This FL studio tutorial teaches how to reset mixer tracks and deleting plugins from mixer in FL Studio.

We also cover how to reset audio cable routing in FL Studio.

How to Delete Mixer Tracks in FL Studio
Reset Mixer Inserts Back to Default in FL Studio

What You Will Learn:

  • How to Delete Plugins from FL Studio Mixer
  • How to Reset Multiple Mixer Tracks in FL Studio (Groups)
  • How to Reset Mixer Channel Audio Cables in FL Studio
  • Reset FL Studio Mixer Insert Back to Default (Old School Way)

How to Delete Plugins from FL Studio Mixer

Removing effects in FL Studio is really easy!

First, you should know FL Studio 20+ added a delete button instead of the replace (none) option to delete plugins.

The old replace (none) method was a .fst file in the same location as your other plugins, and if you deleted replace (none) by accident, you wouldn’t be able to delete plugins, LOL! (FL Studio 20+ improved this with the delete option).

Note: delete is still an .fst file, but it’s now located in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\FL Studio 20\Data\System

So the user won’t accidently delete it now 🙂

First, here’s how to open the mixer in FL Studio.

Simply press F9, or click the mixer button in the FL Studio tool bar:

Open FL Studio Mixer with Keyboard Shortcut F9
Open FL Studio Mixer with Keyboard Shortcut F9

With the mixer open, here’s how to delete mixer plugins in FL Studio.

  1. LEFT-CLICK the mixer insert which has VST effects to be deleted.
  2. LEFT-CLICK the arrow ▸ beside the mixer slot plugin.
  3. In the menu, select Delete…

Note: Each mixer track can be called a “mixer insert” or “mixer channel”.

Delete Plugin from FL Studio Mixer - Step-by-Step
Delete Plugin from FL Studio Mixer – Step-by-Step

Once you click “Delete…”, a pop-up will appear..

I suggest NOT TO CLICK “Don’t show this in the future”.

It’s very useful to double confirm your plugin deletion!

Even though new FL Studio versions allow you to undo plugin deletions, previously if you deleted a plugin, it was gone, and the only way to bring it back was if you had a backed up .flp project (FL Studio Project)!

Confirm Plugin Deletion in FL Studio (Do not enable "Don't show this in the future")
Confirm Plugin Deletion in FL Studio
(Do not enable “Don’t show this in the future”)

That’s how to delete a single plugin in FL Studio’s mixer. You have to repeat these steps each time for deleting one plugin at a time.

What if you want to delete multiple plugins from the mixer in FL Studio?

How to Reset Multiple Mixer Tracks in FL Studio (Groups)

We delete multiple mixer tracks in FL Studio by first highlighting mixer inserts with CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT-CLICK. (Hold down to highlight. This is how to deselect multiple mixer tracks in FL Studio, too!)

With multiple FL Studio mixer tracks selected, RIGHT-CLICK a highlighted track, and choose “Reset selected track(s) to default”.

Delete multiple mixer channels in FL Studio
Delete multiple mixer channels in FL Studio

FL Studio resets colors, naming, and plugins on those inserts!

However… you’ll notice cable routing on the mixer tracks stay!

I’ll explain how to reset the mixer audio cables next, if you used subgroups and parallel processing for pro-level mixing!

Learn the FL Studio Mixer in my two courses:
FL Studio Mixer Workflow
10 Steps to Become an FL Studio Pro

How to Reset FL Studio Mixer Audio Cables

I’ll show two ways for how to reset mixer audio cables in FL Studio.

The first way resets all audio cable routing, whether a single mixer insert, or multiple mixer channels. (It’s very powerful/dangerous).

The second way is manually removing mixer insert cables. This works best if you have more complex stuff going on, like mixer sends.

First Way to Remove Mixer Cables:

First highlight multiple FL mixer tracks, RIGHT-CLICK a highlighted one, and choose “Reset selected track(s) routing”:

Reset FL Studio Mixer Track Audio Cable Routing
Reset FL Studio Mixer Track Audio Cable Routing

This destroys all audio cable routing, and puts the mixer insert routing back to default, which is routed to the MASTER.

Second Way – Manually Remove Audio Cables:

Here’s how to remove FL Studio mixer insert audio cables manually.

I show both adding and removing, as it’s good to know how to use the FL mixer good.

Please study this next image closely.

Route Audio Cables Manually in FL Studio
Route Audio Cables Manually in FL Studio

Blue arrow (Add Routing): First select a mixer insert, then click where the hand is (the up arrow).

Red arrow (Remove Routing): Click the little up arrow above the send knob!!

That’s how to reset mixer insert routing in FL Studio!

Let me show you one last way, then we cover common problems people run into when removing plugins in FL Studio.

Reset FL Studio Mixer Insert Back to Default (Old School Way)

The old school way of deleting mixer tracks and inserts in FL Studio was loading the default mixer preset.

Nowadays, using “Reset selected track(s) to default” is FASTER, and can be used on multiple mixer inserts! (The preset method can only reset one mixer insert at a time!).

Here’s how selecting default preset in FL Studio was done:

Select Default Preset in FL Studio Mixer
Select Default Preset in FL Studio Mixer
This resets the mixer insert, but not audio cable routing!

How to Reset Whole FL Studio Mixer:

If you want to reset the mixer in FL Studio, you have to ask yourself, what are you wanting to reset?

Do you want to reset the entire FL Studio mixer? Do you just want to reset an individual insert? Do you want to reset the audio cables?

We’ve covered all those.. except for how to reset the whole FL Studio mixer! (I don’t know why you’d want to, but here you go!):

Highlight all the mixer tracks, then follow the steps below:

Reset Entire FL Studio Mixer
Reset Entire FL Studio Mixer

Once highlighted, simply RIGHT-CLICK a highlighted track and go:

  • Reset selected track(s) to default
  • Reset selected track(s) routing

Common FL Studio Mixer Questions [FAQ]:

Before wrapping up, here’s common problems people run into with the FL Studio mixer.

Don’t forget about my FL Studio Mixer Course!

How to Delete Unused Mixer Tracks in FL Studio

FL Studio is not like other DAWs when it comes to the mixer at the moment. Right now, FL Studio has 125 Mixer inserts, and there’s no way to add or remove FL Studio mixer inserts.

So to answer the question, you can’t delete unused mixer inserts in FL Studio at the moment. You can just reset mixer tracks, or delete plugins as shown in this article.

I just read on their forums they may release dynamic mixer inserts so we can add/remove as we please.. that will be interesting.. right now I think FL Studio is great as is 🙂

But they explain having all mixer inserts is a bit of a performance hit, so that would be interesting to see the improved performance of removing unneeded mixer inserts!

Image-Line intends to give us more mixer inserts when FL Studio is ready!

FL Studio (none) file missing

The (none) file was used to delete plugins in older FL Studio versions.

There’s now the new “delete” option instead.

Sometimes people would delete the (none).fst and lose the ability to remove plugins!

They simply changed it to a delete.fst which is now located here instead (which has worked great):

C:\Program Files (x86)\FL Studio 20\Data\System

Note, there is no reason you need to go in that folder to touch it 😎

Wrap Up: FL Studio How to Delete from Mixer

I showed how to delete mixer plugins in FL Studio, how to reset a FL Studio mixer channel back to default, and even how to delete a group of mixer inserts at once!

We also covered removing mixer insert cables if you’ve connected to other mixer tracks in FL Studio!

Have questions? Leave a comment or email me directly!

Want to make pro beats? Take my FL Studio Courses!