Install your
Serum 2 presets.

01 Import the pack

1. Download your purchase. If it arrives as a ZIP, extract it.
2. Open Serum 2 on a MIDI track in your DAW.
3. Choose Menu → Import Preset Pack in Serum 2.
4. Select Luke Bond - Ultimate Trance Vol.3.SerumPack. Then open the preset browser and load a sound.

Choose the .SerumPack file for this step. The MIDI and WAV files in the download have different jobs.

.SerumPack

The presets you import into Serum 2.

.mid

Notes you can edit on a MIDI track.

.wav

Recorded sound for an audio track.

You'll need Serum 2. These packs don't load in the original Serum.

02 Play your own notes

Some presets use Serum 2's clip engine to play a phrase. To write your own melody, turn off the power button beside Clips at the bottom left of Serum 2. Then play your keyboard or send notes from your DAW.

To use a supplied MIDI file, drag it onto the track with Serum 2. Load a preset and check the octave.

WAV samples go on an audio track. Check the sample's key and tempo against your project before stretching or transposing it.

03 Try an eight-bar phrase

Here's a short exercise for a lead or pluck preset. Start with the sound on its own, then bring in your kick and bass.

1. Write a two-bar phrase with a few notes in your track's key. Leave a gap at the end. Repeat it over eight bars and change the final repetition.
2. Set the lead's level with the kick and bass playing. If it gets lost, try another octave or simplify the bass part before adding a second lead.
3. Try the macros one at a time. Read their labels and listen at roughly the same volume so a louder setting doesn't win by default.
4. If a macro opens the sound, automate a rise over the second four bars. Reset it at the start of the next section and adjust the amount by ear.
5. Listen after the last note. If delay or reverb runs into the next phrase, shorten the note or turn down the effect.

Save the edited preset under a new name. Compare it with the original while the rest of the track plays.

The Vol.3 demos let you hear the presets in full productions. Listen for the octave, rhythm and room left for the bass.

If something's wrong.