This is Dave C formerly part of the Animusic team. Thanks for making this video. It means a lot to me to be reminded of what we were able to do to inspire others. Your video is an amazingly comprehensive and positive view of what Animusic was and still is for many of the fans. I wish it had ended better, but I'm immensely grateful to have been a part of Animusic. Thank you.
Thank you so much for being part of making these albums. It absolutely helped my creativity to stay strong into adulthood and I may try to recreate a model, print it out, and give it to dad as a present one day. Good luck on your future endeavors ^^.
Is the software available somewhere? (and what does a license or whatever cost?) It would be amazing to see more people create music in the Animusic style, so it doesn't just die out & become forgotten, that would be sad.
@ThinkGamer Great! It's a complex one. You actually commented as I was filming it in the studio. I learned some things I never knew about and it's no wonder why Animusic 3 never came out. Stay tuned ; )
Please please, go in depth like old times! It better be at least 20 minutes long or ill be legitimately disappointed, haha. Don't think that you have to cut out every little thing that MIGHT be boring. It usually isn't. That's so cool that you both thought of the same idea at the same time. What are the chances. Then again, I recently entered someone named Jameson into a database at work while watching a video (not about alcohol, mind you) where "Jameson" was said at the exact time I typed it in. It's so spooky how often 10+ million in one chances actually happen.
Another Animusic-adjacent person stopping by to say thanks for such a well-done video. It's a continuous surprise and pleasure to see my Dad's work had such an impact on peoples' childhoods. Your support and enthusiasm over the years means a ton.
Animusic fan here. Is you dad ok? I know he was in a podcast a year ago that I listened to but I hope he is feeling better after all the stress of Animusic 3. Personally, I think the first two Animusics are timeless masterpieces and it is fine without a third one. Well this year for Christmas I asked for an Animusic dvd since the Animusic 1 and Animusic had discs have been scratched for a while now. Also if it is possible, tell your dad that someone has a Lego ideas for Animusic that started a few months ago and has close to 300 supporters. Animusic fan since 2012, Micah
One thing I remember loving about these as a kid is how no matter how chaotic it looked you could tell exactly what part a certain section is playing, specially with the string instruments
Exactly. It's the fact that the stage isn't overly cluttered with action, with lighting helping to move attention to the instruments that are being used that really sells a piece as "Animusic". It's absolutely key with the initial reveal as the song builds up, one instrument section at a time.
Everything about this topic is right up my alley. ☑️ 90's and 2000's CGI ☑️ Computer software development ☑️ MIDI music ☑️ Vaporware ☑️ Disappointing Kickstarter ☑️ Small, passionate community still going years later Glad to see ya back, man!
Animusic is that weird, nostalgic acid trip that your brain barely remembers whether or not was a real thing or just a psychedellic dream you had as a toddler
I have watched pretty much all videos by Wintergatan on UA-cam, and I can confirm that Animusic's Pipe Dream was indeed one of _the_ main inspirations for the amazing Marble Machine. It has been mentioned a few times.
@@Sylocat At least in the case of the Marble Machine, the development of a new machine, whether it eventually and ultimately succeeds or fails, has led to a huge series of videos that are worth watching, and that have value in themselves independent of the machine.
@@hakonsoreide The first few videos were worth watching, then it descended into repetition as he kept chasing an unattainable shadow of perfection and 100% infallibility.
@@TheBlackAbyss1 The concepts for MM2/MMX looked promising too, then he kept throwing them all out so he could reinvent the wheel for the fiftieth time.
In a way, Animusic has shaped my taste in music today and still has a special place in my heart. It’s definitely something I’m not forgetting any time soon
One thing I feel sad about him (and little bit dissapointed) is that he must reinvent another marble machine since it Marble X doesn't have good engineering. But I'm glad he's being honest about his mistakes and very transparant about where the funding flows to.
And in one of the episodes he did talk about Animusic being the inspiration for him to start the Marble Machine. So, I guess, that can count as verification?
@@men_del12 I love Martin, but the man got way too much into his own head. The MMX is a great machine if he would just finish it. The practicality of his world tour idea was always a little suspect. His disappearance from YT was greatly disappointing to me. Hopefully he's doing well.
@@seanmiller5709 Yeah, I meant he said himself about the cool stuffs he can make for the marble machine (just like me who thought so much too lol). I just hope he can keep his promise for his next proper engineering machine.
For those who don't know, I would highly recommend checking up on that wintergatan band that made the marble music machine, he's been working on a version 2 and it's looking like it might be done sooner or later
To add to this, Martin has actually credited Pip Dream as one of the inspirations for the Marble Machine, the other being the various mechanical music machines of the Speelklok Museum in Utrecht, Netherlands. The original Marble Machine is sadly no longer operable due to deterioration of some of the parts (the springs were essentially rubber bands which eventually dried out!) and we still await the completion of Marble Machine X which has been under construction for over three years now. For more details about that, see ua-cam.com/video/WN90HYiFpAw/v-deo.html
@Sasha Lemay Oh I assumed youtube just stopped recommending his videos to me, but going on hiatus makes sense. It seemed like he was really close to being done though, did he just get burned out or something?
So sorry to know that this last effort did not succeed. I was one of the 'Kickstarter' group that donated through Amazon. I did get a CD but was really looking forward to the DVD. This work will live on forever as one of the most satisfying music and animation compositions ever done.
I learned about Animusic from a book in our school's library about digital art, I took note of it, then I looked it up online, I remember being mind blown by the first seconds of viewing Pipe Dream, those were the days!
Animusic and the game Audiosurf, before it got sued for copyright reasons (it would link directly to youtube to a song you chose, if I remember correctly)
I remember when my music teacher used to show us this in elementary school. That was way after it was released, but I still enjoyed it. I used to really look forward the breaks when she'd play them.
ZayuhYT has a point. Why did they show it to students as part of the class? There was nothing to be learned from watching it, not about music nor about robotics, nor Object Oriented programming, nor anything else. Or did they only show it during free periods?
@@TheNoiseySpectator I think it was to show students that there are many kinds of music, other than the ones we are shown in class (which was generally classical and orchestral) If not, then it probably is for free time...
I think there is a very inspiring message in the fact that Mr. Lytle went from studying music, to computer science, to making data visualizations for Cornell University, yet still had this silly idea of Animusic germinating in his head. As someone in college right now and very anxious about their future career, it feels good to know that your creative dreams can be realized, even in the most roundabout ways.
"More Bells and Whistles" was the one I grew up with! It was in a collection of animation on a VHS. The collection also had a train and caboose hopping over a hole in the track, salt and pepper dancing, a bunch of film-themed cake toppers going on a weird little birthday adventure, etc... Does anyone else remember that?? The VHS was called "Computer Animation Collection", by Miramar Images Inc. & Odyssey Visual Design!
“Pipe Dream” is definitely the most popular. That’s why it got a sequel. It’s also why Intel kind-of recreated it IRL (the “instruments” are sensor pads that play a note when hit by a plastic paintball).
