It’s been a month since Ableton launched Live 10 and apart from some audio effects and interface upgrades, it also brings another instrument for users – Wavetable bringing in an essential comparison between Wavetable’s capabilities against xfer’s Serum.
Wavetable is fantastic! I’ve been very pleased with it. The Push integration is phenomenal, the whole device is consolidated into eight pages, so no scrolling back and forth like with the operator. The entire matrix system was done well, something I’d like to see with different devices and something other companies can learn from. In my opinion, you should treat it like any other Ableton instrument: It is a workhorse to play around with off-board processing and layering. You can go to Wavetable and use other exciting audio effects based out of Ableton and have practically have endless control over it with Live 10’s routing and modulation capabilities.
Serum is great too! It’s built-in modulation options are vast! You can load your wavetables, FM and warp at the same time. There are a lot of filter types, custom LFO shapes, sub-oscillator can be routed separately from the filter, tons of effects and can modulate audio effect parameters directly from the Mod Matrix! Serum is perfect for someone who wants to go in-depth and have a plug-in that works for them in other DAWs as well. And with splice, you can now get it with their rent-to-own subscription!
Both these instruments are meant for different users. Even though they are based on wavetables, Ableton’s Wavetable offers a lot more simplicity, less CPU usage and honestly some great sounds, making it great for live performances. Serum is for users who want to go in-depth and prefer other DAWs over Ableton Live 10.
Are you interested in learning more about synthesis and sound design?
About the Author: Ankit Chugh
A dental surgeon by profession, Ankit changed his stream and is studying Music Production and Audio Engineering at Pyramind. With a knack for music business and tastemaking, he intends to share knowledge and music with everyone!
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