Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene 4 | Lead Synth Patch Remake

Remaking the lead synth from the 1976 song "Oxygene 4" by Jean Michel Jarre can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Oxygene 4" lead patch and play this iconic sound on most hardware or software subtractive synthesizers (Serum, Vital, Pigments, Prophet, Korg, Moog, etc). We've included the preset download directly for your convenience, but we strongly recommend you use our programming tutorial to recreate it yourself.

Original Audio

That small, quirky lead in Jean‑Michel Jarre’s “Oxygène (Part IV)” enters at about 1:30. Its timbre is a pulse wave pushed through a flanger for a thin, metallic chorus; a high‑pass filter removes low end to give the part its ‘small’ character while a filter envelope creates the attack transient.

Original Performing Instrument

RMI Harmonic Synthesizer

Our Remake of The Lead Synth sound

This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the lead synth from the song "Oxygene 4" by Jean Michel Jarre, giving you a reference point as you design your own synthesizer preset. Play it as often as you need to familiarize yourself with the nuances of the sound.

Synth Patch Programming Recipe

Getting Started

• Start by initializing your synthesizer to a plain saw with no filter, modulation or effects. For soft synths use the "init"/"default" preset or the the button to reset allx parameters to their default factory values.
• No two synths are exactly alike, so treat the values below as approximate, and use your ear.
• Percentage values (e.g. 50%) represent the relative position of a knob or slider within its full range. The full range of each parameter may differ from synth to synth, so use your ear.

Voices

• Voice Mode: Mono

Oscillator Setup

Oscillator 1

• Mix: 71%
• Wavetable: Basic Shapes
• Wave Frame: Medium Pulse (position 214)
• Routing: Filter 1
• Unison Voices: 3
• Unison Detune: 11%
• Unison Stereo Spread: 50%
• Morph:
• Wave Morph Amount: 24%
• Wave Morph Type: Pulse

Filter Settings

Filter 1

• Model: Analog
• Style: 12dB Slope
• Blend: High Pass (2)
• Cutoff: 77% (2492.925 Hz)
• Resonance: 76%
• Modulations:
• Env 2 → Cutoff

Envelope Settings

Envelope 1 (Amp)

• Attack: 0 ms
• Sustain: 100%
• Release: 1.59 s

Envelope 2

• Attack: 0 ms
• Decay: 78 ms
• Sustain: 0%
• Release: 90 ms
• Routed to:
• Filter 1 Cutoff (28%)

Effects Processing (Ordered)

Flanger

• Mix: Default (50%)
• Center: Default (329.6 Hz)
• Feedback: Default (50%)
• Depth: Default (50%)
• Phase Offset: 0
• Sync: Default (Tempo)
• Tempo: 1/4

Modulation Matrix

• Envelope 2 → Filter 1 Cutoff 28%

Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.

Explore More

• Oxygène (Wikipedia)
• Jean‑Michel Jarre: 30 Years Of Oxygène (Sound On Sound)
• JPS Harmonic Synthesizer — The Sound Of Jarre’s ‘Oxygène’ (Synthtopia)
• World’s First Digital Synth Revived For Reason (SonicState)
• Oxygène IV Live on the JPS Harmonic Synthesizer and Combo 310U (YouTube)

Preset Downloads

Don't want to learn synth programming now? Use our synth preset as your starting point and tweak it from there. Register an account with Audible Genius and download the presets for free for the following synths:

• Vital

Comments

This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?