Serum Sound Design: Recreating Metro Boomin & Travis Scott Dark Synths

The Dark, Cinematic Trap Soundscape

From Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains to Travis Scott’s UTOPIA, modern cinematic trap relies on eerie, detuned analog synthesizers paired with heavy 808s and crisp drum transient chains.

Here is how to design that signature dark synth lead and pad patch in Xfer Serum or Vital from scratch.

Step 1: Dual Saw Oscillators with Pitch Drift

• Oscillator A: Select Default Saw wave. Set Unison to 7 voices, Detune to 0.08, and Blend to 75%.
• Oscillator B: Select Vintage Square / Pulse wave. Pitch it down -12 semitones (1 Octave). Set Unison to 5 voices with Detune at 0.05.
• Sub Oscillator: Activate Sine wave routed directly to Direct-Out for pure low-mid weight.

Step 2: Low-Pass Filter with Modulated Cutoff

Route both oscillators through the MG Low 24 analog filter. Set the Cutoff to 1.1kHz with 15% Resonance and 25% Drive.

Assign LFO 1 (set to 1/2 bar triangle wave at 0.4Hz) to subtly sweep the Cutoff up and down by +12 for breathing movement.

Step 3: Tape Flutter & Pitch Modulation (Analog Vintage Vibe)

In Serum’s Matrix or FX tab, apply a subtle Pitch Vibrato (Rate 4.5Hz, Depth 8 cents) to replicate the subtle mechanical tape wobble of a vintage Roland Juno or Mellotron tape head.

Step 4: Dimension Expander & Sidechained Reverb

Add Serum’s built-in Hyper / Dimension (Size 30%, Mix 20%) for stereo width without phase collapse, followed by the Hall Reverb (Decay 4.2s, High Cut 4.5kHz, Mix 35%).