Animusic

Compilations

As of 2017, three video albums have been released:

All Animusic DVDs are set to Region 0, meaning they are playable in all DVD players worldwide.

Animusic was released in 2001 on VHS, and later DVD, with a special edition DVD being released later, in 2004. This special edition included extra material, such as Animusic's first animation, "Beyond the Walls". A second album, Animusic 2, was released in the United States in 2005. Later, in 2008, this volume was released in Japan through a distribution deal with Japanese company Jorudan, Co. Ltd. In a company newsletter, it was announced that the Animusic company would also be producing a high-definition version of Animusic 2 on Blu-ray, to be released sometime before their third major album, Animusic 3. This HD compilation was eventually released in November 2010, featuring all of the animations featured in Animusic 2, as well as the animation "Pipe Dream" from Animusic encoded at a high bitrate. In a later newsletter, the working titles of three animations in Animusic 3, “Sonic Warfare”, “Paddle Ball” and “Super Pipe Dream”, were revealed. In 2012, they successfully launched and funded a Kickstarter for Animusic 3. They are yet to complete it; however, a sequel of sorts in "The Sound of Twelve" was released in March 2015, made using similar harmonics with Animusic.

Publicity

Animusic has been promoted at SIGGRAPH since 1990, and has been promoted on Public Broadcasting Service and other television networks such as CNN. Wayne Lytle and his works have also been featured on Fox News and over 30 other local stations in January 2007. Animusic's "Pipe Dream" was released as a real-time demo for ATI's Radeon 9700 series graphics cards. Animusic also rendered "Resonant Chamber" and "Starship Groove" in HD resolution for Apple's QuickTime HD Gallery. A popular tourist destination located in Fredericksburg, Texas, the Rockbox Theater, often plays the Animusic DVDs either before shows or during intermission.

There was an internet rumor that suggested that the "Pipe Dream" video was actually a machine created at the University of Iowa from farm machinery parts. Although this has been proven false, the rumor is still considered "pretty amusing" to the Animusic staff. Intel later commissioned a version of the machine to be built which was demonstrated at IDF 2011.

Software programs

According to the company's FAQ, animation is created procedurally with their own proprietary MIDImotion engine. Discreet 3D Studio Max was used for modeling, lighting, cameras, and rendering. Maps were painted with Corel Painter, Deep Paint 3D, and Photoshop. They have also created their own software called ANIMUSIC|studio that is based on scene-graph technology. According to an August 2015 newsletter, Animusic started using Unreal Engine 4 for rendering.

Animations

More Bells And Whistles

(Main Article: More Bells and Whistles (computer animation))

1. Instruments
2. Percussion, including:
3. A marimba
4. Four wood blocks
5. Four cowbells
6. Five drum synthesizer pads
7. Two "light tower" cymbals
8. A two-part acoustic drum kit (one has a snare and 8 toms, and the other has a bass drum and a hi-hat)
9. A set of pan flutes
10. A circular vibraphone fountain
11. 3 church bells
12. Eleven bulb shaped "wow"-effect bass synthesizers
13. Pink electric guitar laser

Beyond The Walls/Concerto In 3D (stereoscopic version)

1. Instruments
2. Bubble Machine
3. Gong (with Chinese writing)
4. Two Trumpets
5. Tuba
6. Clash cymbal
7. Three-part Drum kit with wheels and arms: first a bass drum and a hi-hat, second a snare drum and a cowbell, third a crash cymbal
8. Blue bass Synthesizer
9. Four red Sawtooth wave lasers
10. Yellow lead laser
11. Eight airplane tom-tom drums and a helicopter clash cymbal
12. Synthesizer bass blue laser chorus
13. Synthesizer treble green laser chorus
14. Pyrotechnics
15. This animation starts with a musical bubble machine on the wall. It blows different sizes of purple bubbles and it shows that the biggest bubble has the lowest pitch and the smallest bubble has the highest pitch. Next, the gong rings twice and the harmonious trumpets and tuba play the fanfare with vertical clash cymbals striking four times. Then, the bass drum with a hi-hat on top of, big wheel below and two arms attached to it comes out of the door with a yellow star on it and begins to play. A two-armed snare drum with a cowbell on top and a medium wheel below comes out of its doors and joins its bass drum friend for a beat. As the walls begin to open, their one-armed friend the crash cymbal joins in as well and the percussion instruments get in their positions in front of the musical light/laser machine that first plays the bass lights with all the lasers joining in with harmony. A group of these instruments continue playing as they move towards the doors and the yellow laser, along with one of the red ones, opens the doors with all the airplane tom-toms and the helicopter clash cymbals taking off for the percussive solo pattern. The flying percussion instruments move aside as the choir lasers solve the puzzle to open the ship's doors and for the grand finale, as the white fireworks pop up, all the moving instruments fly into the starry sky far away.

