Vital vs Serum 2: is the free synth enough?
Vital is the closest free match for Serum, and the free Basic tier has the full synth engine. Serum 2 adds new oscillator types, a sequencer and a much bigger library. Here's what you actually get with each.
| Vital (free Basic) | Xfer Serum 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (Basic tier, needs a free Vital account). Paid tiers add presets, wavetables and perks, not synth features: every tier is listed as "the full synth with all features". | Paid. Free upgrade for existing Serum 1 owners. |
| Oscillators | Wavetable oscillators with spectral warping, which reshapes a wave's harmonics. | Five types: wavetable, multisample, sample, granular and spectral. |
| Make your own wavetables | Built-in wavetable editor, sample-to-wavetable conversion (pitch-splice or vocode), and text-to-wavetable (5 requests a day on the free tier). | Create, import, edit and morph wavetables. Sample oscillator with looping and slicing. |
| Included sounds | 75 presets and 25 wavetables in Basic. | 626+ presets and 288 wavetables, plus a multisample library of recorded instruments. |
| Arp / sequencer | Not listed on Vital's feature page. | Arpeggiator and clip sequencer. |
| Modulation | Drag-and-drop modulation with preview, custom LFO shapes, stereo modulation, audio-rate modulation, MPE and microtuning (.tun/.scl/.kbd). | Flexible modulation and effect routing (see Xfer's "What's new in Serum 2"). |
| Formats | VST2, VST3, AU, CLAP, LV2, Standalone. | VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit). |
| OS | Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+ (Intel or Apple Silicon), Ubuntu Linux 18.04+. | Windows 10+, macOS High Sierra+ (Intel) or Big Sur+ (Apple Silicon). No Linux build listed. |
"Not listed" means the developer's own page doesn't mention it. It might still exist, but we won't claim it. Sources: vital.audio (tiers, features, OS) · KVR (Vital formats) · xferrecords.com (Serum 2 features, specs).
Verdict
Stay free with Vital if you make classic wavetable sounds (basses, leads, pads, plucks) and don't mind building your own patches or grabbing free preset packs. Vital also runs on Linux and supports CLAP and MPE.
Pay for Serum 2 if you want the multisample, granular and spectral oscillators, the built-in arp and clip sequencer, AAX for Pro Tools, or the huge library of Serum presets and tutorials. If you already own Serum 1, the upgrade is free.
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