How to Recreate Telepatia by Kali Uchis (Song Breakdown)

There’s something hypnotic about Kali Uchis’ “Telepatía,” the way her smooth, bilingual vocals float over that dreamy, lo-fi beat feels effortless yet meticulously designed. Released in 2020 on her album Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios), the song became a viral slow-burning hit, perfectly blending R&B, Bedroom Pop, and Latin Dreamwave into one lush, intimate soundscape. At the core of “telepatía” lies a delicate balance between softness and groove. The synths are warm and slightly detuned, the bass slides with that laid-back charm, and the drums are minimal but punchy, leaving plenty of space for the vocals to shine. Every element feels intentional, from the hazy pads that fill the stereo field to the subtle reverb tails that glue the mix together.

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This Serum patch, titled KY – Telepatía, recreates the dreamy, velvety texture that defines Kali Uchis’ sound in “telepatía.” The idea behind it is to build a tone that feels slightly hazy, something that fills the space without ever becoming harsh or bright. The sound begins with Oscillator A, set to a saw wave from Basic Shapes with three unison voices gently detuned to create a light shimmer. This oscillator forms the harmonic foundation and provides that glassy upper tone typical of airy synth pads. Oscillator B uses the ICanHasKick wavetable, also set to three voices, adding roundness and subtle movement in the low mids, giving the sound a smooth, organic motion. Beneath both oscillators sits the Sub Oscillator, routed directly out of the filter to maintain clean, solid low frequencies that warm the overall tone without clouding the mix. The patch runs through an MG Low 24 filter, a Moog-style low-pass that removes excess brightness and rounds out the sound, creating a gentle, analog-like smoothness. The drive on the filter introduces just enough warmth to make the patch feel rich, while the resonance remains low to keep the timbre. The behavior of the patch is shaped primarily by Envelope 1, which modulates multiple destinations, including oscillator levels, filter cutoff, and resonance. With a slightly slow attack around 175 milliseconds, it lets the sound fade in softly instead of hitting abruptly. The short decay and medium sustain keep the tone balanced and steady, while a release of just over 200 milliseconds ensures the tail drifts away naturally when notes are released.

This warm and smooth bass has just the right amount of pluck to sit perfectly under soft vocals and airy synths. The sound starts with Oscillator A, which uses the ICanHasKick wavetable pitched down an octave. This wavetable gives the bass that rich, rounded tone with a touch of grit that helps it cut through the mix without sounding aggressive. Oscillator B adds a simple saw wave from Basic Shapes, pitched two octaves lower to give it more body and weight. Together, they blend into a tone that feels full but still controlled. The Sub Oscillator is also active and routed directly out of the filter, reinforcing the low end with a pure sine wave that adds warmth and thickness to the overall sound. The heart of this patch lies in the filter section, which uses an MG Low 24 filter. The cutoff is set to remove everything above roughly 250 Hz, keeping the focus entirely on the low mids and sub frequencies. That cutoff isn’t static though; it’s modulated by Envelope 2, which has a quick decay and low sustain. This modulation makes the filter open and close rapidly with each note, creating that plucky, percussive character that gives the bass its groove. It’s a small movement, but it adds so much life and rhythm to the patch.

This piano-like preset has a gentle tone that works beautifully for R&B, Neo Soul, or chill pop tracks where you want something that feels organic but still polished. The sound starts with both Oscillator A and Oscillator B using the Analog_BD_Sin wavetable, which gives a clean and pure sine-based tone with a slight hint of warmth. Both oscillators are pitched an octave up, creating a bright and delicate timbre without harsh harmonics. Oscillator B uses a higher unison count with light detuning, giving the patch that lush, chorused texture that feels like multiple voices gently drifting in and out of tune, just like a vintage electric piano would. The tone is shaped by an MG Low 24 filter, which rolls off some of the higher frequencies and rounds out the sound, giving it that mellow, velvety finish. The filter’s cutoff is modulated by Envelope 1, which creates the dynamic movement that gives this patch its expressive quality. What really brings this patch to life is LFO 3, which is subtly modulating the fine-tuning of both oscillators. The modulation is very light, but it adds that beautiful, almost imperceptible movement to the sound, mimicking the natural pitch drift and instability of analog instruments. 

