Content supplied by Patch DNA.
Patch DNA makes genre-focused preset generators for Serum 2, designed to bring fresh sounds into a musician’s own studio. Its Sound Design Dream Machines let you generate a preset inside a compatible DAW on Windows or Mac, play it with your music and explore related variations. A new timbre can suggest a different phrase, or change the mood of a few notes you already like.
For musicians exploring Serum presets, that offers another way to choose their materials. A preset pack has an existing collection to browse. Patch DNA lets you generate further sounds within a particular musical world and follow the ones that catch your ear. Familiar favourites from a pack can stay in the project while you try something new beside them.
Choose the musical world you want to explore
The three instruments have different characters. The Bass focuses on Drum & Bass, Neurofunk, Dubstep and Bass Music. A rough bass tone can become the foreground of a track, with a short phrase and enough space around it for its movement to be heard.
The House covers Afro House, House, Melodic House & Techno, Progressive & Deep House, and Tech House. Its sounds include pads and chords as well as basses, leads and plucks, with the available categories depending on the selected direction. That gives a musician room to explore a sustained background or a more exposed instrumental part.
The Techno has its own focus on Peak Time & Driving, Raw & Hypnotic and Hard Techno. Here, a repeated note can become a useful way to hear the character of a sound against the rhythm. These are separate genre-focused products, so the choice of instrument gives the session a musical direction before generation begins.
Hear what the sound does to a phrase
Consider an Afro House sketch with a percussion part and a few keyboard notes. Open The House in the DAW and choose the musical direction and sound category you want to explore. Use Generate, then play those notes while the percussion runs.
A sound that rings out may invite you to hold the last note across the bar. A shorter, more percussive voice could make the same part feel like a response to the drums. You can change the notes or leave them alone while you compare another candidate. The attraction is the exchange between what you hear and what you decide to play next.
This also gives sound choice a practical setting. The percussion may already occupy the space where a busy new part wants to sit. Hearing them together helps you decide whether the phrase needs a pause, or whether a different sound would suit the arrangement. Those decisions happen in the project where the music is taking shape.
Stay with a character that interests you
More Like This offers related variations around a generated sound. If a chord has the right mood, you can keep exploring that direction and listen for a version that suits the phrase. There is no need to settle on the first candidate that works.
Keep a favourite nearby as you compare. One version might belong under the main melody, while another makes you want to strip the arrangement back and let it lead. A useful discovery can also wait for a different project. Save it through Creations and Favorites, and keep a short sketch in the DAW to remember the musical idea it suggested.
Active macros and Pitch provide accessible adjustments. Each result remains editable in Serum 2 when more detailed work is useful. A musician can spend the session choosing and playing sounds, then return to that deeper editing later.
A separately purchased, installed and activated copy of Serum 2 is required. Compatibility details vary by product and are listed on the product pages. For the next sketch, a few notes and the other parts of your own arrangement provide a place to hear what a generated sound might become.