Remaking the lead synth from the 2009 song "Bag Raiders" by Shooting Stars can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Bag Raiders" 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
Bag Raiders’ 2009 hit “Shooting Stars” features a distinctive lead synthesizer sound that became central to the track’s infectious appeal and subsequent internet meme status. The nasal, organ-style lead melody, originally sampled from a Stylophone, creates the song’s most memorable hook with its lo-fi, compressed character that cuts through the mix with a distinctly retro electronic texture. Here we make a very close remake using FM synthesis and Filter Drive to that narrow nasal Stylophone sound. You can hear this characteristic lead melody prominently throughout the song, particularly during the main melodic sections that build the track’s hypnotic, upward-climbing progression.
Original Performing Instrument
Unknown
Our Remake of The Lead Synth
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the lead synth from the song "Bag Raiders" by Shooting Stars, 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 all 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.
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
- The Making Of – Shooting Stars (Luke Million Recreation) (YouTube)
- How to make the sounds from Bag Raiders ‘Shooting Stars’ with DRC and DLYM (YouTube)
- How to: Bag Raiders “Shooting Stars” Lead Synth in Serum (YouTube)
- Bag Raiders Interview – The Synthesizer Sympathizer
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
