He isn’t layering sounds. He is conducting effects . The Midnight City stems are a masterclass in resourcefulness. They prove that you don’t need a $50,000 analog synth or a studio full of session musicians. You need a child’s voice, a fake saxophone, and an obsessive understanding of compression and delay.

It is one of the most recognizable tracks of the 2010s. With its exploding saxophone riff, shimmering synth pads, and the unforgettable, pitch-shifted “wuh-oh” vocal hook, M83’s Midnight City is a textbook example of modern dream pop and synthwave.

In the isolated “lead synth” stem, the famous solo is clearly a preset from the Korg M1 synthesizer (the "Sax Breathy" patch). It is not a real instrument. It is a late-80s rompler sample of a saxophone, played on a keyboard with heavy pitch bend.