After working with both of these synths for a good amount of time, I decided it’s worth putting them head to head; If you are looking to invest in one of these, should you buy serum or pigments?
DISCLAIMER: They aren’t the same type of synth
Even though Serum is a true wavetable synth, and Pigments has its arms in classic analog, wavetable, sample playback and granular, they are still worth comparing and here is why: as keyboard players, creating sounds that are easy to listen to AS WELL AS easy to physically play are equally important. Whether you go down the Serum or Pigment route, you will end up with flexible and playable sounds that will step up your keyboard game.
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Where Pigments Shines
Arturia pigments shines in overall flexibility. Because it is a combination of different synths; Wavetable, Analog, Granular, Sampler, you are able to work in more mode with Pigments.
Now this isn’t to say more is always better, but it certainly gives you more possibilities in terms of how you feel like working on a given day.
I also really like the way pigments handles mapping. Clicking any parameter will allow you to assign an amount of any control to that parameter. This makes it so that a matrix is completely unneeded since everything is already visually laid out. It also always you to easily have a sidechained time control for any mapping. This means you can have LFO amount controlled by an envelope very easily.
Where Serum Shines
Serum is the best wavetable only synth I have ever worked with. Its no-frills interface allows you to create quickly without needing to go into any sub-menu or click around too much. This has proven to be it’s best superpower for me. In addition to this, it seems better at loading in user wavetables than pigments. The results are more detailed and contain many more frames. You can also drag and drop easily, whereas you need to locate through a browser window in pigments.
Serum also features some great wave morphing tools, transforming simple waves into very complex evolving waves. In addition to this is allows you to draw your own wavetables, which is pretty handy, and a tool i’ve found myself using a good deal more than expected.
Should I Buy Serum Or Pigments?
Remember my disclaimer above. These are two different types of synths, but I do have an opinion.
For those of you who are looking for an all in one solution to your synthesis needs, pigments takes the win. Because of the many modes, you can really accomplish anything in this synth. You aren’t going to get the same type of sample-based granular synthesis results from Serum. In addition to this, the audio effects are still excellent, and the workflow is intuitive and well laid out.
If however, you are looking only for a wavetable synth, serum wins by a long shot. Since it is a dedicated wavetable synth, there are just a lot more tools to work with. It’s all dedicated towards doing what it does best. I will say I have noticed that in general, I work faster in Serum than in any other synth, and that is something that just shouldn’t be overlooked.
What To Do Now?
Start by making sure you grab a copy of the quick synth map. If you want to understand how synthesis works, this is the best place to start. Secondly, make sure you plug into the Livekeyboardist community on facebook. That’s the easiest way to get in touch with me as well as a community of people who play keyboards live.