@Russell White This remake still runs on modern systems, by the way, no matter what kind of graphics card you have. By modifying the .ini file, you can force it to run at high resolutions.
My daughter was obsessed with Animusic 1 and 2 as a toddler. Out of all the DVDs she watched on repeat, these were the only ones I never got tired of. Sorry to hear that 3 is unlikely.
As a constant viewer of my local PBS station when I was young, I cannot stress how much of an integral part of my childhood these animated shorts were in between their main programming. I think I can partially credit these for my obsession with music at that age that has stretched into my adulthood as I work toward a Master's degree in the music field. Thank you for bringing the internet's attention to these gems again!
I'm assuming you're either married or you got a new job either way whatever's going on in your life I hope everything's fine and I'm glad to see your videos again
I really enjoyed this and own both DVDs. I recall seeing a "how they did it" video on this an d the most interesting thing I recall was that they can't just have the note instantly strike when it occurs, nor can they use a fixed delay or speed. They have to anticipate every note on every instrument, and with a variable delay, move from the old note to the new one, accelerating and decelerating based on where the note is relative to the old one. Not the easiest task and is why the motions look fluid and are perfectly synced to the start of each note.
I can’t be the only one who’s like, “I’m pretty sure everyone remembers this I mean just look a UA-cam comments of the videos” right? I swear animusic was in my head all day the day I saw it at school Also omg that laser solo in more bells and whistles... that counts as a solo right
I had a music teacher who played this for us in elementary school, too, and I can’t help but feel like Wayne Lytle has inadvertently become a huge piece of my musical style. “Starship Groove” is actually advanced as *_HELL._*
I watched this all the time at my grandfathers house, he had the discs of both the first one and the second one. Such good times. It’s good to see that people haven’t forgotten it!
It’s super nostalgic and it’s grouped in with a bunch of other early 2000s media in my mind, like the PS2 and its games. It has this sort of chill, mysterious, futuristic vibe and it’s really neat to look back on.
I recall that Wayne Lytle once said in interview that he viewed Animusic not as a brand, but as a whole new fusion genre of music and animation. Safe to say, all these years later, he was absolutely on point. I hope he's still doing okay...
but you wanna know what's even better about Animusic? the song's still completely outclass anything currently available in the music industry today! So groovy, so smooth and just so perfect
17:28 Hey I made it in! The playlist referenced here is actually my own Animusic playlist in which I've compiled tons of original and fanmade Animusic content over the past few years. Here's the link if anyone is interested: ua-cam.com/play/PLjJTNmGoyAj7UODl9WUeA_0qhYnzmM0_4.html Check it out if you wanna see the latest and greatest that the Animusic concept has to offer! And thank you Science Elf for making such a great video on the topic!
18:51, actually Martin has confirmed on multiple occasions on his channel that Animusic was one of the major inspirations. I think the most recent mention was some time last year.
@@ThePlumAbides Yeah, I hope he gets past his issues. Unfortunately I think part of his problem is he fell into an easy trap to fresh designers in that he didn't think about iteration. He seemed to think (and seemed to time line) that the MMX would be the ultimate goal, not the first in a (probably decade long) line of iterations.
Dude… I remember being in music class back in elementary school and when we had a substitute teacher they would put on Animusic… I still love some of the songs, just nostalgic and cool. I’m glad you made this video and reminded me of years past.
Same for me, but instead it was my regular music teacher. Was in kindergarten at the time when we would watch an episode at the end of class if we behaved well.
I had no idea about Animusic up until now, but it's clear that this style of music inspired many of the game OSTs that I listened to growing up, as well as my love for Chiptune. For all this, thank you, everyone who brought Animusic into existance. After just a single listen to these songs, I feel like I'm home. And yes, this must have inspired Synthesia. No doubt
Using MIDI to drive the animation is absolutely genius, I'm surprised we haven't seen more exploration of this technique (other than live concert video effects). Animusic is amazing, I still get some of the songs stuck in my head frequently to this day.
@@MrHack4never I had the demo as well, it was definitely real-time - you could change the resolution and move the camera. Its still available on the internet archive and still runs on modern hardware even!
I genuinely believe that Animusic caused my love for music. I can’t help but recall the creepy vibe I first got from seeing Resonant Chamber for the first time. It looks like a spider guitar. Once I had actually closed my eyes and listened, I got chills. I still get chills now, over s decade later. I fell in love with Animusic. I’m so glad I was able to experience this art, late as I am. I’m now pursuing a degree in Music.
Interesting, you and the OP both got a creepy vibe from that. My reaction was totally different. No creepiness, and I thought it looked more like birds than spiders.
My first ever Animusic video. I thought of crab legs playing strings. The graphics and camera work were so good though that even my engineering brain was fooled for the first 30 seconds or so ... is this a real machine? Then the analytical side kicked in. 😁
Probably the same for me. I was obsessed with this as a kid. My parents recommended I get into computer graphics, so that was kind of an interest for a while. Years pass and I started getting into music and playing instruments more, until finally I was producing electronic music. I just think it's funny how I basically went full circle and either way, Animusic probably inspired it.
Watching Animusic with my dad after school on the home computer has to be some of my fondest memories of us together. We’d listen to a lot of music together but we always came back to animusic. Ever since he passed away its been a little hard to listen back on the music without thinking about how he’s not here to listen with me. But at the same time whenever i listen, its like im still standing there beside him, smiling and watching with wonder.
I'm still hoping for Pipe Dream 3, but in the end, Im happy with the Animusic content we've gotten. I was actually inspired by the Pipe Dream in Minecraft video briefly mentioned near the end, and even made my own updated version with flying concrete powder to resemble the balls!
I’m so happy everyone is remembering this all at once. I’ve slowly been revisiting these soundtracks more and more in the past couple years and love to see other people fondly reminiscing of this otherworldly series. Probably responsible for why I like prog rock
The harp one was super cool. Also, I remember animusic 2. I watched the second one in 6th grade, and the first one in 4th grade, and it got me into guitar. I remember them being the coolest thing I've ever seen. So, if they're watching this, I want to thank the animusic team for getting me into guitar through their damn cool videos.
Animusic was such a huge part of my childhood. I saw it at a drive-in movie before the movie started and I thought it was the coolest shit. To this day I still listen to the music and rewatch the animations every so often
Aqua Harp is my personal favorite of all of them. There's something so mesmerizing about the calming, serene harp and the chimes. Resonant Chamber is a close second for the same reasons, and I have a soft spot for Cathedral Pictures.
Animusic practically shaped my creativity when I was a kid. Just the thought of robots with surprisingly uncomplicated detail making the most astounding music I ever heard at the time was the reason I have the imagination I have today.
Back in 1994 (when I was in high school) I attended a lecture that Wayne Lytle gave where he walked us through the rudiments of computer animation and showed us some of his animations, including that one which was making fun of trends in computer visualization taken too far, and also More Bells and Whistles. It was a really enlightening lecture and had a huge impact on me.
