Jack Wall Explains the Synth-Driven Sound Behind Mass Effect’s Iconic Score

Jack, the composer behind Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 Wall has revealed the groundbreaking tools behind the series’ memorable soundtrack.

In a conversation about what makes Mass Effect’s music stand apart from other science-fiction and role-playing games, Wall explained that his strongest ideas often come from looking at visuals, since they guide the creative shape of a project.

As a composer, he views every game, TV series, and film as distinct and special. He said the imagery sparks his imagination, and those images feel like a wealth of ideas that shape the way he writes.

Wall said Mass Effect had a few defining traits that helped build its atmosphere:

• Sound
• Theme, meaning melody
• Vibe

He added that those elements were very specific to Mass Effect, while also noting that a composer could say something similar about any medium. For the first two games, he was drawn to Moog synths and other analog synths, along with orchestra, voices, select percussion, and layered arpeggiated synths placed over orchestral textures.

Wall also spoke about the ideas behind Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2’s main sound and themes, saying game director Casey Hudson wanted to blend 80s synth with quasi-orchestral music, which became the foundation of the franchise’s recognizable tone.

To achieve that sound, Wall said that for the first game, the team used analog-modeled plugins from Arturia and other companies, something that was unusual during development.

He remembered that, back then, it was genuinely revolutionary and greatly simplified the process of reload settings instantly when working on different versions of the same piece or reusing material for related cues later. Real Moog synths, he noted, are notoriously difficult to recall.

For Mass Effect 2, he used Wwise, or Wave Works Interactive Sound Engine, to bring the score into the game, calling it a game changer because that tool was not available for the first title.

Wall said he believes the way the music is heard in Mass Effect 2 is far better than in Mass Effect 1.