Is Xfer Serum Worth It?

If you’re thinking about buying a new synth because a lot of music producers use it, wait.

This post will share a perspective on why Serum is worth it but also reasons why it may not be.

But first, let's talk about what Serum actually is in the first place.

What is Xfer Serum?

Serum is a wavetable synth software made by Xfer Records, that offers an immense range of high-quality creative capabilities. The plugin provides a variety of diverse tools, anywhere from creating unique sounding leads, sick pads, to wobbly, dubstep sounding bass, which makes it one of the most versatile VST plugins for modern style music production.

Since designed and released in 2014 by Steve Duda, who is a software engineer and owner of Xfer Records, Serum has been all over the music production world for all kinds of genres.

Being one of the most used synth plugins out there, Xfer's Serum is often a go-to choice for a lot of music producers.

Serum Requirements

To use Serum, you’ll need to have these computer specs to meet its minimum requirements:

• CPU with SSE2
• Windows 7 SP1, or Mac OS X 10.8 or greater
• 64 bit VST2.4, AU or AAX compatible host software

In simple terms, you need 64-bit Windows or Mac and a DAW that supports VST, AU, or AAX plugins.

Is Xfer Serum Free?

No, xfer Serum is not free. Serum costs $189 USD or $10 USD per month until you pay it off - which equals 19 months if you don’t pause your payments. That’s right, you can pause your payment plan at any time and continue where you left off later with Splice’s Rent-to-own payment plan.

Otherwise, you can purchase Serum from xfer Records directly and pay it all upfront. However, either payment option is going to cost you the same.

What makes Xfer Serum so good, is it worth it?

The fact that Serum was voted “the best VST plugin in the world today” by MusicRadar, and big names like Martin Garrix, Skrillex, Diplo, Flume, Kanye West, The Chainsmokers have said they love it, or have been seen using it, speaks for itself.

Currently priced at $189 for the full version or $10/monthly, it is a valuable addition to any producer who wants to wants to expand their repertoire, not only because you can create almost every sound you can hear in today's music, but also for the reason that Serum is so popular, there are tons of great presets made by the community for this plugin.

Serum does contain tons of features that other synths don't have, but its downside is that it uses a lot of CPU resources, so keep that in mind, before you go for the purchase.

However, Serum uses a considerably less CPU than Massive.

That being said, nothing in the music industry is a must-have. But, if you are looking to buy a flexible, clean sounding, quality synth plugin, Serum is going to be a worthwhile investment.