Customer Reviews

Animusic - A Computer Animation Video Album (Special Edition)

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I've been a collector of Virtual Animated DVDs, 3D IMAX related DVDs, thousands of Computer Screensavers, Game demos, etc for many years now. This is the best Animated Music on DVD I've ever encountered so far. This Title will best suits you if you're a Computer graphic enthusiast,Instrumental or Acoustic music lover, MIDI synthesizer/Organ player or owner. DJs,Musicians,Electronics-Art-related professionals,etc will definitely treasure this DVD. Also ANIMUSIC will benefit owners of HiFidelity Sound System or High-end Video Projectors. IF you share the same interest as me or match any of the above criteria, then this is definitely the perfect DVD you must own in a lifetime! This is 21st century Art! I describe it as the 'Computer Style of future MTV'. The Animations are well engineered & extremely creative. Videos are sharp,colourful & vivid. The music are of high sampling bit rate featuring drum,bass,guitars,synthesizers along with various other instruments. The music sounds like its being dubbed in an SACD quality or being amplified through the 1-Bit Digital Audio Technology. Nevertheless, this isn't just any ordinary DVD-Audio but an intelligently Animated one! Well, we'r not actually looking into its quality of graphics or the kind of musical content it plays but, "HOW AMAZINGLY IT WORKS"? Its combinations of 'VISUAL,SOUND & CREATIVITY'. The fundamental feature is that the Animations actually synchronize with Music being played so precisely. The Acoustic Music are also being distributed all over your 4 speakers,centre & subwoofer evenly. You won't get bored or tired even if u put it on the Loop Function. Not to mention that the 'ANGLE OF VIEW' on various instruments animating can be selected individually. Eventually, u won't leave your remote control alone. It's Special Edition Features 5.1 Surround Sound mix, a bonus of 1st Animation in 1996 by ANIMUSIC,a Widescreen version of *chapter Pipe Dreams, etc. My recommendations for ANIMUSIC Special Edition to achieve best performance are..., SOUND works best with any 5.1 Dobly Home Theater Subwoofer System. VIDEO works best with LCD/Plasma TVs and video projectors. And If you own any 2D to 3D viewing system or Virtual Head Mounted TV System,then THIS IS A MUST FOR YOU! Anyway,whatever TV/Hifi you own or whatever your interest may be, you won't regret experiencing this footage. It may be useful to different individuals in many ways like educational,entertainment,business or just plain pleasure. As for my opinion, I had classified it as a 'very rare & unique DVD' among my collections. Before u buy, just imagine its like a combination of various colourful Computer Animated Musical Instruments joining in as a band with your Midi Synthesizer across your very own living room! As a result u'll get the State-of-Art MTV, The Computer Way. Animation & Music begins here...IT'S EXTREMELY AWESOME! I can't wait for ANIMUSIC 2 launching this October 29.....

all the best,
Sinbad Hassan
(Singapore)

We are a music store. We showed it to a group of 11-15 year old music students thinking we would only show a minute or so of 2 of the songs. They wanted to watch the WHOLE DVD. They loved it! We were recommended this video by a friend who has a home theater and says his 10 year old has brought over every friend in the neighborhood to watch it.

Having been a huge fan of instrumental music for quite some time, I found myself quite stirred by a short piece of music heard on my local PBS station very recently. Together with the eerily beautiful dream-like synthesized melody, (a tune I later established was called `Harmonic Voltage') I was captivated by the accompanying high tech computer-generated images. The way in which the catchy, electronic music was intricately and perfectly synchronized with the animated musical devices was breathtaking. Overwhelmed by the design of the very imaginative, abstract looking instruments, how they operated, moved with the music, and the intriguing brilliance of it all, I rushed to my computer to learn something of this strange new art form called `Animusic'.

I have viewed the DVD countless times in just a few days since its arrival from amazon.com. I now proudly confess to being a new Animusic addict and convert! I adore how composer/programmer/genius Wayne Lytle marries the rather nostalgic sounding MIDI music to cutting edge animation technology. I say `nostalgic' because many of the tracks on the album remind me completely of my days as a video-gamer back in the early to mid-nineties, when many of the games would be accompanied by music of a very similar sound to Lytle's compositions on this DVD. Indeed many of tunes could have been lifted straight from any number of later Super Nintendo games. I'm heartened that there is still a place for this kind of sound in the 21st Century. Lytle seems to magically breathe a totally new kind of life into it, thanks to the crisp, sharp graphics system that visualizes the music so fittingly. If like me, (a little ashamedly) you used to occasionally switch on your video games just to listen to the music tracks - this DVD will be like going to heaven.

It is also the painstaking and intelligently focused commitment to visual perfection and precision that makes this DVD album so great. Every sound, from the full on pounding synths, to the quietist high-hat is visualized in some way - nothing whatsoever is omitted. Lytle and his team go one step further, inventing instruments that despite their sometimes other-world appearance and design could almost be considered organic in light of how they seem to literally play themselves, with no human intervention. Like an optical illusion, your disbelief is suspended, and you find that your brain begins to accept the notion that these robotized contraptions ARE playing themselves and producing wonderfully beautiful electronica as a result. Jaw dropping moments abound as you delight in how even the tiniest nuances of the music are highlighted - the slap-bass notes in `Acoustic Curves' and the enchanting way in which the tiniest pipe on the organ in `Stick Figures' raises itself to reach just one more note, come to mind especially. It is exactly this kind of level of attention to detail that lies at the heart of this successful new formula.

Just to prove how broadly appealing Animusic really is, my cat loves it too and will paw the screen in an effort to play the instruments!

Finally, I just HAVE to comment that the `bass tower' on Harmonic Voltage is my absolute favorite animation of all. Lytle has brilliantly interpreted and visualized an abstract bass synth sound, cunningly using a pedal system that releases light and sound emitting radioactive grape juice. Surely the DVD is worth getting, just to find out what that's all about?!

This is a great DVD. The first thing I watched was Beyond The Walls Animusic's first animation. When I first saw the Animusic 2 sneak peak I was amazed. My favorite instrument was the Triple Neck Electric Guitar on Future Retro. My favorite music video was Future Retro. If I were to rate all the Animusic songs on the Animusic DVD I would rate all of them 5 Stars. I also liked Set construcion shorts. (...)

When I watched this flim on PBS I couldn't belive it. It is just so amazing. When I taped it for my class they just looked in shocked. They couldn't belive two people made this in just two years. I hope there will be more animusics because they are just so amazing!

The Animusic animation is some of the best I have seen. Couple that with music and you have a winner. I am amazed at what a computer and imagination can do. These are very talented people. This is a DVD that shoud be seen by all ages. Be sure to listen to the commentary by the creators.

WEe received this outstanding DVD and the kids loved watching it at least once a week and now its show and tell the friendsit