Time has passed. We’re at the summer’s end. Yet, no erm, no ahm, no hubba-hubba for the Catasonic people that will play the game in the Shorter Days, Darker Nights ahead. So I’ll go.
I’ve reviewed my work regarding the ambience and theme for the game soundtrack. I’m willing to resume the task, since no one seems to pick up on the various contributions people have hyperlinked here. And I’ll be direct, I want to organize the whole bunch, and be able to share ideas with you guys. As you all know, your system uses your sound card via two means - a wave mapper for digital audio, and midi instruments for recording and playback. Anyone can plug in a mic, a guitar, or use a wave synthesizer of sorts to create music with various quality and genre. But MIDI is standardized. Depending on your sound card/driver, intensity and satisfactory elements may vary, but it’s pretty much the same on any platform, OS and speaker. You can create MIDI music with as little as some free software that utilizes the capacity of your hardware, and express what you feel in this game, the CataDDA.
So hi there, fellow CataDDAtor, friendly dev or an innocent bypasser. Can we mend pieces into whole? Do you have ideas of a kind, and can you compose them into a theme that describes what you think of while playing Cataclysm? Have you heard MIDI synthesisers in any of your favourite vintage games, and want to be able and show-off your vision in such a convenient way?
I want to make it fun and games, while remaining serious as much as there is consistency of the work that is being done - so I’d like to explain to you what are two-by-fours when I talk about them. 
Let’s assume we all know what EPs and singles are; well, when music was vinyl-flavoured, you had A-sides with all your favourite hits, and B-sides with demos, remixes and edits (and many more). Basically then (and sometimes nowadays) you could have the radio version of the song, and an insight on the progression of the artists’ work. In more than a few cases, you had three or four tracks on one side, and as many on the other; hence the 2x4 abbrevation of my own. I’ve noticed that I have 4 full songs, themes that I’d like to hear in this game - and I want to make four more, arranged somewhat differently, or picked up from a different point if you wish. They are, in order of their making:
A1
Nightermath
Savour Night (Silent Night, Holy Night theme)
Seam Toss
… and the buildups, which will follow as soon as I finish the edit of the existing trax.
I want to have at least 16 main songs in the soundtrack, which means there will be 8 themes, and an another 8 that will be more or less of a spinoff. Just to be clear, those variatons may prove to be even better, or more to the liking of some. At any point past that, I’d like to organize the work into more, and more two-by-fours. Basically, everyone with a computer and a keen ear can participate as long as we all follow the existing format - and that is, if you compose a piece, there must be a remix for the game also, and it might be someone else that can share his ideas on your theme if you don’t want to.
Now, for the time being (before creating a topic with everything said and done) I’d like to discuss it with you guys a bit more and see what do you reckon of it. I’ll make sure to post the first 2x4 as soon as I’m done, so we can listen to it and discuss it even more. A good thing is, then, I’ll be able to show you an example, which could (I hope) make it in the game.
So, criticize and debate away, 'cause the way I see it, this game deserves TRAX!
