Product Description

Studio: Cerebellum Corporation Release Date: 04/27/2004 Run time: 75 minutes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11930 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 75 minutes

Amazon.com
Watching Animusic is like being mesmerized by the world's most elaborate Rube Goldberg devices: You're so astonished by their ingenuity that you can't look away. This "computer animation video album" is the brainchild of Wayne Lytle, a progressive-rock keyboardist and 1988 graduate of Cornell University's Program of Computer Graphics. Modifying techniques originally applied to the visualization of scientific data, Lytle partnered with graphic artist and 3D modeler Dave Crognale to create elaborate virtual stage sets and imaginary musical instruments that are driven via MIDI interface to virtually "play" the music that Lytle has composed for them. "The music drives the instruments," explains Lytle in his engaging DVD commentary, "and not the other way around." Using proprietary software called MIDImotion™, Lytle and Crognale have invented self-playing musical instruments that exist in a magical realm of musical and mathematical precision, perfectly synchronized to the kind of fully-synthesized prog-rock that Lytle obviously enjoys (and if you're a fan of Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman, you will, too). It's the kind of audiovisual bombast that appeals to some more than others (and there's something oddly impersonal about removing humans from the performance of music), but Animusic is so intricately clever that anyone can be captivated by the meticulous novelty of these beautifully engineered musical marvels.

Take, for example, the most popular track, "Pipe Dream," in which thousands of animated balls take on a life of their own, popping out of an intricate system of pipes and barrels and bouncing, with percussive precision, onto all varieties of strings, drums, xylophones, timbales, cowbells... it's just hypnotically amazing. The same holds true for all of these videos, and while the colorful 3D rendering of Animusic (first released in 2001) is no longer state-of-the-art, the underlying mechanics remain timelessly appealing. For this special edition DVD released in 2004, Lytle opens his toy-box to reveal the creative process of Animusic from conceptual drawings to final 3D rendering. There's also a "solo-cam" function allowing viewers to switch angular focus from one instrument to another, along with animated set-construction demonstrations to show how everything fits together in the realm of Animusic. The 5.1-channel surround mix makes Animusic a perfect demonstration disc for high-end video systems (this is nothing if not a geek's delight), and Lytle's first animation (from 1996) is included along with a sneak-peek at Animusic 2, the follow-up DVD released in 2005. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Animusical Nirvana
I was first made aware of this DVD from a video clip on PBS. It is an excellent program, at least on the same par as the "Mind's Eye" computer animation series, with the usual technical advances in the art since "Mind's Eye" was produced.

The quality is excellent, both visually and aurally. I always thought that computer animation and music could be successfully integrated in some way, and "Animusic" is the successful result. Unlike other computer animation subjects, where the music drives or complements the action, in "Animusic," the music IS the action.

The viewer is transported to a futuristic concert where the musician is a complex, sophisticated computer able to weave many intricate melodies and harmonies at once, playing instruments that are very futuristic -- laser-beam-controlled guitars, a four-handed drum kit, violins that seem to play themselves, string and metal harps played by flying balls, huge clockwork drum kits, high-voltage musical transformers, and other fantasic, out-of-this-world musical instruments of the sort that one might find only in a science fiction novel.

It is easy to see how one can be drawn into the different musical settings and be mesmerized by the music and the visual surroundings. In addition, this DVD has various "angles" available on each track that allow the viewer to watch a separate instrument as it is played or sits idle over the course of the selection.

This DVD is a very good starting point for those who have never before experienced computer animation firsthand. The producers have done a splendid job on "Animusic" by making the music literally come alive.

There are seven selections on this DVD:
1. Future Retro
2. Stick Figures
3. Aqua Harp
4. Drum Machine
5. Pipe Dream
6. Acoustic Curves
7. Harmonic Voltage

Each selection conveys a different mood, using unique instruments and realistic backgrounds. My personal favorites are 1, 5 and 7.

I am very impressed with "Animusic." I await, with great anticipation, the release of "Animusic 2" later this Fall.

Kudos to Wayne Lytle!

Novel and Captivating
This is very different and very cool! Really good, easy listening, slightly technopop music that appears to be played by fantastic music equipment sans human musicians. All seven vignettes are several minutes long and each one is completely unique from the others. There is something continously interesting for the eye. It's like studying an item from the Museum of Unworkable Devices. It's fascinating trying to decipher how it is so perfectly synchronized.

The music is gravitating
I work in retail and they have the Animusic DVD on demo and as soon as the customers see or hear the DVD they gravitate towards the musical display. By the way as soon as it was displayed on demo the DVD sales have been amazing. Just goes to show you as soon as someone hears it they have to buy it. I like the whole DVD but my favorites are the 1st and last tracks.