Best Serum Settings for Bass Music

Why Settings Matter for Bass

Serum is a deep synthesiser with hundreds of parameters. For bass music production, most of those parameters are irrelevant. The difference between a weak bass and a powerful one comes down to a handful of critical settings that control how the sound behaves in the low end, how it translates across playback systems, and how it sits in a mix.

This guide covers the specific Serum settings that matter most for bass music, from oscillator configuration to effects chain order. These settings apply whether you are building sub bass, Reese bass, neuro patches, or bass house sounds.

Oscillator Settings

The oscillator section determines the raw harmonic content of your bass:

Waveform selection – Sine for sub bass, saw for mid-range and Reese, square for jump up and retro sounds. Custom wavetables for neuro textures
Octave range – C0-C1 for sub bass, C1-C2 for standard bass, C2-C3 for upper bass and mid-range layers
Unison voices – 1 voice for sub bass (no unison needed). 2-4 voices for mid-range with conservative detune (5-15 cents). Avoid high voice counts for bass as they create phase issues
Unison detune – Lower values (5-10 cents) for subtle thickening. Higher values (15-25 cents) for wider, more aggressive sounds. Keep detune minimal on low-pitched sounds
Phase randomisation – Set to zero for consistent sub bass transients. Random phase is fine for mid-range layers where consistency matters less

Filter Settings

Serum offers multiple filter types. The best choices for bass:

Filter type – MG Low 24 (Moog-style) for warm, musical filtering. SV Low 24 for cleaner, more precise filtering. The Moog-style filter adds subtle saturation that benefits bass sounds
Cutoff frequency – For sub bass, set high (5kHz+) or bypass the filter entirely. For mid-range, 800Hz-3kHz depending on brightness. For Reese bass, 500Hz-1.5kHz for the rolling quality
Resonance – Low (0-20%) for sub bass if using a filter. Moderate (20-50%) for mid-range to add bite at the cutoff. High resonance creates a sharp peak that can be useful for neuro bass
Drive – Serum’s filter drive adds saturation before the filter. A small amount adds warmth. Higher amounts push into distortion territory
Key tracking – Enable for bass sounds that play across a wide note range. This adjusts the filter cutoff relative to the played note, keeping the tonal character consistent

Envelope Settings

The right envelope settings for each bass style:

Sub bass – Attack: 0-5ms. Decay: off. Sustain: 100%. Release: 50-150ms. Clean and immediate with controlled release to prevent note overlap
Reese bass – Attack: 0-10ms. Decay: off. Sustain: 100%. Release: 100-300ms. Longer release lets the phasing texture ring out naturally
Neuro bass – Attack: 0-5ms. Decay: varies. Sustain: 60-100%. Release: 50-200ms. Tighter control for rhythmic patterns
Jump up – Attack: 0ms. Decay: 100-300ms. Sustain: 0%. Release: 50-100ms. Short and percussive
Foghorn – Attack: 200-800ms. Decay: off. Sustain: 80-100%. Release: 200-500ms. Slow swell with sustained weight
Bass house – Attack: 0-5ms. Decay: off. Sustain: 80-100%. Release: 50-150ms. Immediate and sustained, shaped by sidechain

Effects Chain Order

The order of effects in Serum’s FX tab significantly changes the final sound. The recommended chain for bass:

Distortion – First in the chain so it processes the raw oscillator output. This gives the most predictable distortion character
Filter (if using FX filter instead of oscillator filter) – After distortion to shape the distorted harmonics
EQ – After distortion to clean up unwanted frequencies created by the distortion
Compressor – After EQ to control dynamics on the shaped signal
Chorus/Dimension – Late in the chain for stereo width on mid-range layers. Skip for sub bass
Reverb – Last in chain if used at all. Keep minimal for bass, only on mid-range layers via parallel send

Global Settings

Serum’s global settings affect the overall quality and behaviour of the sound:

Oversampling – Set to 2x or 4x when designing bass sounds to reduce aliasing artifacts. Higher oversampling increases CPU usage but produces cleaner results, especially with heavy distortion
Quality – Use “Draft” while experimenting and switch to high quality for final rendering
Polyphony – Set to 1 (mono) for bass sounds. Polyphonic bass creates mud and phase issues. Enable legato for smooth note transitions
Portamento – A short glide time (20-50ms) with legato enabled creates smooth pitch transitions between notes. Useful for Reese and rolling basslines
Pitch bend range – Set to 2 or 12 semitones depending on whether you use pitch bend for subtle expression or dramatic effects

Settings to Avoid

Common settings that cause problems in bass sounds:

Excessive unison – More than 4 voices on bass creates phase cancellation and washy, unfocused low end
Wide stereo on sub – Any stereo content below 100-150Hz causes phase issues on club systems. Keep the sub mono
Heavy reverb on bass – Reverb on bass creates mud. If you need depth, use a short reverb on a parallel send with a high-pass filter
High polyphony – Multiple bass notes playing simultaneously creates frequency buildup. Use mono mode
Random phase on sub – Inconsistent phase on sub bass means each note starts differently, which affects how the sub interacts with the kick drum

Presets With Optimised Settings

Every preset in a well-designed pack has these settings already configured for the specific bass type. Opening a preset and examining its settings is one of the fastest ways to learn what works for each bass style.

Preset packs with optimised bass settings: