How to Install Serum 2 Skins (+ the Dark One I Built for Stranger Serum Synths)

Why a skin changes how you write

I used to think skins were cosmetic. Nice to have, zero impact on the music. Then I built one for my own pack and caught myself writing differently.

Here's what happens. You open Serum and it's not the familiar blue-grey anymore. Everything is dark red, cracked, a little rotten around the edges. Veins crawl in behind the wavetable display. The keys look like they've been sitting in a basement since 1984. And that, even if only indirectly, sets you in a different mood. For me, the mood made me write 80s scores instead of my usual Speed Garage and EDM projects.

I wrote more about where that 80s sound comes from in Stranger Things Music: How a TV Show Reignited the Love for 80s Synths. This post is the practical side: how to get a skin into Serum 2, how to make it stick, and why I made mine.

 

How to install a Serum 2 skin, step by step

Installing a skin takes about two minutes. You need Serum 2 version 2.1.0 or newer, because that's when Xfer added official skin colors via theme.json. On older versions you'll get the graphics but not the colors.

1. Unzip the skin. You should end up with one folder named after the skin. Inside it: a 1x folder, a 2x folder and usually a theme.json file.
2. Open your Serum 2 presets folder. The easiest way: in Serum 2, click MENU (top right) and choose Open Serum 2 Presets Folder. That always takes you to the right place, even if you moved the folder.
   
    
   If you'd rather go there directly, the default locations are:
   • Windows: C:\Users\[your name]\Documents\Xfer\Serum 2 Presets\Skins\
   • Mac: /Library/Audio/Presets/Xfer Records/Serum 2 Presets/Skins/
3. Copy the skin folder into Skins. Don't nest it twice. The path should end in Skins/[Skin Name]/1x, not Skins/[Skin Name]/[Skin Name]/1x. 
   
   
   
   
4. Rescan. Back in Serum, click MENU → Rescan Folders on Disk.
5. Select the skin. Click the SERUM 2 logo in the top left, go to Skins and pick your skin.
   
   
   
   

To switch back, pick Default in the same menu.

 

Make it your default skin

Out of the box, Serum 2 starts with the Default skin every time, so you'd have to pick your skin again in every new instance. You can change that in Serum's preferences file. It takes a minute:

1. Close your DAW and the Serum 2 standalone app, so Serum can't overwrite your change.
2. Open the file Serum2Prefs.json in a text editor (Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on Mac):
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Xfer\Serum 2\Serum2Prefs.json (paste %APPDATA% into the Explorer address bar and press Enter)
   • Mac: ~/Library/Preferences/Serum2Prefs.json (in Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G and paste the path)
3. Find the line "Default Skin": "Default", and replace Default with the exact name of your skin folder, for example "Default Skin": "STRANGER SERUM SYNTHS Skin",. Keep the quotes and the comma.
4. Save the file and open Serum 2. New instances now load your skin automatically.

The name has to match the folder in Skins letter for letter, including spaces and capital letters. If it doesn't, Serum simply falls back to Default.

Don't rename or delete the Default folder to force your skin. Every custom skin borrows any graphics it doesn't replace from Default, so removing it can leave holes in your skin, and Serum updates reinstall it anyway.

If something looks off:

• The skin doesn't show up: the folder is probably nested twice. Move it up one level.
• The graphics changed but the colors didn't: update Serum 2. Colors need 2.1.0 or newer.
• You're still seeing the old look: select another skin, then switch back, or reload the plugin. Serum caches the graphics.

One thing worth knowing: a skin can't change how Serum sounds or how presets load. Swapping skins is completely safe for your projects.

 

Behind the scenes: why I made the Stranger Serum Synths skin

This skin exists because people asked for it. After Stranger Serum Synths came out, the same question kept landing in my inbox: is there a skin that matches? There wasn't. So I built one.

The brief I gave myself was simple: red and black, properly dark, and it should look like the gear has been rotting somewhere it shouldn't be. Not a plain recolor. A recolor is the easy version, and you can tell instantly.

Every color got the same treatment. The wavetable and envelope curves glow blood red, the displays sit on near-black, and the text is a muted bone color instead of clean white. The panels are rusted and cracked, with dark veins running through them. Each FX module has its own shade of red, so you can still tell Reverb from Delay at a glance.

The hardest part was restraint, and it took a lot of versions to get there. The early ones had veins everywhere, and it looked cheap, ngl. The oscillators are where you actually work, so they stay calm and readable, with just a few veins creeping in behind the wavetable display. The heavier stuff lives on the splash screen, the FX rack and the mixer, where it sets the mood without getting in your way.

My favorite detail is the keyboard. The white keys are yellowed and dirty, like old ivory, every key has a red LED strip above it, and pressed keys glow red.

If you want the musical side of this aesthetic, I broke down the sound design in The Analog Heart of Stranger Things.

 

Get the skin with Stranger Serum Synths

The skin is made for one pack and ships with it. Stranger Serum Synths is 50 Serum 2 presets built for dark, nostalgic 80s sounds, the kind you hear in synthwave, film and game scores, chillout, lofi, melancholic pop and emotional EDM.

What's inside:

• 50 Serum 2 presets, each with an embedded melody clip, so you hear the idea the moment you load it
• 60 MIDI files (Full Edition)
• All macros assigned, on every preset
• 100% royalty-free

A few I keep coming back to: PL – Pure Evil, LD – Close the Gate, PD – Eleven and LD – Savior.

The pack comes in three editions: Full, Presets Only and MIDIs Only. The skin is included with the Full Edition.

Already own the pack? You don't need to do anything. Existing customers get the skin by email when Black Week starts.

Get Stranger Serum Synths + the skin →

Cheers!
-Timon/RAW GEMZ