diff --git a/include/DummyEffect.h b/include/DummyEffect.h
index a0777bde1..30d267cce 100644
--- a/include/DummyEffect.h
+++ b/include/DummyEffect.h
@@ -82,9 +82,10 @@ public:
 class DummyEffect : public Effect
 {
 public:
-	DummyEffect( Model * _parent ) :
+	DummyEffect( Model * _parent, const QDomElement& originalPluginData ) :
 		Effect( NULL, _parent, NULL ),
-		m_controls( this )
+		m_controls( this ),
+		m_originalPluginData( originalPluginData )
 	{
 	}
 
@@ -102,9 +103,16 @@ public:
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	const QDomElement& originalPluginData() const
+	{
+		return m_originalPluginData;
+	}
+
+
 
 private:
 	DummyEffectControls m_controls;
+	const QDomElement m_originalPluginData;
 
 } ;
 
diff --git a/src/core/Effect.cpp b/src/core/Effect.cpp
index 4917ef8fb..619ed438e 100644
--- a/src/core/Effect.cpp
+++ b/src/core/Effect.cpp
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
  * Effect.cpp - base-class for effects
  *
  * Copyright (c) 2006-2007 Danny McRae <khjklujn/at/users.sourceforge.net>
- * Copyright (c) 2006-2009 Tobias Doerffel <tobydox/at/users.sourceforge.net>
+ * Copyright (c) 2006-2014 Tobias Doerffel <tobydox/at/users.sourceforge.net>
  *
  * This file is part of Linux MultiMedia Studio - http://lmms.sourceforge.net
  *
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
  *
  */
 
-
 #include <QtXml/QDomElement>
 
 #include <cstdio>
@@ -31,8 +30,8 @@
 
 #include "Effect.h"
 #include "engine.h"
-#include "DummyEffect.h"
 #include "EffectChain.h"
+#include "EffectControls.h"
 #include "EffectView.h"
 
 
@@ -110,11 +109,11 @@ void Effect::loadSettings( const QDomElement & _this )
 
 
 
-Effect * Effect::instantiate( const QString & _plugin_name,
+Effect * Effect::instantiate( const QString& pluginName,
 				Model * _parent,
 				Descriptor::SubPluginFeatures::Key * _key )
 {
-	Plugin * p = Plugin::instantiate( _plugin_name, _parent, _key );
+	Plugin * p = Plugin::instantiate( pluginName, _parent, _key );
 	// check whether instantiated plugin is an effect
 	if( dynamic_cast<Effect *>( p ) != NULL )
 	{
@@ -124,9 +123,10 @@ Effect * Effect::instantiate( const QString & _plugin_name,
 		return effect;
 	}
 
-	// not quite... so delete plugin and return dummy effect
+	// not quite... so delete plugin and leave it up to the caller to instantiate a DummyEffect
 	delete p;
-	return new DummyEffect( _parent );
+
+	return NULL;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/core/EffectChain.cpp b/src/core/EffectChain.cpp
index 54ef54bc5..89e902866 100644
--- a/src/core/EffectChain.cpp
+++ b/src/core/EffectChain.cpp
@@ -56,12 +56,19 @@ void EffectChain::saveSettings( QDomDocument & _doc, QDomElement & _this )
 {
 	_this.setAttribute( "enabled", m_enabledModel.value() );
 	_this.setAttribute( "numofeffects", m_effects.count() );
-	for( EffectList::Iterator it = m_effects.begin(); 
-					it != m_effects.end(); it++ )
+
+	for( EffectList::Iterator it = m_effects.begin(); it != m_effects.end(); it++ )
 	{
-		QDomElement ef = ( *it )->saveState( _doc, _this );
-		ef.setAttribute( "name", ( *it )->descriptor()->name );
-		ef.appendChild( ( *it )->key().saveXML( _doc ) );
+		if( dynamic_cast<DummyEffect *>( *it ) )
+		{
+			_this.appendChild( dynamic_cast<DummyEffect *>( *it )->originalPluginData() );
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			QDomElement ef = ( *it )->saveState( _doc, _this );
+			ef.setAttribute( "name", ( *it )->descriptor()->name );
+			ef.appendChild( ( *it )->key().saveXML( _doc ) );
+		}
 	}
 }
 
@@ -82,26 +89,23 @@ void EffectChain::loadSettings( const QDomElement & _this )
 	{
 		if( node.isElement() && node.nodeName() == "effect" )
 		{
-			QDomElement cn = node.toElement();
-			const QString name = cn.attribute( "name" );
-			EffectKey key( cn.elementsByTagName( "key" ).
-							item( 0 ).toElement() );
-			Effect * e = Effect::instantiate( name, this, &key );
-			if( e->isOkay() )
+			QDomElement effectData = node.toElement();
+
+			const QString name = effectData.attribute( "name" );
+			EffectKey key( effectData.elementsByTagName( "key" ).item( 0 ).toElement() );
+
+			Effect* e = Effect::instantiate( name, this, &key );
+
+			if( e != NULL && e->isOkay() && e->nodeName() == node.nodeName() )
 			{
-				if( node.isElement() )
-				{
-					if( e->nodeName() == node.nodeName() )
-					{
-						e->restoreState( node.toElement() );
-					}
-				}
+				e->restoreState( effectData );
 			}
 			else
 			{
 				delete e;
-				e = new DummyEffect( parentModel() );
+				e = new DummyEffect( parentModel(), effectData );
 			}
+
 			m_effects.push_back( e );
 			++fx_loaded;
 		}