@@Chad_Eldridge Yeah! Both of them were shown briefly in this video, but look for "More Bells and Whistles" and "The Dangers of Glitziness and Other Visualization Faux Pas"
This brought tears to my eyes that this was covered. I grew up with both DVD’s of Animusic and the VHS tapes of Journey Through the Mind’s Eye. They are both timeless masterpieces.
I used to watch Animusic during music class in elementary school. I couldn’t remember what it was called. I could never find it. This was driving me crazy, thank you for making this. Finally, I can stop being haunted by fragmentary memories of this!
My family was obsessed with Animusic. I remember multiple occasions where we'd all sit down as a family and just watch Animusic all the way through. We'd rarely ever just was one, we'd have to watch both of them, which I loved. My Dad loved music, and technology, so to have such great music in animation was his dream. It was a great way for him to kick back and relax after a stressful day. Now, even after all these years later after him being gone, I still am reminded of him whenever I hear any of the songs from either Animusic album.
I loved Animusic. In 2005 as a kid I saw a whole display dedicated to it at a Fry's and begged my parents to buy it. It was playing Stick Figures. I fell in love. For some reason the blue lights that do the bass choir in Future Retro terrified me for a few years in elementary school but after that I rediscovered the series and fell in love again.
@Parrie Jenkins I'm not sure what you're asking ... it's an old gag. Did they run the gag in "Last Action Hero?" I don't remember the movie that well. I think it was invented before that movie came out.
I still have both of these DVDs, and they’re incredible. I’m so sad that it’s cold outside and my thumbs are numb, so I can’t really talk about it much more than this… I will say, however, that the amount of musical touches, love, and care that went into every track on both disks is unfathomable.
Every animusic song explained in a sentence: Future retro: wtf is the size? Stick figures: fixed my depression Aqua harp: water is not wet Drum machine: tick tock Pipe dream: boing Acoustic curves: Beethoven, come at me bro Harmonic Voltage: life and death. Starship groove: nasa told me so Pogo sticks: me and the boys going to McDonald’s Resonant chamber: pirate ship Cathedral pictures: it will play at my funeral Pipe dream 2: boing dong Fiber bundles: plants vs zombies Gyro drums: inside a centrifuge Heavy light: end of an era. Thank you, Animusic. And thank you to the science elf for making this video.
After catching some, but not all of the Animusic videos on PBS back in 2001, I bought the DVD, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also bought Animusic 2 a few years later, but just now realized that I never got around to watching it! Thanks for the reminder!
Actually, I remember Martin, in one of his livestreams, has said that pipe dream was the inspiration for the Marble Machine. And I'm kinda sure about it because I was always thinking that Marble Machine is pipe dream in real life and it stick to my mind when he said that
That's actually how I found out about Animusic. These videos were released while I was in college, so I just never saw them when they were new. Instead, when I saw the original Marble Machine video, I watched Pipe Dream due to his reference, and Resonant Chamber came up in my recommended after. Love that song so much! I can't even count how many times I've watched it since.
My Fry’s Electronics had this running off DVD to all the receivers in the home theater in a box aisle as demo material for probably closer to 2 decades than 1
i remember being absolutely captivated by animusic growing up, fascinated with how realistic it looked to a super young me, absolutely entranced wondering the worlds that these things could exist in… thank you so much for making this! was stoked to remember it
I remember buying a DVD copy of Animusic 1 with my dad at Fry's when I was a kid. We just upgraded our surround sound system at the time so it was a great experience
Oh yea, same here! (was on an end-cap display at the Fry's Downers Grove, Illinois store) Sad news; searched YT and found, "The Decline of Fry's Electronics...What Happened?" ua-cam.com/video/to-osQMHxpE/v-deo.html
Another great thing about it is that from a musician's standpoint these are really interesting and varied songs. Lytle isn't afraid to put in odd time, key changes, time changes, crazy riffs, or rare modes. It's one of the reasons I think it'll always be popular, even without the videos the sound is just that good
Yes I remember so vividly. I found animusic on youtube when I was a kid and it actually kind of freaked me out sometimes because it was so out of context and yet so mesmerizing. My mind wanted to create a universe for it, especially as the music became more humanoid. “Were they performers in a world of robots? Why? Why does this exist???” I think what made it most uncomfortable was that the instruments were placed in human structures or areas. It told me there was a whole world out there, but no audience. Nothing. Empty. Just… these weird musical instruments playing songs. Kind of like how backrooms and huge-stores-devoid-of-humans might make people feel. It’s there. It’s doing something. But nothing to receive it. No one. And there was never any explanation. I never understood and honestly seeing it again makes me feel weird, but I do appreciate all of the effort put into it.
Kind of a subset of uncanny valley, I know exactly the feeling you're talking about. It's a feeling I get with literal fever dreams, and this was one of the only things to give me that outside of a fevered context too lol
I was just thinking about these not that long ago. I remember watching them in school music class and loving it. I still have the DVDs of both of them.
What a nostalgia trip, I remember watching this over and over on a crappy crt in the back room, it was mesmerising and I think about it still every now and again. It's awesome to see what actually went into this, and completely over my stupid kid brain
CRT tvs are not completely crap as they have better motion and colors are very vibrant. They only are bad at high resolution graphics but Animusic was only made in 480i in 2001 which is the resolution crt tvs do.
I remember animusic very well. Used to love these. NVIDIA even made an interactive 3d demo you could run in realtime on your PC, it was a remake of the pipe dream one. Resonant chamber was my favourite. Watched it more times than I can count.
thank you for this amazing video celebrating the much loved Animusic! It deserves a chapter in all music education courses and was major inspiration for my synaesthesia focused master's dissertation and current art/code/music work + hope we see it in VR/AR worlds in the future! I'll definitely check out all 400+ inspired works you mentioned and the animusic appreciation society! :)
One of the science teachers at school had some of the free demos that were about 144p. There was a mini civil war between the students who believed it was real, and those who knew it was CGI. It took him buying the DVD with the HD imagery to convert some, but there were others that still thought it was all trick of the lights.
When I was a kid, my family had these DVDs. I remember watching them all the time, feeling a little unsettled but mostly in awe. It blew 1st grade me’s mind
My introduction to Animusic was in 5th grade music class. Our teacher showed us Pipe Dream and it blew our minds. A few years later, a music shop I took lessons at had one of the DVD albums on repeat. The music is just so good, and the visuals look amazing, even for 20 year old computer-generated animation. I still listen to the songs occasionally, and they hold up just as well now as they did when I was in 5th grade.
This is something that can never get old and can get stuck in your head. We rewatched all of it recently as a family and we felt like we were kids when we saw it often again. The video production and music is amazing, and I love it now more than before after taking digital art, animation, and band classes in high school. The nostalgia is a lot, and I am glad that this is what made my siblings and I love music growing up. 🎸🎶
I was one of the backers of Animusic 3, and while I was disappointed that things went so wayward, all of it would be forgiven if they maybe released the in-house software they had theoretically completed in the meantime for general use. Even if it was offered at a professional price point, I’d still love that it would be out in the world and thus make doing fan animations like this that much easier. Hell, it could have helped them keep the lights on or something beyond the Kickstarter...
