The Serum Preset Field Guide: 12 Sound Types, 12 Ways to Use Them in a Dance Track

If you make dance music in Serum, you probably have thousands of presets and no system for them. You scroll, audition, load something that nearly works, and lose an hour. The sounds aren't the problem. The problem is not knowing which type of sound a track needs, when to reach for it, and how to bend it to fit your project. This guide is a curated resource list of twelve entries. Each one is a preset category or workflow that comes straight from how Sam Smyers builds his own collections: basses, leads, pads, stabs, and synths, each with its matching MIDI loaded in Serum's clip module and eight macros set up for quick customization. Every entry explains what the sound is, when it earns a place in a track, why it works, and how to adjust it with macros instead of rebuilding it from scratch. You will finish with a clear mental map of which sound to grab for minimal deep techno, indie dance, and tech house. You will also have a repeatable process for auditioning presets with MIDI, tweaking macros, and pairing a bass with sidechain compression so it sits properly under a kick. Sam is a Los Angeles producer and sound designer who has released multiple Serum collections, including Minimal Deep Tech Vol. 1, Indie Dance Vol. 1, and a Tech House series. One of his basses, Base Fricka, started life in a remix he made. Julian Jordan later used it in his Martin Garrix and Afrojack remix. Sam knows what makes a preset hold up in a real record, because he builds his presets that way. This is for producers who already know the basics of Serum and want to work faster and make better choices.