How to Recreate OutRun & Other Arcade-era Sounds with Astra
OutRun is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It's known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and the hydraulic motion simulator deluxe arcade cabinet. The goal is to avoid traffic and reach one of five destinations. The game was designed by Yu Suzuki, who traveled to Europe to gain inspiration for the game's stages. Suzuki had a small team and only ten months to program the game, leaving him to do most of the work himself. The game was a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing large/dedicated arcade game of 1987 in Japan and America as well as Sega's most successful arcade cabinet of the 1980s.
Created by Splice, Astra is a classic synthesizer plugin and sound design tool that enables you to come up with high-quality sounds as quickly as possible. With Astra's Envelope Generators (EG), it’s never been easier to replicate classic bass synth patches found throughout Outrun tunes. You can emulate vintage Juno-60 basses by employing a subtle amount of Envelope Decay to the Cutoff Filter for pristine '80s vibes. With two oscillators featuring a vast array of waveforms, creating signature OutRun leads with Astra is a breeze. FM and Analog synthesis is the perfect combo to recreate arcade-era sounds—just be sure to change your voice settings to Monophonic, enable Astra's onboard "Glide" feature, and you're good to go. For extra rhythm and choppy chords, take full advantage of Astra's 32-step Note & Macro Sequencer for unique patterns and sequences. Download this pack