I took backed it, and I don't view the music CD as actually being paid off for having invested. Course who am I going to complain to, aint like anybody's listening on the kickstarter page, eh?
This combines so many of my favorite things that it's a wonder I've never heard of this before. Weird early 2000's cgi, strange music, rube goldberg machines. It's all so great.
Heya! This is an incredible video! Lots of little details. Love it! If you didn't no, there's even a discord that I help run, and at the time of me writing this we're at 571 members. Insane to see this small little community alive and thriving!
Mr. Crognale, thank you so very much for making Animusic 1 and 2, my whole family loved them and I was one who donated money on Kickstarter to see Animusic 3. Sad to say that Lytle turned out to be a liar and a thief. Of the 225,000 he raised on Kickstarter and claimed the project was fully funded, he then showed a video of all his new "toys" that he bought with the money and then stopped replying in 2015 or giving any updates and now has ghosted himself as all his former business partners have cut ties with him and want nothing to do with him anymore. Nobody blames you or Lytle's partners, but we DO blame Lytle for giving us pie in the sky claims and then running away with our money
Oh my god, seeing this thumbnail dredged up memories from my childhood. I loved Animusic so much. I have both DVDs somewhere and I need to watch them again.
What a surprise! I remember loving this series back then when I was first shown this in school, and it's still a fun watch to this day. Nice to see you cover it :) EDIT: I had actually donated to the Animusic 3 Kickstarter once back when it was up
I remember first watching these on Tech TV's show "Eye Drops" where they showcase videos for both Animusic 1 and 2 and to this day I am marveled to see how Animusic is still the pinnacle of music and 3D animation combined.
Animusic was a big part of my 2020. During a time when we couldn’t perform live and could only send in recordings to be played at virtual events, my percussion director at my school thought Animusic would be a great set of music to apply this virtual performance concept to. He arranged drum machine, pipe dream, and pogo sticks for percussion ensemble, and we recorded our parts separately and he put them together as one video. The end results were cool, and it was a cool opportunity to revisit this forgotten childhood memory.
I come back to the music of animusic about onces a month. The songs themselves still hold up with how well composed they are. Personal favorites are Heavy Light and Fiber Bundles.
I still think about it a ton, I first watched it when I was 5 and it’s stuck with me ever since, seeing this video is an absolute treat. I literally talk to my family about it at least once a year. I played it so often when I was a kid that when I hum the beat of the first song in this album my mom knows exactly what humming even though she’s only watched it about twice herself. Thanks for covering it! I found your channel as a result and got an awesome blast from the past.
I'm with you. I'm old enough to remember the Mind's Eye series in the early days of CGI and how it took computer animation from a variety of sources and set it to music for a surreal experience. You can't make something like that anymore because CGI has become too good, it lost its unique look. Animusic is a spiritual successor to Mind's Eye if anything. Thanks for making this.
I worked at Radio Shack when those videos came out, and I'm also a big Jan Hammer fan. It was a glorious time to be alive! I was hoping someone would have mentioned the Mind's Eye series.
my uncle showed Animusic to me about 20 years ago, and i was blown away by it. im still blown away even now. i think it might be time i show my daughter this, and see what she things of it. Love your video about this. nice to see that there is still a lot of love for this
Holy... This unlocked a new memory I remember watching this in my music class in elementary. I definitely watched the sequel, because I remember seeing the robot band. As a dumb small brain child, I thought it was all real. But wow, I wasn't expecting to see this movie again.
Thank You! I missed out on the beginning of Animusic. I had just started working at the county library system to pay for extras like our daughter’s senior pictures, then a year later I was battling cancer. I found Pipe Dream on UA-cam then I found Resonate Chamber, which I love most. (I love acoustic strings) So I watch for them on my suggested selections feed. From the thumbnails of the first DVD it looks like I have missed two of the “tracks”, Aqua Harp and Stick Figures and maybe Future Retro. I have seen Starship Groove of the second DVD but that’s about it. I will have to look for more, one of my favorite classical pieces is Pictures at an Exhibition. The history of Animusic is very interesting, I think you did a great job of presenting it, Thank You so much!
YES! I fondly remember this one! This is the album they'd play in music class all the time when nothing's happening in middle school. Surprised no one talks about it
I watched Animusic all the time when I was little, and I still remember it fondly to the point I have the entire trackset in FLAC on my computer! I listen to it every once in a while to get a rush of when I was little, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who loved this strange, endearing musical experiment
I just actually remembered this a few days back and started watching all of them again. So I stumbled on your video as a result. I remember watching animusic 1 on dvd from my library and the second one I found on youtube, but since I lived in the middle of nowhere, I had no idea that it had such a following and I thought it was just a cool one time thing. I really liked hearing about the history of the project and where some people have taken it. Thanks for taking the time to make this.
Animusic sure was a great inspiration to many, that’s part of what got me into composing in MIDI and you can still hear how heavily of an influence it is for me hah
These animation masterpieces were done in 2001 and 2005?! The quality is beyond this world for those years. After seeing this video I believe Animusic was the father of satisfactory animation videos too. Unbelievable that the fandom is still standing, great job guys.
Animusic holds a very special place in my heart, the amount of times I've watched each song is probably very high.. and despite that, the tracks are still amazing.
My grandfather, John was amazed with computers and the fact that you could digitally mail (e-mail) pictures and VIDEOS to anyone's given digital mail address (e-mail address). I remember checking my email around my 8th or 9th birthday to see a bunch of mail from family, but 3 separate emails from my grandpa that had a bunch of videos linked in each. Those videos were these, Animusic. The first one he sent was Pipe Dream from 2002, sent that one first because he thought I'd find it cool this video was out as I was just born. My little brain was ultimately blown, 12 years after that and I find my own success at being a little musician in my own small town. Miss you papa, if I could go back and watch these with ya again, I totally would. Thank you for giving me interest in something so big. Love ya.
This is Dave C formerly part of the Animusic team. Thanks for making this video. It means a lot to me to be reminded of what we were able to do to inspire others.
Your video is an amazingly comprehensive and positive view of what Animusic was and still is for many of the fans. I wish it had ended better, but I'm immensely grateful to have been a part of Animusic. Thank you.
hello!
Still inspiring my students and my kids! Thank you!
Thank you so much for being part of making these albums. It absolutely helped my creativity to stay strong into adulthood and I may try to recreate a model, print it out, and give it to dad as a present one day. Good luck on your future endeavors ^^.
Are you still in contact with Wayne?
Is the software available somewhere? (and what does a license or whatever cost?)
It would be amazing to see more people create music in the Animusic style, so it doesn't just die out & become forgotten, that would be sad.
