Robert Apetrei - Seren | Pad Synth Patch Remake

Remaking the pad synth from the 2019 song "Seren" by Robert Apetrei can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Seren" pad patch and play this iconic sound on most hardware or software subtractive synthesizers (Serum, Vital, Pigments, Prophet, Korg, Moog, etc). We've included the preset download directly for your convenience, but we strongly recommend you use our programming tutorial to recreate it yourself.

Original Audio

The pad in Robert Apetrei’s “Seren” is a thin, pulse-wave background pad with a restrained noise layer, band-pass filtering, and slow movement from detune/unison and chorus. You can hear it clearly leading up to 5:00 as a subtle sustaining bed under the arrangement. The sound’s bandwidth is narrowed by the band-pass to remove both highs and lows, giving a mid-focused, airy texture. Gentle LFO-driven filter cutoff adds evolving motion without overt rhythmic emphasis.

Our Remake of The Pad Synth sound

This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the pad synth from the song "Seren" by Robert Apetrei, giving you a reference point as you design your own synthesizer preset. Play it as often as you need to familiarize yourself with the nuances of the sound.

Synth Patch Programming Recipe

Getting Started

• Start by initializing your synthesizer to a plain saw with no filter, modulation or effects. For soft synths use the "init"/"default" preset or the the button to reset allx parameters to their default factory values.
• No two synths are exactly alike, so treat the values below as approximate, and use your ear.
• Percentage values (e.g. 50%) represent the relative position of a knob or slider within its full range. The full range of each parameter may differ from synth to synth, so use your ear.

Voices

• Voice Mode: Poly 2

Oscillator Setup

Oscillator 1

• Mix: 71%
• Wavetable: Basic Shapes
• Wave Frame: Thin Pulse (position 256)
• Routing: Filter 1
• Unison Voices: 3
• Unison Detune: 5%
• Unison Stereo Spread: 0%

Sample Oscillator

• Sample: White Noise
• Routing: Filter 1
• Level: 31%

Filter Settings

Filter 1

• Model: Analog
• Style: 24dB Slope
• Blend: Low Pass (0)
• Cutoff: 57% (552.324 Hz)
• Resonance: 0%
• Modulations:
• Lfo 1 → Cutoff

Filter 2

• Filter Mix: 100%
• Model: Analog
• Style: 24dB Slope
• Blend: High Pass (2)
• Cutoff: 54% (442.415 Hz)
• Resonance: 0%
• Modulations:
• Lfo 1 → Cutoff

Envelope Settings

Envelope 1 (Amp)

• Attack: 32 ms
• Sustain: 100%
• Release: 629 ms

LFO Settings

LFO 1

• Mode: Sync
• Sync: Seconds
• Frequency: -2s
• Shape: Triangle
• Destinations:
• Filter 1 Cutoff (amount 3%)
• Filter 2 Cutoff (amount 3%)

Effects Processing (Ordered)

Chorus

• Voices: 4
• Sync: Default (Tempo)
• Tempo: Default (4/1)
• Depth: Default (50%)
• Delay 1: Default (2.0 ms)
• Delay 2: Default (7.8 ms)
• Feedback: 0%
• Mix: 41%
• Cutoff: 2441.6 Hz
• Spread: 0.20

Eq

• Band Cutoff: 655.121 Hz
• Band Resonance: Default (45%)
• Band Gain: -5 dB
• High Cutoff: 2267.412 Hz
• High Resonance: Default (32%)
• High Gain: 0.98 dB

Reverb

• Mix: 43%
• Size: 56%
• Chorus Amount: 5%
• Chorus Frequency: Default (0.250 Hz)
• Time: 0.554 s
• Low Shelf Cutoff: 33% (93.613 Hz)
• Low Shelf Gain: -6 dB
• Pre Low Cutoff: 33% (92.887 Hz)

Modulation Matrix

• LFO 1 → Filter 1 Cutoff 3%
• LFO 1 → Filter 2 Cutoff 3%

Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.

Explore More

• Patch Request: Robert Apetrei – Seren (Pad) — Audible Genius Community

Preset Downloads

Don't want to learn synth programming now? Use our synth preset as your starting point and tweak it from there. Register an account with Audible Genius and download the presets for free for the following synths:

• Vital

Comments

This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?