Animusic: A Computer Animation Video Album

Track listing:

1. Future Retro (4:45)
2. BPM=112
3. Instruments in the order they're presented:
4. Three-Necked Electric Guitar – a combination of a
5. 2-stringed bass guitar
6. Synth Bass pulse ring
7. Blue bass lasers
8. Pan Flute
9. 3-stringed electric jazz guitar
10. 4-stringed electric guitar (overdriven)
11. Green power chord laser
12. Percussion instrument including a drum kit, vibraphone and gong
13. Four Red synth Sawtooth Lead Lasers
14. Blue Chorus Beams
15. The robotic drummer (surrounded by a percussion set) has four arms and one bass drum mallet foot; two of the arms hold 2B Drum sticks while the other two hold the vibraphone mallets. The Three-Necked Electric Guitar has metallic fingers that pluck the strings of the electric bass, and a metallic arm that strums the strings of the lead and rhythm guitars in both plucked and arpeggiated styles. As a whole instrument, the body is colored green and sports various plugs and lights. There are also giant loudspeakers in the background, connected to the electronic instruments, with VU displays that light up when the instruments are played.
16. Stick Figures (5:23)
17. BPM=188
18. Instruments in the order they're presented:
19. Hammered one string fretless chapman stick (known as "Mr. Stick")
20. Percussion instruments, including a Drum Kit, triangle, Slapstick, Gong, and Metallophone
21. Trumpet and baritone horn tower
22. Sawtooth Lead red synth laser (this part takes up most of the music in this animation)
23. 3-stringed acoustic guitar
24. Pan Flute
25. Vibraphone
26. Backup Sawtooth pink synth laser (acts as the "echo" to the red laser)
27. Cello (fretless; one string is a plucked acoustic and the other is a bowed string)
28. Three 1-stringed Violins
29. This is the most famous Animusic animation. It's also seen on the cover. In this animation, "Mr. Stick" (aka "Mr. Bass Man") the instrument, the 3-stringed acoustic guitar, the double bass, and the violins all have "arms" (fingers for the guitar) which they use to play themselves.
30. Aqua Harp (3:47)
31. BPM=87
32. Instruments in the order they're presented:
33. 26-stringed Harp
34. Pan Flute
35. Tubular Bells
36. 1-stringed Cello
37. 1-stringed Violin
38. The room in which this animation takes place is completely enclosed. Its ceiling is painted a dark blue or black with a crescent moon and stars that appear to glow. The room is filled with about one foot of water in which the harp sits right in the middle. Between instrumental refrains, the lighting changes between warm-toned lamps on the wall and cool-toned, blue-ish underwater lights. All of the instruments are connected to the harp.
39. In the background, water gently ripples throughout the piece. Some lights are set on top of the wooden columns.
40. Drum Machine (3:22)
41. BPM=120, 185
42. Instruments in the order they're presented: (various gear-driven percussion devices)
43. Background gear-grinding noises (synced to the tempo of the music)
44. A drum kit with hi-hats, a snare drum, a bass kick drum, a small crash cymbal, a cowbell, and a large crash cymbal
45. Twelve toms in a 3x4 arrangement (the largest four are presented near the beginning of the video; the next smaller four along with the first four are shown near the middle, and all twelve are shown at the end)
46. A second drum kit with four timbales, four timpani, four wood blocks, a vibraslap and two agogô bells
47. A third kit with three church bells approximating B♭, E♭ and C, and two tamtams
48. Like machines in the factory, the gears rotate automatically to play the percussion instruments. As the drum kit keeps playing, two more kits descend with the control of the chains. At the end of the performance, the gears stop moving.
49. Pipe Dream (3:28)
50. BPM=147
51. Instruments in the order they're presented:
52. Bass/Bongo double instrument
53. Banjo/Bongo double instrument
54. Percussion, including:
55. A drum kit
56. A circular vibraphone fountain
57. Tubular bells
58. A Slide-bar Marimba
59. This performance begins with the ball firing testing on the bass/bongo double instrument. The vibraphone fountain and the tubular bells appear to be made of gold.
60. This video is the second most famous Animusic animation, partially in thanks to an email hoax stating that the set was a real machine built at the University of Iowa using farm equipment. The hoax mail also said that it took 13,000 hours to make the performance (equivalent to about a year and a half), including building, calibrating, etc.
61. In 2012, Intel made a real version with 2,300 balls, taking 90 days.
62. Acoustic Curves (5:36)
63. BPM=120-180, 112, 108
64. Instruments in the order they're presented:
65. Acoustic guitar (strummed)
66. Hammered dulcimer
67. Bass Guitar (strummed and hammered)
68. Drum kit, including a snare, bass drum, cymbals, and toms
69. Vibraphone
70. Tubular bells
71. In the beginning of this animation, the instruments are introduced one at a time, coming from either the ceiling or the abyss floor, and disappear at the end. They seem to play automatically.
72. Harmonic Voltage (5:58)
73. BPM=114
74. Instruments in the order they're presented:
75. Background synth strings (emitted from plasma wisp)
76. Red synth tower laser (beginning in purple, then interchanging into pink and red between pro-chorus [pink] and true chorus [red])
77. Percussion instruments, with 2 cymbals, a hi-hat, a bass drum, 4 tom-toms, 3 hexagon-shaped electronic drums, and 2 electronic bongos
78. Taurus Bass Pedals with bass chorus
79. Green Slide Circles
80. Green electric guitar (overdriven) laser
81. Flash Yellow pulse
82. Bass synth in the "tower" (Changes to a Bass Guitar when transitioning into the credits)
83. Four sawtooth light
84. This animation's lead instrument is an electronic laser conducted by a tower. Curiously, in this animation, the electronic drums seem to be supported entirely by wires, which act like springs when these drums are struck.