YO. I'm literally working on my own Animusic episode right now. It's coming out on the 27th, haha. Great minds think alike. : D
Hooray for more Animusic coverage! Can't wait to see it!
Woah! What a coincidence
@@TheScienceElf totally! I’ll ping ya once it’s ready.
@ThinkGamer Great! It's a complex one. You actually commented as I was filming it in the studio. I learned some things I never knew about and it's no wonder why Animusic 3 never came out. Stay tuned ; )
Please please, go in depth like old times! It better be at least 20 minutes long or ill be legitimately disappointed, haha. Don't think that you have to cut out every little thing that MIGHT be boring. It usually isn't. That's so cool that you both thought of the same idea at the same time. What are the chances. Then again, I recently entered someone named Jameson into a database at work while watching a video (not about alcohol, mind you) where "Jameson" was said at the exact time I typed it in. It's so spooky how often 10+ million in one chances actually happen.
Oh dang, I LOVED animusic as a child! I literally had dreams where the entire world was made of Animusic instruments.
hi Cary, how r u? Did not expect you here
Should I be concerned or...
@@ThePixelKid903 Idk
I had similar dreams as well!
me too
Another Animusic-adjacent person stopping by to say thanks for such a well-done video. It's a continuous surprise and pleasure to see my Dad's work had such an impact on peoples' childhoods. Your support and enthusiasm over the years means a ton.
sorry if other people have asked you many times but do you know the current status of animusic 3? Is your dad still working on it?
Your dad is an absolute genius
Animusic fan here. Is you dad ok? I know he was in a podcast a year ago that I listened to but I hope he is feeling better after all the stress of Animusic 3. Personally, I think the first two Animusics are timeless masterpieces and it is fine without a third one. Well this year for Christmas I asked for an Animusic dvd since the Animusic 1 and Animusic had discs have been scratched for a while now. Also if it is possible, tell your dad that someone has a Lego ideas for Animusic that started a few months ago and has close to 300 supporters. Animusic fan since 2012, Micah
@@micahmedrano5997 have you tried getting those resurfaced?
@@DeezNuts-ej6sr No sadly, but I did get the first one for Christmas this year
One thing I remember loving about these as a kid is how no matter how chaotic it looked you could tell exactly what part a certain section is playing, specially with the string instruments
Exactly. It's the fact that the stage isn't overly cluttered with action, with lighting helping to move attention to the instruments that are being used that really sells a piece as "Animusic". It's absolutely key with the initial reveal as the song builds up, one instrument section at a time.
Everything about this topic is right up my alley.
☑️ 90's and 2000's CGI
☑️ Computer software development
☑️ MIDI music
☑️ Vaporware
☑️ Disappointing Kickstarter
☑️ Small, passionate community still going years later
Glad to see ya back, man!
Lmao @ disappointing kkstr
Same midi and vaporwave are rad.
There is a severe lack of vaporwave midi animations out there.
☑️ MIDI music
I love the bowling alley feel
Animusic is that weird, nostalgic acid trip that your brain barely remembers whether or not was a real thing or just a psychedellic dream you had as a toddler
This. This is exactly what I feel
This is how we all feel! I could hardly remember that I saw this at all if not for a few specific parts!
literally exactly how i feel about it. couldn't remember if it was real or not.
Yes
DUDE YESS...
I have watched pretty much all videos by Wintergatan on UA-cam, and I can confirm that Animusic's Pipe Dream was indeed one of _the_ main inspirations for the amazing Marble Machine. It has been mentioned a few times.
And, much like Animusic, the Marble Machine has a sequel that seems doomed to never get out of eternal development hell.
@@Sylocat At least in the case of the Marble Machine, the development of a new machine, whether it eventually and ultimately succeeds or fails, has led to a huge series of videos that are worth watching, and that have value in themselves independent of the machine.
@@hakonsoreide The first few videos were worth watching, then it descended into repetition as he kept chasing an unattainable shadow of perfection and 100% infallibility.
@@Sylocat hey the concepts he is going through for MM3 looks promising
@@TheBlackAbyss1 The concepts for MM2/MMX looked promising too, then he kept throwing them all out so he could reinvent the wheel for the fiftieth time.
In a way, Animusic has shaped my taste in music today and still has a special place in my heart. It’s definitely something I’m not forgetting any time soon
Same! I still go back and watch my favorites every now and then :).
Same
Wholeheartedly agreed. It’s been a part of my childhood for more years than I can remember.
Ditto
Yeah; because of Animusic, i now like EDMs and of the sorts
You know Wintergatan has been working on a new Marble Machine for years now and documenting the build on youtube. It's pretty spectacular.
One thing I feel sad about him (and little bit dissapointed) is that he must reinvent another marble machine since it Marble X doesn't have good engineering. But I'm glad he's being honest about his mistakes and very transparant about where the funding flows to.
Lol, you mean the machine he distinctly mentions at the end of the video?
And in one of the episodes he did talk about Animusic being the inspiration for him to start the Marble Machine. So, I guess, that can count as verification?
@@men_del12 I love Martin, but the man got way too much into his own head. The MMX is a great machine if he would just finish it. The practicality of his world tour idea was always a little suspect. His disappearance from YT was greatly disappointing to me. Hopefully he's doing well.
@@seanmiller5709 Yeah, I meant he said himself about the cool stuffs he can make for the marble machine (just like me who thought so much too lol). I just hope he can keep his promise for his next proper engineering machine.
For those who don't know, I would highly recommend checking up on that wintergatan band that made the marble music machine, he's been working on a version 2 and it's looking like it might be done sooner or later
To add to this, Martin has actually credited Pip Dream as one of the inspirations for the Marble Machine, the other being the various mechanical music machines of the Speelklok Museum in Utrecht, Netherlands. The original Marble Machine is sadly no longer operable due to deterioration of some of the parts (the springs were essentially rubber bands which eventually dried out!) and we still await the completion of Marble Machine X which has been under construction for over three years now. For more details about that, see ua-cam.com/video/WN90HYiFpAw/v-deo.html
Probably around when GD 2.2 get released. /s
love em
@Sasha Lemay Oh I assumed youtube just stopped recommending his videos to me, but going on hiatus makes sense. It seemed like he was really close to being done though, did he just get burned out or something?
@Sasha Lemay yea, I was really sad to see the MMX shelved. Felt like the whole "perfect is the enemy of the good"
So sorry to know that this last effort did not succeed. I was one of the 'Kickstarter' group that donated through Amazon. I did get a CD but was really looking forward to the DVD. This work will live on forever as one of the most satisfying music and animation compositions ever done.
I learned about Animusic from a book in our school's library about digital art, I took note of it, then I looked it up online, I remember being mind blown by the first seconds of viewing Pipe Dream, those were the days!
Animusic and the game Audiosurf, before it got sued for copyright reasons (it would link directly to youtube to a song you chose, if I remember correctly)
I remember when my music teacher used to show us this in elementary school. That was way after it was released, but I still enjoyed it. I used to really look forward the breaks when she'd play them.
