Roundup
Serum Alternatives: Free and Paid Synths That Do What Serum Does
Updated 3 min read
The best free Serum alternative is Vital: a full wavetable synth with a free tier and a workflow close to Serum's. If you want to pay for something different rather than a clone, Arturia Pigments and Kilohearts Phase Plant go deeper into hybrid sound design, and our own Hydra is built around talking and growling basses at a one-time €69.
People look for a Serum alternative for three reasons: the price, wanting a free synth to learn on, or wanting a sound or workflow Serum doesn't make easy. This guide sorts the options by those reasons.
Serum alternatives at a glance
Vital
- Price
- Free (paid tiers for presets)
- Type
- Wavetable
- Why pick it over Serum
- Same workflow, costs nothing
Surge XT
- Price
- Free, open source
- Type
- Hybrid
- Why pick it over Serum
- Many synthesis types, no cost
Arturia Pigments
- Price
- About €199
- Type
- Multi-engine hybrid
- Why pick it over Serum
- Several engines and friendly color-coded modulation
Kilohearts Phase Plant
- Price
- About €199
- Type
- Modular hybrid
- Why pick it over Serum
- Build any signal chain from modules
Hydra (ours)
- Price
- €69 once
- Type
- Hybrid: wavetable, FM, formant
- Why pick it over Serum
- Talking basses from a typed word, per-voice distortion
Nova (ours)
- Price
- €59 once
- Type
- Analog-style
- Why pick it over Serum
- Fast, warm leads, pads and basses
Best free Serum alternative: Vital
Vital is the closest thing to a free Serum. You see the wavetable you're playing, drag modulation onto any control, warp the oscillator's phase and import audio as wavetables. The free tier includes the complete engine; the paid tiers add presets and extra wavetables. The one thing you can't do is load Serum presets: patches have to be remade or bought for Vital.
Surge XT is the other free pick. It's open source, has wavetable, FM, virtual analog and physical-modeling oscillators and a large preset library. It's deeper than Vital in places but takes longer to learn.
Paid alternatives with a different workflow
Arturia Pigments stacks several engines (virtual analog, wavetable, sample and harmonic) and shows every modulation in color, which makes complex patches easier to follow. Kilohearts Phase Plant is modular: you add generators, effects and modulators as blocks, so it can become almost any synth. Both are as deep as Serum; neither is cheaper.
Hydra (ours): a Serum alternative for talking bass
Hydra doesn't try to copy Serum's modulation lab. It focuses on the sounds most people buy Serum for, heavy and vocal basses, and makes them faster. Each voice has a wavetable oscillator with FM and phase warp, a formant mouth and its own distortion. Type a word like YOI or WOW into Speak and the mouth pronounces it in time with your track, so a talking bass is a text box instead of a formant filter plus hand-drawn LFOs.
The main view is three sections and eight big knobs, it responds to pitch bend, mod wheel, sustain and aftertouch, and it costs €69 once with no subscription or rent-to-own. Every preset plays on its page, with your computer keyboard or a MIDI keyboard.
Speak
YOIBite
Mouth
Size +25%Rage
Motion
The real plugin engine, running in your browser: same DSP code and presets as the VST3/AU/AAX.
Serum vs Vital vs Hydra
Engine
- Serum
- Wavetable, plus more engines in Serum 2
- Vital
- Wavetable
- Hydra
- Wavetable + FM + formant mouth
Talking bass
- Serum
- Formant filter and LFOs
- Vital
- Formant filter and LFOs
- Hydra
- Type a word into Speak
Distortion
- Serum
- Effects rack
- Vital
- Effects rack
- Hydra
- Per voice, before or after the mouth
Try first
- Serum
- Demo
- Vital
- Free tier
- Hydra
- Plays in the browser
Price
- Serum
- One-time or rent-to-own
- Vital
- Free tier, paid tiers
- Hydra
- €69 once
Which Serum alternative should you choose?
- You want Serum's workflow for free: Vital.
- You want to learn many kinds of synthesis for free: Surge XT.
- You want a deep hybrid with a friendlier interface: Pigments.
- You want to build your own synth from modules: Phase Plant.
- You want growling, talking basses fast, at a low one-time price: Hydra.
FAQ
What is the best free alternative to Serum?
Vital. Its free tier includes the full wavetable engine, a visual workflow very close to Serum's and the ability to import your own wavetables; paid tiers only add presets and tables. Surge XT is the other strong free option, with more synthesis types but a busier interface.
Is Serum 2 worth it?
If you already own Serum, Serum 2 is a free upgrade, so yes. For new buyers it's one of the deepest and most popular synths, with a huge preset market. The alternatives below are worth a look if you want a lower price, a free option or a different workflow.
Can Vital load Serum presets?
No. Vital and Serum use different preset formats. Vital can import wavetables, including ones exported from other synths, but patches have to be rebuilt by hand or bought for Vital specifically.
Which Serum alternative is best for dubstep and bass?
Vital and Phase Plant are both strong for heavy bass sound design. Hydra is built specifically for it: per-voice distortion and a formant mouth whose Speak feature pronounces a typed word in time with the track, the core of talking and growling basses.