In this sound design tutorial, Niek from The Producer School walks through the creation of five essential presets from a modern trance and hard house sample pack, building each sound from scratch in Serum. Covering a saw bass, a perfect fifth chord step, a classic trance supersaw plug, a stuttering lead, and a transgate pad, the video focuses not just on the specific sounds but on the underlying techniques and modulation principles you can apply to your own productions.
How to Make an Offbeat Saw Bass for Hard House in Serum
The first sound is a gritty, fat offbeat saw bass that forms the rhythmic backbone of hard house and trance productions. Starting from an initialized patch in Serum, the process begins with selecting the Basic Mini Saw wavetable - chosen specifically because it has more analog character than a standard saw wave, reflecting the analogue synthesizer sounds used in 90s and early 2000s rave productions.
The oscillator is pitched down two octaves. A Moog-style MG Low 24 filter is opened and some basic white noise is added and routed through the same filter. For the envelope, envelope 1 handles the amplitude only. Envelope 2 is used as a separate dedicated filter modulation - a technique similar to how a Moog modular handles its envelope routing. The filter envelope is made shorter than the amplitude envelope. Drive is added to the filter, and the volume is adjusted upward. In the FX section, a Digi To Distortion is added at around 15% - anything above that becomes too gritty. A multiband compressor is then applied for the OTT effect, but the high-frequency band is pulled back to around 20% so the mids and lows stay prominent, which is essential for a bass-focused sound.
- Initialize a patch and load the Basic Mini Saw wavetable
- Pitch oscillator A down two octaves
- Open an MG Low 24 filter and add white noise routed through it
- Use envelope 1 for amplitude only, envelope 2 for filter modulation
- Make the filter envelope shorter than the amplitude envelope
- Add drive to the filter and increase master volume
- Add Digi To Distortion at around 15% in the FX chain
- Apply multiband compressor with high band reduced to 20%
What Is a Perfect Fifth Chord Step and How Do You Build One?
The perfect fifth chord step is one of the most recognizable sounds in modern hard house. It creates that dense, full harmonic texture where two notes - a root and a note seven semitones above it - play simultaneously, giving an instantly vintage and powerful feel.
Starting again from an initialized patch, two instances of the Basic Mini Saw wavetable are loaded into oscillators A and B. Both are pitched down one octave. To create the perfect fifth, oscillator B is pitched up seven semitones. This interval is what makes the sound immediately recognizable. The amplitude envelope can remain largely untouched since the goal is an ongoing vintage-sample character - MIDI note length handles the rhythmic stuttering rather than the envelope. A small amount of Juno 106 analog noise is added, and an MG Low 6 filter with drive is applied across both oscillators. LFO 1 is set to free rate at 0.9 Hz and linked to the fine-tune of both oscillator A and B, recreating the natural imperfection and drift of analogue synthesizers. The same LFO is also linked subtly to the MG Low 6 filter for additional movement. Effects include tube distortion, a flanger at 50% with a pulled-down rate, a subtle chorus with the filter turned up for width, ping-pong delay, short reverb, and finally a phaser placed after the delay and reverb so the phasing effect applies to the wet signal as well.
- Load Basic Mini Saw wavetable into both oscillators A and B
- Pitch both oscillators down one octave
- Pitch oscillator B up seven semitones for the perfect fifth interval
- Set LFO 1 to free rate at 0.9 Hz - link to fine-tune of both oscillators
- Link the same LFO subtly to the MG Low 6 filter
- FX chain: tube distortion, flanger at 50%, chorus, ping-pong delay, reverb, phaser
How to Create a Classic Trance Supersaw Plug Sound
The trance supersaw plug is described as a very effective and universally usable sound across multiple genres. It is based on a detuned supersaw architecture with both oscillators contributing to a wide, layered sound.
Starting from an initialized patch, the analog msaw wavetable is selected and copied to both oscillators A and B. Each oscillator receives six voices of unison. Oscillator B is detuned slightly more than oscillator A, then pitched up one full octave with its level reduced to around 30-40% - this functions as a high support layer that adds brightness and fullness without dominating. Envelope 1 is shaped to taste for the right attack and release. An MG Low 18 filter is opened, with a separate envelope used for filter modulation with some release added. White noise using the Juno High Pass noise type is added. The main technique for this sound is adding velocity modulation to the filter - so playing notes with different velocities dynamically opens and closes the cutoff. A mod wheel link to the filter is also recommended for expressive live control. Fine-tune modulation is added to both oscillators very subtly. The effects are minimal - a delay in pink-pong mode kept subtle, and a small amount of reverb.
