Serum is showing as an Effect in FL Studio

Why is Serum appearing as an effect instead of an instrument in FL Studio?

This issue happens when FL Studio misclassifies Serum during the plugin scan. It may occur due to an incorrect or incomplete plugin verification.

How do I fix this?

Follow these steps to properly rescan and classify Serum as a virtual instrument/Synth:

  1. Open FL Studio.

  2. Go to Options → Manage Plugins.

    Make sure "Verify Plugins" is on
  3. Enable Verify Plugins (this ensures FL Studio properly detects the plugin type).
  4. Select rescan previously verified plugins and click on Find installed plugins.
  5. Once the scan completes, search for Serum in the plugin list.

  6. Ensure Serum 2 appears with the "Synth" flag.

    You should have 2 entries, one for Serum 2 Synth and one for Serum 2 FX

What if Serum still appears as an effect?

Try removing Serum from the plugin database and rescanning again.

  • Make sure you have installed the latest version of Serum.
  • If the issue persists, reinstall Serum and perform another scan.

Can I manually change Serum to an instrument?

No, FL Studio determines plugin types automatically. A proper rescan with "Verify Plugins" enabled should fix the issue.