Imagine Myst without the music. That's what we did. As crazy as it sounds, we initially imagined that Myst would be a world without music, without a soundtrack. More than anything, we wanted people to believe (kind of) that Myst was a real place. Since real places don't usually have soundtracks, we felt that Myst shouldn't have one either. It was all about "suspending disbelief," and it made perfect sense to us. We imagined Myst as a world where ambient sounds - the wind through the trees, or a machine slowly groaning - would be sufficient to set the mood. Just for kicks, we wrote a sample musical piece to prove to ourselves that music wouldn't work in an interactive world where the user was in control of the environment. We were surprised and excited by the results of that test - the music brought the world of Myst to life. But it was daunting... now, on top of everything else, we had to write an entire soundtrack. I went out and bought a synthesizer, and we already had some MIDI software. There were a lot of sleepless nights with headphones on. There was a lot of throwing music out, and starting over again. Lots of coffee. Lots of staring at pictures from Myst. Pretty soon we had all the music - and Myst became a different world. All the sounds on this CD are from one Proteus MPS Plus synthesizer, recorded (sequenced) in my basement and in Chris Brandkamp's garage. - Robyn Miller February, 1998 L I N K S Virgin's Riven Soundtrack Virgin Records homepage Robyn Miller's Land Of Point Cyan Ages of Myst The Riven Guild The Riven Journals RedOrb's Riven.com