Serum 2's filter tab, a saw wave, and the routing step you skip
Serum 2's filter section can feel like a wall of unfamiliar names. A new walkthrough strips it back with a saw wave and the single routing check that trips up most first opens — starting right there saves you the blank-stare minutes while you hunt for why nothing's moving.
▶ Navigating Serum 2's Filter Types — and the Routing Step That Trips Up Most Sessions
They start with a saw wave because it gives you a full harmonic picture, then walk through every filter type. The real catch: oscillator routing switches (A, B, C, S, N) under the display — if those aren't pointing where you think, half the filter does nothing. Low 6 leaves more weight in the sub; Low 24 tightens right up. French LP and Acid Ladder get that resonant squelch, while Scream and MG Dirty push into feedback territory.
◢ learn
▶ Split Your Sessions Into Practice Drills and Song Time to Close the Taste-Skill Gap
The framing is sports: focused reps on automation, preset rebuilding, and arrangement skeletons (drag a reference track, drop empty MIDI clips for every section) separate from free-flow writing. Two producers can each spend 10,000 hours in the studio; the one who spent some of that time drilling the same 16 bars from different angles ends up 10x ahead. The automation drill — open old projects and ride a phaser's feedback for a transition — is a concrete 15-minute rep that actually tightens your taste.
◢ free & gear
▶ Adam Beyer's Junction 2 Set Leans Melodic — a Drumcode Sunday From the Awaken One Stage
A full set with the melodic side of his catalog front and centre. It's a functional arrangement reference when you're sequencing your own builds and breakdowns — listen for how the kick breathes between the bigger synth lines, and how he uses small filter sweeps to give those lines a shape instead of extra elements.
Dirtywave M8 Hits iPhone — $30 Gets You the Full Tracker Engine, Project Compatibility Included(29.99)
All sequencing, sampling, and synthesis from the hardware tracker, with the same project files moving between your phone and the M8. The limitation: no AUv3, only Inter-App Audio (which Apple itself has deprecated), so plan on using it as a standalone scratchpad rather than an integrated host. Still, a full portable tracker with instrument tables and probability at that price is hard to ignore.
◢ the word
▶ Hardware Synths Under $250: Pocket Operators, Microfreak, and a Stylophone With an Envelope
The PO-32, especially paired with Sonic Charge microTonic for custom sound loading, turns a pocket-sized drum-synth into a proper portable sketch tool. The Stylophone Gen X-2 (under $80) isn't just the novelty you remember — it packs an attack/decay envelope, resonant filter, and pulse-width control. And if you land exactly on that $250 ceiling, the Arturia Microfreak opens up entirely different territory.
CamelPhat & Elderbrook — Cola
the pitched-up vocal chop that starts as a whisper and opens into a full hook at the first drop · Pairs with the practice system's reference-track arrangement skeleton — map this one and you'll watch the build unfold in slow-fast motion.
| ▲ #13 | Nick Curly — Bahia (Original Mix) |
| ▼ #08 | Pietro Over Jack — We're Gonna Party (Original Mix) |
| ▼ #97 | Ferra Black, Chico Rose (NL) — All Night Long (Extended Mix) |
| ▼ #87 | Tony Romera, Jewel Kid, CASSIMM — Right Back (Extended Mix) (CASSIMM Remix) |
| ▲ #17 | Volen Sentir, ETNE — Havada (Etne Remix) |
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12
median filter slope
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filter slope: 6–24dB/oct (n=11)
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4
median ratio
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ratio: 1–20:1 (n=11)
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122
median tempo
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tempo: 96–140BPM (n=9)
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28
median bit depth
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bit depth: 8–32bit (n=8)
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- 1. Insert an EQ before compression. Set a high-pass filter to 40 Hz.
- 2. Insert a compressor. Set ratio 4:1, release 20 ms. Set threshold until gain reduction reads about 6 dB.
- 3. Insert an EQ after compression. Bell boost 120 Hz by +12 dB.
- 4. On the same EQ, bell cut 200 Hz by -3 dB.
🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your delay feedback will accidentally land in perfect time — and then you'll spend twenty minutes trying to undo it because the happy accident made the rest of the track feel slow.
Now go make something that scares the next DJ you hand it to.
one of these lands every morning.
for working house producers with a track already half-finished.
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covered in this issue: serum 2