton 11, but when I am attempting to switch my buffer size from the Audient software directly, it's doing all sorts of damage to my OS for some reason. I don't know if it's PC hardware related but that's my best guess.

I am unable to change the buffer size through Ableton

 

Close all running programs. You can also adjust the samples in your DAW! Have you updated your Audient software?

I have some Links for you in my previous post!

Ableton - Optimizing Windows for Audio
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209071469-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2025

I have recently updated to the latest Audient version as I thought that might fix my issue with the buffer size, but I'm still getting the crash out/need for system restore issue when I tried to change the buffer setting. It does put me off attempting to change it a bit, I've not had any issues restoring Windows but it's such a drastic thing to happen it seems to me.

I'm trying out the suggestions with the links anyway, thanks!

 

I had the same "problem" here, thats why I not using it in this moment

I'll wait for some more cpu-friendly update