This pad is designed to work as a soft, atmospheric layer that sits just behind the main piano in the chorus. Its purpose isn’t to stand out on its own but to add depth, width, and warmth to the overall texture of the mix. It helps fill the space around the chords, making everything feel more cohesive and emotional without drawing attention away from the vocals. The sound starts with both Oscillator A and Oscillator B using the SawRounded wavetable, which creates a smoother, less buzzy saw wave. This gives the pad a rich, warm tone while keeping it soft enough to blend naturally with the mellow electric piano. Oscillator A uses six unison voices, and Oscillator B uses five, both lightly detuned to create a lush stereo spread. The subtle phase randomness adds gentle movement, giving the pad a natural, breathing quality. The filter section uses an MG Low 18 filter, which rolls off the higher frequencies just enough to remove any harshness, leaving behind a silky, dreamy tone. The filter cutoff is set moderately low, allowing only the mellow mids and smooth highs to pass through, creating a cloud-like texture that sits perfectly underneath the mix. The envelope settings are what give this patch its slow, evolving character. Envelope 1 has a soft attack of about 70 milliseconds, which prevents any sharp start to the sound, and a longer decay paired with a one-second release that lets the notes fade away smoothly. This means each chord gently swells in and out, blending beautifully with the main instrument layer instead of competing with it.

This Serum preset, called GT – Bedroom Lights, is a creative take on a sampled electric guitar, specifically modeled after the tone of a Stratocaster. Instead of relying on traditional guitar samples, it blends real recorded texture with wavetable synthesis to create something that feels organic but still sits perfectly in a polished, modern mix. The Noise Oscillator is doing something special here, it’s being used as a sampler, loaded with a one-shot recording of a Stratocaster pluck. The “OS_DP42” file provides that realistic transient attack and the subtle noise of a real string being hit, which instantly gives the patch a natural, tactile quality. It’s set to one-shot mode so that the sample plays from start to finish every time you press a key, recreating the authentic pick sound at the beginning of each note. Both Oscillator A and Oscillator B use that same one-shot sample, but as wavetables rather than direct audio playback. By turning the Stratocaster recording into a wavetable, Serum can now scan through the harmonic content of that real guitar tone, letting you shape and modulate it like a synth while keeping that organic feel. Each oscillator has multiple unison voices — eight on Oscillator A and five on Oscillator B — lightly detuned to give the sound width and richness, similar to how a guitar naturally spreads through space when played with chorus or amp reverb. LFO 1 is modulating the wavetable position on Oscillator A, which means it’s slowly moving through different slices of the Strat sample over time. This adds constant motion to the sound, making it shimmer and evolve, much like the natural dynamics of a guitar being strummed or slightly bent during a note. The filter section uses a CMB HL6 filter, which is a comb-style filter ideal for string-like tones. It creates resonant peaks that emphasize harmonic overtones, adding that subtle “pluck and twang” you expect from a real guitar. The cutoff and resonance are set so that the filter accentuates mid to high frequencies, giving the tone presence without making it harsh. Envelope 1 shapes the sound with a quick attack and a gradual decay, capturing that snappy onset and natural tail you hear when a string vibrates and fades out. The sustain is kept low, allowing each note to feel dynamic rather than static.

This preset is built to emulate a soft, synthetic string section that feels warm, cinematic, and slightly nostalgic. It’s designed to sit behind the main instruments and vocals, adding emotional depth and subtle motion without overpowering the mix. The tone starts with Oscillator A and Oscillator B, both using the Basic Shapes wavetable, set to saw waves an octave up. This gives the sound its classic string-like brightness and harmonic richness. Oscillator A uses six unison voices and Oscillator B uses thirteen, with light detuning between them to create a lush stereo spread. That gentle detune and phase variation are what make the sound feel alive, as if the “string section” were made of multiple players rather than a single voice. The filter section uses a Low 18 filter that softens the upper frequencies, making the sound smoother and more velvety. The filter cutoff is placed right where the harshness begins, leaving the mids warm and the highs silky. The drive and fat controls add a little analog-style saturation, which makes the tone thicker and rounder, giving it that cozy, film-like texture that blends beautifully in the background of a dreamy track like “telepatía.” Envelope 2 is doing most of the dynamic shaping, with a moderate attack and long decay that allow the sound to swell gently when you play a chord. The high sustain keeps the body of the sound full, while a soft release makes it fade out naturally. This behavior mimics how real strings bow and release over time, creating a continuous and emotional flow. The Chorus thickens the stereo field and smooths out any sharpness, while the Filter FX set to Reverb mode adds a subtle resonant space before the main effects. The Delay is set to a ping-pong configuration with slightly offset times between the left and right channels, which spreads the sound across the stereo image and adds that floating feel. Finally, a Hall Reverb ties everything together, giving the patch its big, airy character. The decay is set long enough to let notes blend into each other, creating a continuous bed of sound that feels like strings echoing in a large room.