Serum isn’t just a wavetable synth—it’s a vocal synth too. Well, kinda. You can feed it a recording of your voice and turn it into a playable synth. So let’s make Serum say “Serum”.
Note: This is not about creating a simple sampler; rather, Serum analyzes the audio to capture the essence of the vocal in a process that breaks it up into subtables. This method allows vocal resynthesis from audio inputs. This isn’t an AI singing generator either (duh!). It won’t make your voice sing lyrics or hold a melody like the popular AI tools out there. Instead, you’re shaping your voice into a playable synth sound—more robotic than human.
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Importing The Vocal Audio
First, record yourself saying “Serum” and import the file into Serum’s wavetable editor. Serum will break it up into 256 tiny waveforms (subtables). The result? A rough, choppy version of your voice that kinda sounds like a robot learning English. Not great yet, but we’ll fix that. Note that I’m intentionally over pronouncing.
Selecting the Optimal Number of Subtables
You can compare different Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) import sizes (256, 512, etc.) during import. This will affect how smoothly the word “Serum” appears as you modulate through the wavetable. In our case, 256 gave the cleanest result. Try different settings to see what works best for your recording.
Cleaning Up The Voice Wavetable
Now, trim the silence at the start and any extra noise at the end. Then, delete 3/4 of the subtables. This will make the playback jumpy at first, but don’t worry—we’re about to smooth it out.
Making The Vocal Resynthesis Playable
Here’s the magic: turn on Spectral Morphing. This blends the subtables together, transforming the choppy mess into a smooth, playable vocal synth.
Conclusion
With a little editing, Serum can take a simple word and turn it into a custom voice synth. Try it with different words, tweak the settings, and make your synth talk. Or scream. Or whisper creepy things in your track. Your call.
And here is a more in-depth video (10 minutes long) from our Serum Lesson Pack:
Joe Hanley is the founder of Audible Genius and the creator of award-winning music production courses like Syntorial and Building Blocks. With a passion for music, education, and technology, Joe helps aspiring producers master the art of sound design and synthesis.