How to Sound Like Daft Punk: Serum Tutorial (3 Song Examples)

In this tutorial we wanted to recreate the sound of one of our favorite bands of all time, Daft Punk. For as long as we can remember, they've been a huge inspiration for us, from their soundtrack for "Tron: Legacy" to the classic album Random Access Memories and the sampling on songs like "One More Time" and "Digital Love". From their huge catalog, we chose three songs that have influenced our production and sound design the most: "Derezzed", "Giorgio by Moroder" and "Veridis Quo".

Want this exact sound?

Every sound in this breakdown comes from the Nu Disco Pack. Load it up and recreate the full track in minutes.

20% off with code SP01

GET THE NU DISCO PACK

Or get all 38 packs (4,500+ presets) in the Serum Bundle for $59.90.

Want to learn the techniques behind it? Check out our Courses.

RELATED BREAKDOWNS

Derezzed: The Dirty Lead

To make the "Derezzed" lead sound, we use a Pulse wave in the sub-oscillator, a PMW Reso in oscillator "A" and a Saw wave in oscillator "B". All the oscillators go through the Formant II filter, and the cutoff and resonance are modulated by LFO 1 and LFO 2. LFO 3 is modulating the wavetable position of oscillator "A", and the filter is at around 50%.

But to get this sound right, we have to go to the FX tab. For that dirty sound, add distortion and turn it all the way up. The final touch is a phaser modulated by LFO 2, plus delay and reverb to taste.

Giorgio by Moroder: The Synth

Who doesn't love this song? What a great homage to one of the biggest icons of electronic music: having your own story told in a song made for you by Daft Punk.

First, we need a Pulse wave in the sub-oscillator, a Basic Mini in its first wavetable position in oscillator "A" and a Saw wave in oscillator "B". Each oscillator has 7 slightly detuned voices, and envelope 2 is modulating the filter cutoff.

In this preset the FX tab is also vital to the sound design. Drench the sound in a phaser and a flanger, modulate the phaser frequency with LFO 1, and add distortion to get that crunchy sound.

Veridis Quo: The Flute Lead

In this track we leave the electronic side behind and lean into the organic side of Daft Punk. That doesn't mean we can't recreate it in Serum, so let me show you how.

For the lead part we're recreating a flute sound, so we need a Sine wave in oscillator "A" and an Analog_BD_Sin in oscillator "B". As you may notice, oscillator "B" is only there to add some frequency modulation to oscillator "A", giving the sound more harmonics to work with. Use the filter to cut everything above 2.2 kHz, and add a little resonance at that frequency as well.

The other part of getting this sound right is envelope 1: the preset needs an attack of around 320 ms and a decay of 2.65 s. The last touch is a little modulation on the level of oscillator "A" with LFO 3.

Veridis Quo: The Organ

Now for the organ-type sound, we need a Sine wave in the sub-oscillator, an FFT_Add_2nds in oscillator "A" at wavetable position 30 and a Basic Mini in its second position in oscillator "B". The filter cutoff should be at 450 Hz and the resonance around 25%. Now go to your FX tab and add the Hyper Dimension effect at 50% to make it sound wider and bigger.