#serum 2

The desert stage is almost complete; my progress was slightly halted by the gate opening sequence, followed by the ball drag and monument rise, but I eventually managed to sculpt these to a level that I was satisfied with. Up until this point, I had been trying to complete all of my effects in one instance of Serum, but the nature of these sounds, which appear in sequence, requires the use of multiple states in the same pattern. This quickly became very chaotic, so I started a labelling system where each instance of a plugin is categorised and labelled according to a particular sound.

References -

(Duda 2025) - Serum v2 (VST Plugin). Xfer Records.

As I navigate the design process, I'm trying not to get too fixated on every SFX because there is so much ground to cover. However, certain ones that are repeated throughout the video justify the quest for perfection. One of these is the artefact click, which triggers motion for a range of elements in the gameplay, allowing the player to progress. For this sound, I layered a switch click sample with some atmospheric textured pads. Even though I sourced the switch click sample from Soundly, the stock wavetables bundled with Serum 2 are absolute class for these soft, pad-like textures.

References -

(Duda 2025) - Serum v2 (VST Plugin). Xfer Records.

I haven't had an exceptionally high level of productivity this week, but I have begun reviewing the cocoon gameplay video and started experimenting with some sounds. A sample-based approach will be vital for completing the SFX for this project. I forgot to mention this in earlier entries, but Xfer Record's Serum has received its sequel update since its initial release in 2014. With this update, they have added granular, spectral, and sample-based synthesis; however, I have only utilised this for one sound in the minor assignment. Nevertheless, I have a feeling that granular and spectral synthesis will encompass a lot of this project.

Here's one of the sound effects I've created for the first chapter of the game when the rock or stairs crumble into the earth. I obtained a few rock-smashing SFX from Soundly and imported them into Serum 2. I adjusted the octaves and semitones to add some variation between the samples, ensuring the frequencies would sit well with each other. I added a ton of regular + convolution reverb with large impulse responses to really capture the atmosphere of a desert. Various environmental sequences occur throughout the gameplay video, and I believe this has established the general workflow approach that I'll take when I'm making many of these sounds.

References -

(Duda 2025) - Serum v2 (VST Plugin). Xfer Records

(McGlynn 2025) - Xfer Records launches long-awaited Serum 2." 2025. DJ Mag, 2025, Accessed 11/04/2025. https://djmag.com/tech/xfer-records-launches-long-awaited-serum-2.

(Soundly 2025) - The Complete Sound Effects Platform 01.42 (Sound Library).