Animusic audio CD bonus tracks

There were also 3 other music pieces only available on the Animusic audio CD.

1. Seventh Alloy (4:27) (Click here to hear a sample)
2. Instruments
3. Electric Guitar (overdriven)
4. Percussion with Drum Kit/Gong
5. Bass guitar
6. Synth Chorus
7. Synth Sawtooth Lead Laser
8. Tubular Bells
9. Calliope
10. A Slight Delay (6:07) (Click here to hear a sample)
11. Instruments
12. Marimba
13. Mute Guitar
14. Bass guitar (finger, pick and slap)
15. Drum Kit
16. Percussion with a cowbell and cabasa
17. Lead Synth with 2 backups
18. Reed organ
19. Rock Organ
20. Harmonica
21. Lute
22. Tuba
23. Electric Guitar
24. The Harvester (5:40) (Click here to hear a sample)
25. Instruments
26. Cellos
27. Electric Guitar
28. Acoustic Guitar
29. Percussion
30. Trumpets
31. Bass guitar
32. Synth Sawtooth Lead Laser
33. Harpsichord

Since they were never animated, it is difficult to determine the shapes of the instruments, although they may strongly resemble many seen in the two Animusic albums.

Animusic 2: A New Computer Animation Video Album

Track listing:

1. Starship Groove
2. BPM=111
3. Instruments in the order they're presented:
4. Blue bass synth
5. Two blinking light towers, notating the 7/4 (odd-meter) time signature
6. Two-player drum kit
7. Red lead synth
8. Two low-pitched power chord accent flashes
9. Yellow plucked synth
10. Two high-pitched power chord accent flashes
11. Most of these instruments are played by the five starship robots. While they perform, the starship travels steadily through space. In the commentary, Wayne Lytle states that the robot that plays the red lead synth pad set looks like a female. "She" is also capable of actions and body language.
12. The spaceship whirs throughout the piece, although not heard during the music itself, but at the beginning and end.
13. Pogo Sticks
14. BPM=110
15. Instruments in the order they're presented:
16. Two hammered chapman stick (one lead, one backup)
17. Hammered bass guitar (an updated version from 'Stick Figures'; the bass now has two strings plus the small wheels and is in motion)
18. A two-part drum kit, including:
19. 3 bass drums and a snare drum
20. 2 cymbals, 3 hi-hats and a cowbell
21. Two xylophones
22. Marimba
23. Metallophone
24. It has been revealed that the stick bass has "cousins," which are the hammered guitars. His "friends" are the drum kit playing sticks and the two stick xylophones, one as a marimba and another as a metallophone. They also have green lights that glow when they go through tunnels. Throughout the performance, they travel around the wooden course at sunset, stopping at stages intermittently.
25. This animation has actually been evolved from the "Stick Figures" animation from the first Animusic. On the stills seen on the DVD, it is revealed that the instruments are actually the original stick bass, with appropriate changes. The "Stick Figures" stage was copied several times and appears as the stages the band stops on.
26. Resonant Chamber
27. BPM=120, 155,180
28. Instruments in the order they're presented:
29. Eight-stringed Classical guitar
30. Koto
31. Two-string bass guitar
32. Four-stringed tapping Guitar
33. Two-string Guitar
34. Three-stringed mandolin
35. Across the circle-shaped resonator are the strings of the classical guitar and a bass guitar which cross each other.
36. In this animation, it can be noted that there is only one dark sky with four windows and four different moons. One of them is the thick crescent moon, another is the full moon, third is the waning gibbous and the last one is the thin crescent moon. Inside the room, there are four lanterns already lit up.
37. Cathedral Pictures (based on selections from the 1971 Emerson, Lake & Palmer adaptation of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky)
38. Instruments in the order they're presented:
