“I respect the f**k out of this”: Fans are tipping Steve Duda and Xfer Records for making Serum 2 a free upgradeAfter widespread rumours in recent months, this week saw the release of Serum 2, the second edition of the hugely popular soft synth from Xfer Records.
Serum Creator and Xfer Records co-founder Steve Duda has long been a venerated figure in the world of software synthesizers, and earned himself a new level of respect when he revealed Serum 2 – which adds new oscillators, sequencers and hundreds of presets – would be free for owners of the first edition of Serum.

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“Did we mention that Serum 2 is a free upgrade for Serum 1 owners?” Xfer writes on its website. “Lifetime free updates actually means lifetime free updates.”

In response to the free upgrade, one Reddit user writes: “Steve Duda, you’re the man, thank you so much.” Another writes “I respect the fuck out of this. Serum isn’t a synth that makes it on to every project for me, but this makes me want to support them and use it even more now.”
While Xfer Records co-founder and producer/DJ deadmau5 claims he’s been using Serum 2 “for about a year” – no doubt between negotiating a deal which recently saw his catalogue sell for $55 million – for most, Serum 2 is new, and the excitement levels across the producer community are palpable. Here’s what else people are saying so far.
Online forums: People are loving the fact Serum 2 is free
Serum 2 it’s out! byu/HopTzop inserum

A forum is abuzz on Gearspace, again, with many producers commending Steve Duda for offering Serum 2 as a free upgrade.
“Cheers to Steve Duda, definitely could have charged us all $50+ for the upgrade and not gotten much pushback,” one person writes.
We’ve even seen several Serum users tip Xfer Records of their own volition as a thank you to Duda for making Serum 2 a free upgrade.
“FX is quality enough to sell on its own. This is a free update, which is crazy… I donated,” one user writes, while another says: “A free upgrade – donation is easy for being decent.”
On Reddit, one user notes: “I hate how insane tipping culture has gotten but I absolutely dropped a $20 tip on there because this update is huge.”
Echo Sound Works: “This amount of content for free is absolutely brilliant”

Elsewhere, YouTuber Echo Sound Works commends Xfer’s lack of a marketing campaign for Serum 2. “It’s as much of a surprise to me as it probably was to you,” he says. “I had no idea this was coming – I got Beyoncé’d just like everyone else did. Steve Duda was like, ‘We’re just gonna drop this.’ There was no long-lead marketing, it was just here one day.
“I think it’s great. It makes it seem like it’s trying to stand on the merits of its new content and its new features, the content itself as opposed to a hype train with little trailer videos and that kind of stuff.”
He goes on to encourage people to tip Xfer Records where they’re able: “If that tip thing remains and you could send a tip to Xfer and Duda, do that. This amount of content for free is absolutely brilliant.”
Arcade: “This is almost a brand-new plugin”

“Serum 2 is out, and they’ve done it once again,” says YouTuber Arcade. “It’s not a little update. This is almost a brand-new plugin. And if you already have Serum, you get this one for free. Crazy.”
Serum 2 is available now at an introductory price of $189 until 1 June. You can also get it on a rent-to-own plan via Splice. For more info, head to Xfer Records.
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