How To Install Serum Presets
Xfer Serum is a great-sounding modulation powerhouse of a synth. To get the best out of it, many producers turn to tailor-made Serum presets, so we show you how to quickly load up your Serum preset banks for use in your productions.
Looking for new sounds to install? Browse our Serum presets: four packs that work in Serum 1 and 2.
How to install Serum presets, step by step
SOUND7 Serum packs come as a .zip holding individual .fxp presets plus an .fxb bank. The .fxp files are what you want for Serum's own browser. The .fxb holds the same sounds as one bank file, for DAWs that load banks through their own plugin menu.
- Unzip the download.
- Open Serum, click the menu and choose Show Serum Presets Folder. This opens the presets folder in Finder or Explorer, wherever it lives on your machine.
- Copy the pack's folder of .fxp files into the User folder inside Presets.
- Back in Serum, choose Rescan folders on disk from the menu, or just reopen the plugin.
- Open the preset browser and you'll find the pack under User.
Default Serum preset folders
- Mac: Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Presets/Xfer Records/Serum Presets/Presets/User
- Windows: Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets\Presets\User
Installing presets in Serum 2
Good news if you've upgraded: Xfer says Serum 1 presets are fully compatible with Serum 2 and show up in Serum 2's browser automatically. So if a pack is already installed in Serum 1, there's nothing more to do. If you've only got Serum 2 installed:
- Unzip the download.
- In Serum 2, open the main menu and choose the option to open the Serum 2 presets folder.
- Copy the folder of .fxp files into the User folder.
- Rescan from the menu, or close and reopen Serum 2, and the pack appears under User in the browser.
On Windows the Serum 2 user folder is Documents\Xfer\Serum 2 Presets\Presets\User. On a Mac it sits under Library/Audio/Presets/Xfer Records/Serum 2 Presets/Presets/User, and the menu route above is the quickest way to land in the right one. Bear in mind it only works one way: presets saved in Serum 2 won't load in Serum 1.
Looking to upgrade Serum with new sounds?
All our Serum packs work in Serum 1 and Serum 2, are royalty free and download instantly. We don't sell Serum itself; you'll need to get that from Xfer Records.
Serum - Future Trance Vol.1: 64 modern trance presets
Serum - Future Trance Vol.2: more trance plucks, pads and leads
Serum - Explorations Vol.1: ambient and sci-fi sounds
Serum - Neuromorph Vol.1: drum and bass, from Sub Focus-style basses to dark atmospheres