39. Trumpet
40. Percussion instrument, including a drum kit and gongs
41. Pipe Organ
42. One-string Bass guitar
43. Harpsichord (hammered string)
44. Light-emitting Clarinet
45. Large Marimba
46. Tuba
47. Pipe organ expression louvres (synthesized tone)
48. Lime Electric arc sound (synthesized tone) Laser
49. Light-emitting Flute
50. Pyrotechnics
51. This animation performance plays a medley of three selected tunes written by Mussorgsky in Lytle's arrangement. They are "Promenade", "Hut of Baba-Yaga" and "The Great Gate of Kiev". In front of the robotic drummer is a drum kit with two bass drums. It also demonstrates a drumroll on the snare drum in transmission from the "Hut of Baba Yaga" to the "Great Gate of Kiev".
52. Pipe Dream 2
53. BPM=140
54. Instruments in the order they're presented: (the set is used in Pipe Dream in the first Animusic, but is aged and dented here)
55. Bass/Bongo double instrument
56. Banjo/Bongo double instrument
57. Percussion, including:
58. A drum kit
59. A circular vibraphone fountain
60. Tubular bells
61. A Slide-bar Marimba
62. To contrast the two different performances on this set, the Bass/Bongo double instrument next to the wall is lit by a blue light in the second version, as opposed to a magenta light in the first version. The golden vibraphone fountain now glows orange when struck instead of white. The back wall from the first animation has been removed to reveal a large empty space filled with pipes. The tubular bells also have a little more detail, partially due to the fact that they spend more time onscreen.
63. Fiber Bundles
64. BPM=120
65. Instruments in the order they're presented:
66. Green Bass Chorus Synth
67. White Echo light Synth Pulses
68. Violet Synth Bass
69. Electric Percussion set
70. Red Synth Lead
71. Yellow treble Chorus Synth
72. Blue-green Synthesizer Flash light Pulses
73. Towards the end of this piece's commentary on the DVD, Wayne Lytle remarks that the music in the Ratchet & Clank series, written by David Bergeaud, may have had some influence over this piece.
74. Gyro Drums
75. BPM=80, 110, 180, 140, 145
76. Instruments in the order they're presented:
77. Drum kit
78. Four snare drums
79. Four bass drums
80. Four hi-hats
81. Seven tom-toms
82. Six bongos
83. Eight buzz synthesizers (concealed at first)
84. Eight cymbals – four crashes, two rides, one splash and one China
85. Second Drum kit
86. Eight hi-hats
87. Two cowbells
88. Two woodblocks
89. Two timbales
90. Four bongos
91. Eight tom-toms
92. Four cymbals – Two rides and two splashes
93. Third drum kit
94. Four gongs
95. Four ride cymbals
96. Four bass drums
97. 52 tom-toms
98. Fourth drum kit
99. Eight maracas
100. Eight cabasa
101. Four bass drums
102. Eight snare drums
103. Four Crash cymbals
104. Four Hi-hats
105. 171 drums, cymbals, etc. in total.
106. There are three robotic drummer players in this animation. The first one is inside a spherical cage of percussion instruments with limited movement along a straight pole. The other two "satellite" players move around the outside of the drum kit along two large circular tracks.
107. Heavy Light
108. BPM=100-135
109. Instruments in the order they're presented:
110. Blue Chorus synth Lasers
111. Violet Synth Bass Beams
112. Yellow Lead Synth Lasers
113. Drums and cymbals
114. Orange String Beams
115. Red synth sawtooth Lasers
116. White Chorus Floodlights
117. Green flash Chirp Laser
118. Gongs
119. Set on a peak in the mountains, the piece is performed on an Aztec-like pyramid, with a long series of small stairs leading up to it. The performance starts with the blue chorus beams appearing to trigger the transformation of the pyramid into the musical temple. At least three other planets or moons can be seen in the sky, one of which bears a strong resemblance to the planet Jupiter.

