SERUM vs. VITAL | Sound design battle

I got the assignment to compare two wavetable synths, so I tried to recreate a lead synth with both Serum and Vital.
Which of the two do you like more?🤔 Tell me in the comments below!
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[@Scorpixter]

I see a huge potential in you, Benedict. Right know you are very underrated - keep up the good work, you really helped me! 💙🎶

[@musicbybenedict]

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And I‘m really glad I could help🙏

[@alexandersprout7992]

As much as I enjoyed this comparison & tutorial (always wondered how this stutter sound was made). I absolutely enjoyed the outro, “Good bye” (waving in the bokeh BG) the most. So wholesome. You’re a fantastic producer & teacher, thank you.

[@musicbybenedict]

Ayo thank you so much. I really appreciate that!🙌❤️

[@destructo7916]

Great video. Been contemplating both of these and it was easier to understand compared to others. At least in my case. Just subscribed. Thank you Benedict

[@musicbybenedict]

Love to hear that it helped you! Which one do you like more?

[@barryallen8293]

Looking forward to see another compare video which shows more differences between serum and vital🥰 This video shows you can always make similar sound with different synths, but I did not really get to know the differences between these two synths to be honest

[@musicbybenedict]

Good to know, I‘ll see if I can make some more videos to show the differences or even similarities between the two😋

[@kahraili]

This is awesome

[@musicbybenedict]

Thanks🙏❤️

[@DomeIsMe]

Wait whaaat u arent a huge channel? i expected my comment to be lost in like hundreds of thousands of comments but no, im suprised. Great video bro keep up the good work! It helped me a lot to understand vital more! Nice video!

[@musicbybenedict]

Thank you so much, means a lot❤️ And no problem, love to help. New videos every friday ;)

[@diegod1177]

For real solid editing

[@musicbybenedict]

Thanks bruv🙏

[@barryallen8293]

Very cool sutter effect, very similar to the tenet🤣it's so strange that you don't have more subscribers! you should be having 100 times more subscribers in my opinion!

[@musicbybenedict]

True😅 Thanks, I really appreciate it🙏 You could help me out and share my channel or music ;)

[@barryallen8293]

@@musicbybenedict will do!

[@musicbybenedict]

🙏❤️

[@JAKSN-youtube]

this such a nice video. really shows the diff between the two

[@musicbybenedict]

Thanks very much! Which of the two do you like more?

[@JAKSN-youtube]

I haven’t actually used serum, but I’ve seen enough videos of it to get how it works. I use vital tho

[@musicbybenedict]

Alright, completely fair. Just out of curiosity: Do you make your own sounds or do you use presets?

[@JAKSN-youtube]

I now actually make a lot of the sounds in my music, but presets are nice every now and then.

[@musicbybenedict]

Alright, nice!

[@kredibled]

Loooove this type of comparison. I’m curious what you’d attribute vitals more mellow sound (in this case) to?

[@musicbybenedict]

Hey, thank you so much🙏 I think in this case it might be because the filter automation is lower. Maybe that could be also achieved in Serum. But also the sound itself doesn‘t sound as strong/harsh as from Serum despite the fact that I‘ve cranked up the effects even more in Vital. So maybe it‘s just the way Vital processes the sound and how its filters work. What would you think?

[@kredibled]

I didn’t notice it before but you used white noise in one vs alphanz in the other, wondering if this had any significant impact? Definitely automation/LFOs could be the culprit, since it’s hard to dial in anything that’s visual/non linear. I’d expect all things being equal to produce an equivalent sound. Could throw them out of phase and see if it gives any insights! Random aside: Do you know/like Droeloe? Would love to know what artists you like/inspire your sound design!

[@musicbybenedict]

Yeah those things probably make the difference. I also thought they would sound more similar, considering the almost identical LFOs. That's really interesting. I actually know Droele, but I would say the artist inspiring me the most is/was Jonas Aden. He doesn't produce House anymore, but his videos and music inspire me still. Other artists I like: Vluarr, Mike Williams and Mesto.

