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The mechanical response of a servo-hydraulic testing system is affected by the stiffness of test specimens. An adaptive controller helps in auto-tuning the system by setting the optimal proportional-integral-derivative values for the subsequent test as the stiffness changes. This paper presents the effect of auto-tuning of various channels on the flow response of several commercial Al and Mg alloys and a mild steel. Strain-controlled monotonic tensile tests were performed at a given strain rate of 1 × 10^−4 s^−1 after auto-tuning of position, load, and strain channels in different combinations. Serrated flow or Portevin−Le Chatelier effect was observed in the Al alloys after auto-tuning of either position channel only or position and load channels. However, the serrations of Al alloys were shielded after further auto-tuning of strain channel. The stress-strain curves of Mg alloys and mild steel were observed to be basically free of serrations under any combinations of auto-tuning, which confirms that the serrated flow is a property of specific materials rather than a machine system noise.