YOOO SAME!!
Bruh why do all the music teachers In elementary do that tho?
@@zayuhyt1095 ........... `\_("/)_/`
But at least it's good!
ZayuhYT has a point.
Why did they show it to students as part of the class?
There was nothing to be learned from watching it, not about music nor about robotics, nor Object Oriented programming, nor anything else.
Or did they only show it during free periods?
@@TheNoiseySpectator I think it was to show students that there are many kinds of music, other than the ones we are shown in class (which was generally classical and orchestral)
If not, then it probably is for free time...
I think there is a very inspiring message in the fact that Mr. Lytle went from studying music, to computer science, to making data visualizations for Cornell University, yet still had this silly idea of Animusic germinating in his head. As someone in college right now and very anxious about their future career, it feels good to know that your creative dreams can be realized, even in the most roundabout ways.
"More Bells and Whistles" was the one I grew up with! It was in a collection of animation on a VHS. The collection also had a train and caboose hopping over a hole in the track, salt and pepper dancing, a bunch of film-themed cake toppers going on a weird little birthday adventure, etc... Does anyone else remember that?? The VHS was called "Computer Animation Collection", by Miramar Images Inc. & Odyssey Visual Design!
I rmeebr
“Pipe Dream” is definitely the most popular. That’s why it got a sequel. It’s also why Intel kind-of recreated it IRL (the “instruments” are sensor pads that play a note when hit by a plastic paintball).
Pipe Dream sounds like it came straight from a Crash Bandicoot game.
@Russell White This remake still runs on modern systems, by the way, no matter what kind of graphics card you have. By modifying the .ini file, you can force it to run at high resolutions.
Intel built pipe dream in real life, look ua-cam.com/video/E4hjx3_A-cw/v-deo.html
My daughter was obsessed with Animusic 1 and 2 as a toddler. Out of all the DVDs she watched on repeat, these were the only ones I never got tired of. Sorry to hear that 3 is unlikely.
When I was little I used to watch these DVDs every day. Animusic has had a tremendous impact on me throughout my life, still hoping for a 3rd disc!
I remember seeing this on pbs at night after one of their movies and it blew my mind.
Same
As a constant viewer of my local PBS station when I was young, I cannot stress how much of an integral part of my childhood these animated shorts were in between their main programming. I think I can partially credit these for my obsession with music at that age that has stretched into my adulthood as I work toward a Master's degree in the music field. Thank you for bringing the internet's attention to these gems again!
I'm assuming you're either married or you got a new job either way whatever's going on in your life I hope everything's fine and I'm glad to see your videos again
If we're speculating? A year off feels like new baby to me.
*yay the elf is back*
Time to live your life rather to waste time giving ad money to others
@@kanesmith8271 nah I'm good
If he’s married, congrats to him and the husband/wife!
HOLY CRAP, I REMEMBER WATCHING THIS IN MUSIC CLASS WHEN I WAS IN FIRST GRADE. this has been stuck in the back of my mind for years.
Same!
I saw the second one right when it came out in 2010
I really enjoyed this and own both DVDs. I recall seeing a "how they did it" video on this an d the most interesting thing I recall was that they can't just have the note instantly strike when it occurs, nor can they use a fixed delay or speed. They have to anticipate every note on every instrument, and with a variable delay, move from the old note to the new one, accelerating and decelerating based on where the note is relative to the old one. Not the easiest task and is why the motions look fluid and are perfectly synced to the start of each note.
These animations always make me feel like I’m in a fever dream and make me miss reality.
it's not like any fever dream for me tbh, it's like a good break from reality instead
early 2000s animation
I can’t be the only one who’s like, “I’m pretty sure everyone remembers this I mean just look a UA-cam comments of the videos” right? I swear animusic was in my head all day the day I saw it at school
Also omg that laser solo in more bells and whistles... that counts as a solo right
I had a music teacher who played this for us in elementary school, too, and I can’t help but feel like Wayne Lytle has inadvertently become a huge piece of my musical style. “Starship Groove” is actually advanced as *_HELL._*
Same, my teacher would play it if we were good or something idk it was a while ago
Yeah I was like "Of course everyone remembers Animusic!"
I watched this all the time at my grandfathers house, he had the discs of both the first one and the second one. Such good times. It’s good to see that people haven’t forgotten it!
Huh am like 13 and my 5th grade music teacher played them alot
It’s super nostalgic and it’s grouped in with a bunch of other early 2000s media in my mind, like the PS2 and its games. It has this sort of chill, mysterious, futuristic vibe and it’s really neat to look back on.
I recall that Wayne Lytle once said in interview that he viewed Animusic not as a brand, but as a whole new fusion genre of music and animation. Safe to say, all these years later, he was absolutely on point.
I hope he's still doing okay...
but you wanna know what's even better about Animusic? the song's still completely outclass anything currently available in the music industry today!
So groovy, so smooth and just so perfect
They managed to produce both visual and audio works of art. Truly incredible.
17:28 Hey I made it in! The playlist referenced here is actually my own Animusic playlist in which I've compiled tons of original and fanmade Animusic content over the past few years. Here's the link if anyone is interested: ua-cam.com/play/PLjJTNmGoyAj7UODl9WUeA_0qhYnzmM0_4.html
Check it out if you wanna see the latest and greatest that the Animusic concept has to offer! And thank you Science Elf for making such a great video on the topic!
Boosting this because this is EXACTLY my kind of content
Hi Sam!
Yes! This is what I need on my life. Gave it a quick look I didn't see String Theory by Chris Jones. This playlist is now at the top of my todo list.
oh my god thank you im going to be binging this all day
Goatted
18:51, actually Martin has confirmed on multiple occasions on his channel that Animusic was one of the major inspirations. I think the most recent mention was some time last year.
+
Ironically enough, he has also kind of fallen off the map in his obsession to complete his project. I really hope he succeeds
@@ThePlumAbides Yeah, I hope he gets past his issues. Unfortunately I think part of his problem is he fell into an easy trap to fresh designers in that he didn't think about iteration. He seemed to think (and seemed to time line) that the MMX would be the ultimate goal, not the first in a (probably decade long) line of iterations.
Dude… I remember being in music class back in elementary school and when we had a substitute teacher they would put on Animusic… I still love some of the songs, just nostalgic and cool. I’m glad you made this video and reminded me of years past.
Same for me, but instead it was my regular music teacher. Was in kindergarten at the time when we would watch an episode at the end of class if we behaved well.
My elementary school literally did the exact thing
Same bro
If we had a sub, we watched The Sound of Music or a musical.
Or worse, our teacher leaving a note for the sub to play a symphony and you have to listen to it all class long.
I had no idea about Animusic up until now, but it's clear that this style of music inspired many of the game OSTs that I listened to growing up, as well as my love for Chiptune. For all this, thank you, everyone who brought Animusic into existance. After just a single listen to these songs, I feel like I'm home. And yes, this must have inspired Synthesia. No doubt
Using MIDI to drive the animation is absolutely genius, I'm surprised we haven't seen more exploration of this technique (other than live concert video effects).
