[carterholsten97]

I'm considering purchasing the Serum synth off Xfer Records. Up until now, I have been using the Logic Pro Alchemy synth (previously owned by Camel Audio) for the majority of my ambient work and was wondering if Serum really offers more than Alchemy. Is it worth $190.00?

[Vault O)))]

They're different beasts (sort of, one offers granular sampling and the other doesn't even sample), and should never be compared. Seriously, just use both and don't worry about having an all-in-one solution.

They're my two favorite softsynths, and thankfully I / you don't have to pick just one

[liquid_air]

Even though it has a hefty price tag, for all sorts of Ambient textures Spectrasonic's Omnisphere is hard to get around. At least have a look at it.

[A.M]

I'll chime in here and second what both the guys have said already. Personally, my main go-to synths are the original Alchemy, Serum, Omnisphere and Padshop Pro..there are others, but these 4 tend to get used on almost everything I do.

by the way, if you're seriously thinking of getting Serum, then do yourself a favor and buy it through the [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click here to register]
website, as they offer a Rent-to-Own plan, where you pay just $9.99 per month. Once you've paid the full price, it's 100% yours..but in the meantime you get to use it as if it were already yours.

Also, if you want to stop payments for a while, they let you cancel and restart whenever you like and continue from where you left off.

It's also worth nothing they don't charge you any interest or extra charge for going with the Rent-to-Own plan..basically if you buy it outright or go with the monthly plan, it will still cost you exactly the same in the end..there's no hidden fees.

[DeadCat]

I use Serum, very happy with it, endless routing possibilities and potential of creating deep and complex patches. Although lot of knowledge needed and presets mostly suck (IMHO) as made for gritty dubstep.

[A.M]

Originally Posted by DeadCat

I use Serum, very happy with it, endless routing possibilities and potential of creating deep and complex patches. Although lot of knowledge needed and presets mostly suck (IMHO) as made for gritty dubstep.

Yeah..the presets tend to give the impression it's just a "beats" thing..but it's really so much more..but you really need to spend time learning how evewrytyhing works in order to the most out of it..and once you do, you soon realize what a real all-rounder Serum really is.