[@StephaneGman]

The best one is the one you use in Ableton XD jk great video!

[@musicbybenedict]

Bruh😂 Thanks 🙏

[@elvisojeda5600]

Man, respect, great sound analysis, liked this video, will check the rest, great job!

[@musicbybenedict]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it! That means a lot. I already made another comparison yesterday, cause it‘s really fun imo.

[@idontknowwhatmyusernamesho5540]

Serum has that bite to it… could that be fixed by some OTT to Vital?

[@musicbybenedict]

Yeah true that might do it. Maybe even Decapitator or Radiator?

[@obi5322]

a 12 Db/oct filter might have worked better in vital?

[@musicbybenedict]

Might be yeah. What do you want to achieve with that?

[@av8mm]

Got a like and subscribe from me. Good content!

[@musicbybenedict]

Thank you very much mate. Highly appreciated 🙌

[@marcusfreeweb]

Serum!

[@musicbybenedict]

Fair choice. I personally like it more too. But mainly because I know it better

[@hcl8836]

The vital patch has clearly a different reverb setting what makes the most difference.

[@musicbybenedict]

Yes true, that‘s pretty different. But I think that the distortion sounds also very different from another.

[@jimrogers7425]

What this video shows is, that at least in this instance, Vital (with no price tag) is ‘just as good as’ Serum. While there may be instances in which Serum outshines Vital, I don’t know if it justifies the price tag. Great video! Cheers!

[@musicbybenedict]

Yeah, I think in many cases Vital can actually compete with Serum. That‘s why I think this comparison is important if your thinking about buying into Serum.

[@jimrogers7425]

@@musicbybenedict I believe that too many who are beginning to compose are pulled in by all of the really well done demos of purchased plugins, when many times getting a bunch of free plugins is a great way to begin. It took me a while to get over my serious case of 'demo-itis' (nearly always buying a library based on a great demo) and now evaluate something new based on how it applies to my own visions along with budgeting my purchases. I still buy things from time to time based on the "oh, I've gotta have that one NOW" sense that a great demo implants in my brain, but I'm MUCH better about resisting that urge now. Again... GREAT comparative demo of both Serum and Vital.

[@musicbybenedict]

Completeley agree. Especially in the beginning, free libraries and plug ins are a great way to start. They also get better and better.

[@jimrogers7425]

@@musicbybenedict In some ways free libraries are great, but the 'quality' suffers in many of them which, for me being someone with hi-fi hearing, I have found myself completely uninspired by them, so I parted with a fair amount of money purchasing the full versions of more than a few libraries. Now looking back, I can see that there were other reasons for my lack of inspiration besides the marginal sound quality. It's just been a real learning process for me... and one of those has been getting past the amazing demos to evaluate a library based on its merits to help me fulfill my own creative direction.

[@GardensoftheAncientsHerbal]

Vital is easy to get there fast. Serum will generally be better gor specific uses instead of fast production that you get from vital. I use both. Considering pigments

[@musicbybenedict]

Yeah me too. I use pigments exactly for that fast production workflow to get quick ideas/inspiration.

[@T-T_ioi_T-T]

Personally I love vital but to me it sounded noticeably duller, lush but duller. Still it was pretty close, what id love to see is a comparison with a more complex sound, a lead like this could be replicated in a lot of synths.

[@musicbybenedict]

Yeah it was hard for me to decide as well. I made a second part where I compared the two. That‘s a bit more complex synth/chord sound. You might like that as well :)

[@Diego-vq1hc]

The reason Serum sounded "more full" its because you used the "MG Low 24" filter and that filter its not the same as ""Digital 24" in Vital. You "should have used "Low 24" in Serum.

[@musicbybenedict]

Oh interesting, I‘ll try it out. I don‘t think it would make such a big difference, does it?