Animusic is amazing, I still get some of the songs stuck in my head frequently to this day.
I think the game my singing monsters and sound shapes did it
Audiosurf is a game that did it.
I am attempting to do it on my channel.
I remember "Pipe Dream" coming with a graphics card as a demo. I went totally bonkers. Still do.
It was the demo for ATI Radeon 9700 Pro graphics card.
@@briansusilo
Was it real-time or prerendered?
@@MrHack4never I had the demo as well, it was definitely real-time - you could change the resolution and move the camera. Its still available on the internet archive and still runs on modern hardware even!
I genuinely believe that Animusic caused my love for music. I can’t help but recall the creepy vibe I first got from seeing Resonant Chamber for the first time. It looks like a spider guitar. Once I had actually closed my eyes and listened, I got chills. I still get chills now, over s decade later. I fell in love with Animusic. I’m so glad I was able to experience this art, late as I am. I’m now pursuing a degree in Music.
Interesting, you and the OP both got a creepy vibe from that. My reaction was totally different. No creepiness, and I thought it looked more like birds than spiders.
I feel the same way.
I dont make music, but make music videos.
@@jimrodarmel8512 birds...? Lol
My first ever Animusic video. I thought of crab legs playing strings. The graphics and camera work were so good though that even my engineering brain was fooled for the first 30 seconds or so ... is this a real machine? Then the analytical side kicked in. 😁
Probably the same for me. I was obsessed with this as a kid. My parents recommended I get into computer graphics, so that was kind of an interest for a while.
Years pass and I started getting into music and playing instruments more, until finally I was producing electronic music.
I just think it's funny how I basically went full circle and either way, Animusic probably inspired it.
Watching Animusic with my dad after school on the home computer has to be some of my fondest memories of us together. We’d listen to a lot of music together but we always came back to animusic. Ever since he passed away its been a little hard to listen back on the music without thinking about how he’s not here to listen with me. But at the same time whenever i listen, its like im still standing there beside him, smiling and watching with wonder.
I'm still hoping for Pipe Dream 3, but in the end, Im happy with the Animusic content we've gotten. I was actually inspired by the Pipe Dream in Minecraft video briefly mentioned near the end, and even made my own updated version with flying concrete powder to resemble the balls!
Me too i really hopes it comes
I was OBSESSED with animusic and used to check back year after year to see if animusic 3 was finally coming.... 🙃 Thank you for talking about this
Same. I was heartbroken to discover that three was never going to happen.
@@angelnichols5408 That's not entirely true, in my opinion. To me, all of the fan works are Animusic 3.
@@shiningarmor2838 maybe the real animusic 3 was the friends we made along the way
I’m so happy everyone is remembering this all at once. I’ve slowly been revisiting these soundtracks more and more in the past couple years and love to see other people fondly reminiscing of this otherworldly series.
Probably responsible for why I like prog rock
Otherworldly is the perfect word to describe what's being Heard
The harp one was super cool. Also, I remember animusic 2. I watched the second one in 6th grade, and the first one in 4th grade, and it got me into guitar. I remember them being the coolest thing I've ever seen. So, if they're watching this, I want to thank the animusic team for getting me into guitar through their damn cool videos.
Oh I remember this, my music teacher showed this to us and we watched the whole thing. This brings back so many memories.
Same, loved this as a kid!
Did everyone do this?
@@liamernst9626 unfortunately no, but i learned from my grandpa. Also i had the disc, and i watched it alot on youtube.
Animusic was such a huge part of my childhood. I saw it at a drive-in movie before the movie started and I thought it was the coolest shit. To this day I still listen to the music and rewatch the animations every so often
Aqua Harp is my personal favorite of all of them. There's something so mesmerizing about the calming, serene harp and the chimes.
Resonant Chamber is a close second for the same reasons, and I have a soft spot for Cathedral Pictures.
I've genuinely been looking for that one for years, I'm so happy to have stumbled upon this video 🙏🙏
Animusic practically shaped my creativity when I was a kid. Just the thought of robots with surprisingly uncomplicated detail making the most astounding music I ever heard at the time was the reason I have the imagination I have today.
Actually you CAN confirm that pipe dream was a direct inspiration for Wintergatan's Marble Machine, Marten has talked about it.
I loved Animusic as a kid, even though I am technically a "late" gen-z kiddo. I thought these things were so cool! Pipe dream was always my favorite.
Back in 1994 (when I was in high school) I attended a lecture that Wayne Lytle gave where he walked us through the rudiments of computer animation and showed us some of his animations, including that one which was making fun of trends in computer visualization taken too far, and also More Bells and Whistles. It was a really enlightening lecture and had a huge impact on me.
I seen these, they were interesting
@@Chad_Eldridge Yeah! Both of them were shown briefly in this video, but look for "More Bells and Whistles" and "The Dangers of Glitziness and Other Visualization Faux Pas"
I was JUST thinking about this!! I watched it in music class, and all the kids would vote on what we watched that day
This brought tears to my eyes that this was covered. I grew up with both DVD’s of Animusic and the VHS tapes of Journey Through the Mind’s Eye. They are both timeless masterpieces.
yoooo
I wrote one of the songs on one of the Mind’s Eye videos!! And I was only 17 at the time!
@@danbillen Holy hell my guy, that’s friggin’ Awesome! Do you know which song it was?
@@thespecialist3608 OF COURSE I DO: ua-cam.com/video/UChuX_hGl2s/v-deo.html
@@danbillen HELL YEAAH! Oh man this is awesome; what got you into writing music for this crazy series?
I used to watch Animusic during music class in elementary school. I couldn’t remember what it was called. I could never find it. This was driving me crazy, thank you for making this. Finally, I can stop being haunted by fragmentary memories of this!
Same lol
My family was obsessed with Animusic. I remember multiple occasions where we'd all sit down as a family and just watch Animusic all the way through. We'd rarely ever just was one, we'd have to watch both of them, which I loved. My Dad loved music, and technology, so to have such great music in animation was his dream. It was a great way for him to kick back and relax after a stressful day. Now, even after all these years later after him being gone, I still am reminded of him whenever I hear any of the songs from either Animusic album.
Lol literally just like mine
What would you say is your favorite track?
MY DAD SHOWED ME ANIMUSIC ON HIS COMPUTER WHEN I WAS LIKE 7 AND I REMEMBER IT VIVIDLY TO THIS DAY. I LOVE ANIMUSIC SO MUCH :)
I loved Animusic. In 2005 as a kid I saw a whole display dedicated to it at a Fry's and begged my parents to buy it. It was playing Stick Figures. I fell in love.
For some reason the blue lights that do the bass choir in Future Retro terrified me for a few years in elementary school but after that I rediscovered the series and fell in love again.
I thought I was the only one terrified by the blue light columns in Future Retro as a kid.
I loved this as a kid, I'd always imagine that the instruments were living beings that practiced before they played in the video.
