.THEORY · VST · patch story
IB LEAD (Serum)
the innerbloom 5th-only pad trick
I needed a pad that could carry the first minute of 08 NØW without stepping on the eventual vocal top-line. The Innerbloom trick is old and beautiful: omit the third. Just root + 5th. The ear fills in the rest and the mode stays ambiguous — Bb feels like it could tip either way. Under a vocal it disappears. On its own it floats.
Serum makes this easy because you can stack two oscillators on the same wavetable with a small detune and a wide unison, and the result holds tension without locking the listener into major or minor. The sub sine pins it down, the LFO gives it breath, and the hall reverb makes it ceremonial. Sits right in the set where the parallel-major flip from SØUL happens — same home, different light.
Preview — IB LEAD (Serum)
2026-04-21 · used in .NØW
/ step by step
/setup
Start from a blank init patch. Work through the sections in order.
step 01
OSC A
Primary voice — wavetable saw blend.
- →Wavetable: Analog BD, position 14 (saw blend).
- →Level: 0 dB (main voice).
- →Phase: free-run so it won't re-trigger on every note.
- →Octave: 0 — voice sits at notated pitch.
step 02
OSC B
Widener — same table as A, detuned +12¢.
- →Wavetable: Analog BD, position 14 (identical to A).
- →Detune: +12 cents — enough stereo width without phase issues.
- →Level: 0 dB.
- →Phase: free-run (keep detune bed feeling alive).
step 03
SUB
Low-end anchor. Sine so it doesn't muddy the pad voicing.
- →Waveform: pure sine.
- →Level: −12 dB — felt, not heard.
- →Octave: −1 (one octave below the held chord).
step 04
UNISON
Tight unison — this is a lead pad, not a supersaw.
- →Voices: 4.
- →Detune: 18% — individual notes still audible.
- →Blend: 70% — lean on the original voice.
- →Stereo: 70% (wide but not walls-apart).
step 05
FILTER 1
Soft low-pass — rolls off the top so it sits under vocals.
- →Type: Low Pass 24dB.
- →Cutoff: 64%.
- →Resonance: 12% — a little bite, nothing sharp.
- →Drive: 0.
step 06
ENV 1 → AMP
Pad envelope. Slow in, long tail.
- →Attack: 1.2s — floats in, no transient.
- →Decay: 0.5s.
- →Sustain: 80%.
- →Release: 3.0s — lets chords ring through transitions.
step 07
LFO 1 → PITCH
Subtle breath. Keeps the pad feeling alive without vibrato.
- →Rate: 0.25 Hz (very slow).
- →Depth: 2 cents — barely audible, felt.
- →Phase: random per-note.
- →Target: pitch (both oscillators).
step 08
FX
Chorus to widen, hall to send it into the cathedral.
- →Chorus: 25% mix, rate 0.3 Hz — widen before any sidechain.
- →Hall Reverb: 40% mix, 3.5s decay — ceremonial space.
- →Order: chorus → hall (must be before sidechain chain).
step 09
MACROS
One-knob summary controls for live performance.
- →Macro 1 — 'Warmth': linked to filter cutoff + LFO depth.
- →Macro 2 — 'Bloom': linked to reverb size + chorus mix.
/ quick ref
/parameters
- Oscillator AWavetable · Analog BD · pos 14
- Oscillator BWavetable · Analog BD · pos 14
- SubSine · −12 dB
- Unison4 voices · detune 18%
- FilterLow Pass 24 · cutoff 64%
- Env 1Slow attack (1.2s) · long release (3s)
- LFO 1 → pitch0.25 Hz · depth 2¢ · phase random
- FX chainChorus 25% · Hall reverb 40%