- Select the analog msaw wavetable for both oscillators
- Set both oscillators to 6 voices of unison
- Detune oscillator B slightly more, pitch it up one octave, reduce level to 30-40%
- Open MG Low 18 filter with a separate filter modulation envelope
- Add Juno High Pass noise type
- Add velocity-to-filter modulation so harder notes open the cutoff
- Link mod wheel to the filter for live expressive control
- Add subtle fine-tune modulation on both oscillators
- FX: subtle ping-pong delay and a small reverb
How to Build a Stuttering Sweepy Trance Lead in Serum
The stuttering sweepy lead is a more complex sound that combines a wide, detuned supersaw foundation with LFO-driven amplitude gating to create that distinctive rhythmic stutter effect used in hard trance and hard house.
Two Basic Mini Saw wavetables are loaded. Oscillator A is pitched down and oscillator B is pitched up. Both oscillators receive unison - eight voices on one and six on the other - with a detune value of around 0.35 for both, creating a wide, spectrum-filling sound. Manual fine-tune adjustments are also made on both to add analogue imperfection. A BB Best 12 filter is added and modulated with an LFO for the sweeping effect. Glide is enabled with a portamento time of around 130 ms so notes can slide into each other. For the stutter effect, a second LFO is created with a custom shape and set to a 1/4-note rate. This LFO is then routed in the Matrix to the global amplitude - essentially the master volume of Serum. As the LFO amount is increased, the stutter becomes audible. It is set to around 60% rather than 100% so the sound does not fully cut out between hits. Tube distortion, delay, and reverb complete the FX chain.
- Load Basic Mini Saw wavetable into both oscillators
- Pitch oscillator A down, pitch oscillator B up
- Apply 8 voices of unison to one oscillator and 6 to the other, detune both to 0.35
- Add BB Best 12 filter modulated by an LFO for the sweep
- Enable portamento/glide at around 130 ms
- Create a second LFO with a custom shape at 1/4 rate
- Route this LFO to global amplitude in the Matrix at around 60% amount
- Add tube distortion, delay, and reverb
What Is a Transgate Pad and How Do You Make One?
The transgate pad is a lush, wide supersaw pad with a rhythmic gating effect applied via LFO - a classic trance technique that makes a pad feel rhythmically alive without programming individual notes.
Two saw waves are initialized. One oscillator receives 12 voices of unison and the other receives 6, with both detuned. Envelope 1 is central to this sound - a full one second of attack gives the supersaw pad its characteristic slow bloom, and around 200 ms of release softens the tail. This immediately creates that super-pad character. To add life to what would otherwise be a static sound, an LFO is added and linked to multiple parameters: panning, the filter, fine-tune on one oscillator, and optionally the mod wheel for live preview. Noise is added and routed through the filter. To apply the transgate effect, another LFO is created and linked to the global amplitude - the same technique used in the stuttering lead sound, but set to a less harsh amount for the pad context. Delay, reverb, and a chorus are added as effects. The result is a wide, evolving pad with built-in rhythmic movement - a cornerstone sound in hard house and modern trance production.
- Initialize two saw wave oscillators - 12 voices on one, 6 on the other
- Detune both oscillators slightly
- Set envelope 1 attack to 1 full second and release to around 200 ms
- Add an LFO and link to panning, filter, and fine-tune for movement
- Add noise routed through the filter
- Create a second LFO and link to global amplitude at a moderate amount for the transgate
- Add delay, reverb, and chorus to complete the sound
Key Sound Design Principles for Trance and Hard House
Several core techniques run through all five sounds in this tutorial. The Basic Mini Saw wavetable is preferred over a standard saw because it provides more analog character - a deliberate choice that reflects the analogue synthesizer heritage of 90s rave and trance. Using two separate envelopes in Serum - one for amplitude and one for filter modulation - gives much more precise control over how each dimension of the sound evolves, similar to how classic analogue synthesizers handled their envelopes.
LFOs set to free rate at low frequencies like 0.9 Hz recreate the natural detuning and drift of analogue oscillators and are a quick way to make any sound feel less digital and more organic. The stutter effect using LFO-to-global-amplitude routing in Serum's Matrix is one of the most practical and efficient ways to create a transgate in a software context, and it can be applied to almost any sound. The pack referenced throughout this video contains more presets, samples, projects, and sounds in this style.
- Prefer Basic Mini Saw over standard saw for analog character
- Use two separate envelopes - one for amplitude, one for filter
- Use LFO at free rate around 0.9 Hz on fine-tune for analogue drift
- Route LFO to global amplitude in the Matrix for a transgate/stutter effect
- Keep multiband compressor high band at around 20% on bass sounds to maintain low-end prominence
- Perfect fifth interval = oscillator B pitched up seven semitones from oscillator A
Tutorial by Niek, co-founder of The Producer School. For more production tutorials, subscribe to The Producer School on YouTube (280K+ subscribers).