[@Diego-vq1hc]

@@musicbybenedict It will make a difference. Serum had more high frequencies so that's why you though it sounds fuller. You can see it in Fl Studio's spectrum analyzer in 5:39 (above pattern 2). On your part 2 video, I would have used the dirty filter for saturation in Vital, so it would have sound grittier like Serum.

[@musicbybenedict]

Alright, fair enough. What do you mean with dirty filter?

[@ilo0076]

💯👍👏

[@musicbybenedict]

Appreciate it🙌🙌

[@amp4105]

What do you study?

[@musicbybenedict]

The course is called Keyboards and Music Production.

[@amp4105]

@@musicbybenedict cool!

[@musicbybenedict]

Yeah it really is. What do you do?

[@jackryan3429]

PhasePlant is the one to get.

[@musicbybenedict]

Haven‘t heard of it before you mentioned it I think. But it also seems really powerful from my first impression👀

[@jackryan3429]

@@musicbybenedict it is, the only downfall is due to how modular it is, doing simple things takes longer than in Vital. Saving templates to load as a starting point really saves time though.

[@musicbybenedict]

Ahh alright, makes sense.

[@robot8429]

VITAL VSTi - synthesizer eats up RAM resources and CPU resources . VITAL is poorly optimized . But it sounds cool .

[@musicbybenedict]

I didn‘t notice a big difference CPU wise. But you‘re right. It sounds cool. You could always bounce out your sounds to kind off get around that problem.

[@redhandedninjastar]

It’s so crazy how a free plug-in can be better than a 200 costing one

[@musicbybenedict]

Right? I think one is not always better than the other, but it can definitely compete with Serum.

[@redhandedninjastar]

@@musicbybenedict For sure

[@wernerxldata]

It's comparing apple's with pears in a way... Serum exists for a few years and was a unique synth in that way. Hats of to Steve Duda ! Vital defintely learned from Serum and yeah good job Matt Tytel. In the end I think they're not so different from each other, so picking one as a clear winner is impossible. Every year the available tech and ideas make it easier to create cool software, so in this case Steve is still my winner since he created Serum in 2014 and it's still kicking ass. In this sound design 'battle', my first choice was actually Serum, but I found the first few notes sound just a bit more full / round from Vital. So here you go again, can't even pick a best in just a few bars. They're a lot alike but just a bit different. And it all depends on where the sound ends in the mix. For me, a tie.

[@musicbybenedict]

Completely fair point. I also think it‘s hard to decide which one‘s better. In the end you can‘t really. That‘s exactly why I thought this would be so interesting to see in comparison. It all comes down to the sound you want to create and personal preference in worklflow I would say.

[@wernerxldata]

@@musicbybenedict I'm used to Serum right now, so it feels easier, but I could live with one of both.

[@CFox.7]

hasnt vital lost support ?

[@musicbybenedict]

I‘m not sure about that. They have their own forum to discuss new features, but I don‘t know enough about that to say something concrete. Still great imo

[@AbstraktMusicLab]

Be careful with Vital. Free, but lacks support, has bugs, and it seems abandoned by the owner... I'd love it if not, because it is great!

[@musicbybenedict]

Interesting. Up until now, I didn‘t have any problems with Vital.

[@nihiqallam5616]

Vital sound weak and look weak

[@musicbybenedict]

I wouldn‘t say that. You can get some great sounds from Vital too…

[@nihiqallam5616]

@@musicbybenedict vital literally copy paste parawave rapid ui

[@akira20ish]

I sold serum and prefer pigments and vital wavetable in live 10 suite is great too

[@musicbybenedict]

@nihiqallam5616 It looks similar, true. Still a powerful plug in

[@musicbybenedict]

@akira20ish Understandable. Both very strong plug ins. I like Pigments especially to give me some inspiration with quick presets when I feel not creative. How do you use Pigments?