Composer Mara Ellison wrote the Star Jolt OST in a Fitzroy garage studio over eleven months, scoring the game the way 80s arcade cabinets were scored: music as signal, not wallpaper.

Tempo tracks your throttle

The OST runs at a locked 128 BPM during play, but the arrangement breathes. Layered stems drop in as your multiplier climbs, so a MAX JOLT run literally sounds bigger than a cautious lap. Players feel the difference before they notice the meter.

The engine hum is a pitch cue

The most functional sound in the game is the engine. Its pitch sweeps a full tone as the slingshot release window opens, which is why top players play with sound on. The cue fires 40 milliseconds before the visual flash.

"If the player can hear the combo before they see it, the mix is doing its job."

Mara Ellison, composer

Why FM synthesis

Ellison wrote most of the bass on a Yamaha DX7 because FM aliasing sits naturally inside a space arcade mix. The lead lines are Juno pads run through a spring reverb tank, recorded hot enough to clip the converters slightly.

The quiet track

Track 9, 'Cold Orbit', plays only on game-over screens after a personal best. It is the slowest piece on the album and the one most streamed standalone.

Licensing the OST for your own work

The full album is cleared for creator and studio use through the sync licence. Fourteen tracks plus stems ship in the pack, and ContentID is pre-cleared for named channels.