Retrowave Sounds and Presets for Serum and Cthulhu

With Retrowave for Xfer Records Serum & Cthulhu, we’ve put together a go-to resource for all things neon-drenched and nostalgic using the latest production techniques for a modern twist on a vintage theme. Featuring 60 Serum presets, 40 Cthulhu presets, loops, oneshots and MIDI files, this collection will have the creativity flowing the minute you start exploring.

We took inspiration from film and TV such as the soundtracks of John Carpenter, Blade Runner, Drive and contemporary artists including Com Truise, Trevor Something and The Midnight, as well as all manner of 80s Synth Pop, to bring you this genuine retro-flavoured production toolkit. Whether you work in genres such as Synthwave, Outrun, Chillwave, Cyberpunk or Cinematic, there’s plenty of material here for you to get that Retro-Future vibe grooving along nicely.

Each Serum preset comes fully loaded with 4 Macro controls, enabling you to tailor your sound on the fly and not distract from the production process too much. Featuring Basses, Chords, Leads, Pads and Plucks, you won’t be short on some incredible sounds for a while as the scope to tweak them is almost endless!

For the Cthulhu presets, we input some of our favourite chord progressions from back in the day as well as plenty of tasty contemporary ones across all 12 Major and Minor keys to get the ideas going instantly. Explore the progressions and mix them up to your liking, everything is in key so you don’t have to worry about any awkward notes disrupting your process! You’ll find triads, sixths, sevenths, ninths and other extended chords. We’ve taken care of the theory so you can take care of making the music.

We also included all diatonic Triads and Sevenths in multiple inversions across all 12 keys to serve as a handy reference and chord palette for any genre of music. There’s even some sweet Suspended chords in there for some added harmonic interest. For the true sonic explorers, check out our Mixtape Mixup presets where anything goes!

Finally, we bounced out a load of riffs and progressions that we put together using the Serum presets along with the MIDI files so you can tweak the notes or switch up the sound if desired for yet more creative potential. Not only that, we also included all of the loops, drum oneshots, and MIDIs from the demo created by production wizard Van Derand, named according to the Serum preset used for your reference.

Level up your next Retrowave production with this inspiring collection!

60 Serum Presets

12 Basses

12 Chords

12 Leads

12 Pads

12 Plucks

40 Cthulhu Presets

12 Major key chord progressions (around 8 per preset, optimised for 32 note keyboards)

12 Minor key chord progressions (around 8 per preset, optimised for 32 note keyboards)

12 Diatonic key templates featuring Triads and Sevenths in all inversions, Sus2 and Sus 4 chords

4 Mixed chord progressions (around 8 per preset, optimised for 32 note keyboards)

Wav Loops (Including MIDI)

24 Basslines

12 Chords

12 Leads

12 Pads

12 Plucks

Wav Oneshots

12 Basses

12 Chords

12 Leads

12 Pads

12 Plucks

Demo Sounds (Including MIDI)

11 Loops (Mastered and Unmastered Versions)

10 Drum oneshots (Mastered and Unmastered Versions)

9 MIDI files

1 Full demo track WAV

1 Full demo track MP3