Animusic 2 audio CD bonus tracks

The bonus audio tracks on this CD consist of reduced versions of Heavy Light and Fiber Bundles:

1. Heavy Light – Drum/Bass Submix (sample)
2. Fiber Bundles – Drum/Bass Submix (sample)
3. Fiber Bundles – Synth/Ambient Submix (sample)

Animusic 3: The Next Computer Animation Video Album

Animusic is currently producing the third volume of the Animusic series; it was once intended to be released sometime in 2010, featuring animations such as "Sonic Warfare", "Paddle Ball", and "Super Pipe Dream". However, this release date passed with no word regarding the volume's progress. In November 2010, Animusic attributed this delay to a complete restructuring of their modeling and rendering software.

On August 6, 2012, the company began a Kickstarter campaign aimed at raising $200,000 to fund the completion of the Animusic 3 DVD. This campaign was featured on several websites such as Animation World Network. A rough mix from the newly revealed album The Sound of 12, titled "Glarpedge," was released online on August 28, 2012. This album has been described by the company as "the soul of Animusic 3." On August 31, 2012, two more mixes were released: "Emoticondria" and "EchoKrunch." The Kickstarter page was later updated to confirm that a Blu-ray edition of Animusic 3 would be released shortly following the DVD's completion.

On September 5, 2012, the Kickstarter campaign ended successfully, with a final backing amount of $223,123, surpassing the goal and reportedly putting Animusic 3 into its final production stages. Animusic posted expected shipping dates of October 2013 for the DVD, and February 2014 for the Blu-ray disc. However, both dates eventually passed without either product being released.

Although the release of Animusic 3 has been postponed for some time, others have created and released tribute animations and fan-made versions of the Animusic concept through YouTube while the third addition to the series has been anticipated. Over time, hundreds of these homemade animations have been produced and shared. The bulk of these animations have been created since shortly after the release of Animusic 2. Animations such as these are still being made to this day by many different contributors.

On a Kickstarter update in August 2015, Wayne Lytle announced some other factors that have delayed the project, including Dave Crognale's departure from the project, personal struggles, physical stress and injury, and prizes for backers. However, he insisted on his determination to finish the project, especially now with the help of Unreal Engine 4 and reiterated his gratitude for those who have invested in him. Lytle stated that he had withheld from posting an update until he had a completion date, but did not give one in the update.

As of February 2017, no further updates have been posted, and there is once again speculation as to whether Animusic 3 is still in production, and, if so, when it will be completed. Many Kickstarter backers have expressed their frustration with the company's continued lack of communication about the project.