It's neat to hear that as a kid, you had already taken in the punch line to the joke, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" ("Practice, man, practice!")
@Parrie Jenkins I'm not sure what you're asking ... it's an old gag. Did they run the gag in "Last Action Hero?" I don't remember the movie that well. I think it was invented before that movie came out.
I still have both of these DVDs, and they’re incredible. I’m so sad that it’s cold outside and my thumbs are numb, so I can’t really talk about it much more than this…
I will say, however, that the amount of musical touches, love, and care that went into every track on both disks is unfathomable.
Every animusic song explained in a sentence:
Future retro: wtf is the size?
Stick figures: fixed my depression
Aqua harp: water is not wet
Drum machine: tick tock
Pipe dream: boing
Acoustic curves: Beethoven, come at me bro
Harmonic Voltage: life and death.
Starship groove: nasa told me so
Pogo sticks: me and the boys going to McDonald’s
Resonant chamber: pirate ship
Cathedral pictures: it will play at my funeral
Pipe dream 2: boing dong
Fiber bundles: plants vs zombies
Gyro drums: inside a centrifuge
Heavy light: end of an era.
Thank you, Animusic.
And thank you to the science elf for making this video.
Haven't heard of this channel at all, but i love Animusic so much. It's one of my favorite things in life, and i'm glad people can still remember it.
As a new fan, and as a Wintergatan fan. Love to see him mentioned here.
OH MY GOD! I've been trying to remember this for 20 years. You soothed a large thorn in my side.
After catching some, but not all of the Animusic videos on PBS back in 2001, I bought the DVD, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also bought Animusic 2 a few years later, but just now realized that I never got around to watching it! Thanks for the reminder!
Actually, I remember Martin, in one of his livestreams, has said that pipe dream was the inspiration for the Marble Machine. And I'm kinda sure about it because I was always thinking that Marble Machine is pipe dream in real life and it stick to my mind when he said that
I also remember hearing from Martin that Animusic was an inspiration for the Marble Machine
That's actually how I found out about Animusic. These videos were released while I was in college, so I just never saw them when they were new. Instead, when I saw the original Marble Machine video, I watched Pipe Dream due to his reference, and Resonant Chamber came up in my recommended after. Love that song so much! I can't even count how many times I've watched it since.
He's alive everybody.
Welcome back, I missed your videos.
My Fry’s Electronics had this running off DVD to all the receivers in the home theater in a box aisle as demo material for probably closer to 2 decades than 1
*Me:* (sees someone mention Fry's Electronics)
ＡＵＴＯＭＡＴＩＣ ＬＩＫＥ
I miss that place
Yeah that’s literally how I first saw Animusic 2 was at a Frys Electronics. We even bought a Blu-Ray player to go along with it!
R.I.P Fry's :(
Yes! I remember seeing this at the Irving, TX location. Miss that place.
i remember being absolutely captivated by animusic growing up, fascinated with how realistic it looked to a super young me, absolutely entranced wondering the worlds that these things could exist in… thank you so much for making this! was stoked to remember it
I remember buying a DVD copy of Animusic 1 with my dad at Fry's when I was a kid. We just upgraded our surround sound system at the time so it was a great experience
Oh yea, same here! (was on an end-cap display at the Fry's Downers Grove, Illinois store)
Sad news; searched YT and found, "The Decline of Fry's Electronics...What Happened?"
ua-cam.com/video/to-osQMHxpE/v-deo.html
Another great thing about it is that from a musician's standpoint these are really interesting and varied songs. Lytle isn't afraid to put in odd time, key changes, time changes, crazy riffs, or rare modes. It's one of the reasons I think it'll always be popular, even without the videos the sound is just that good
Yes I remember so vividly. I found animusic on youtube when I was a kid and it actually kind of freaked me out sometimes because it was so out of context and yet so mesmerizing. My mind wanted to create a universe for it, especially as the music became more humanoid. “Were they performers in a world of robots? Why? Why does this exist???” I think what made it most uncomfortable was that the instruments were placed in human structures or areas. It told me there was a whole world out there, but no audience. Nothing. Empty. Just… these weird musical instruments playing songs. Kind of like how backrooms and huge-stores-devoid-of-humans might make people feel. It’s there. It’s doing something. But nothing to receive it. No one. And there was never any explanation. I never understood and honestly seeing it again makes me feel weird, but I do appreciate all of the effort put into it.
Imagine if there’s a universe that’s just robotic instruments in a room with the sun outside
Kind of a subset of uncanny valley, I know exactly the feeling you're talking about. It's a feeling I get with literal fever dreams, and this was one of the only things to give me that outside of a fevered context too lol
The empty but familiar images are often referred to as liminal images. They’re an interesting blend of nostalgic imagery and a mysterious void.
I watched animusic in elementary school and it stuck in my mind every now and again I remember watching it. It was awesome
I was just thinking about these not that long ago. I remember watching them in school music class and loving it. I still have the DVDs of both of them.
What a nostalgia trip, I remember watching this over and over on a crappy crt in the back room, it was mesmerising and I think about it still every now and again. It's awesome to see what actually went into this, and completely over my stupid kid brain
CRT tvs are not completely crap as they have better motion and colors are very vibrant. They only are bad at high resolution graphics but Animusic was only made in 480i in 2001 which is the resolution crt tvs do.
I remember animusic very well. Used to love these. NVIDIA even made an interactive 3d demo you could run in realtime on your PC, it was a remake of the pipe dream one. Resonant chamber was my favourite. Watched it more times than I can count.
Sorry to break it to you, but it was actually ATI, to promote the Radeon 9700 :)
thank you for this amazing video celebrating the much loved Animusic! It deserves a chapter in all music education courses and was major inspiration for my synaesthesia focused master's dissertation and current art/code/music work + hope we see it in VR/AR worlds in the future! I'll definitely check out all 400+ inspired works you mentioned and the animusic appreciation society! :)
One of the science teachers at school had some of the free demos that were about 144p. There was a mini civil war between the students who believed it was real, and those who knew it was CGI. It took him buying the DVD with the HD imagery to convert some, but there were others that still thought it was all trick of the lights.
When I was a kid, my family had these DVDs. I remember watching them all the time, feeling a little unsettled but mostly in awe. It blew 1st grade me’s mind
My introduction to Animusic was in 5th grade music class. Our teacher showed us Pipe Dream and it blew our minds. A few years later, a music shop I took lessons at had one of the DVD albums on repeat. The music is just so good, and the visuals look amazing, even for 20 year old computer-generated animation. I still listen to the songs occasionally, and they hold up just as well now as they did when I was in 5th grade.
My band teacher was pretty old and used to gargle water for medical purposes
This is something that can never get old and can get stuck in your head. We rewatched all of it recently as a family and we felt like we were kids when we saw it often again. The video production and music is amazing, and I love it now more than before after taking digital art, animation, and band classes in high school. The nostalgia is a lot, and I am glad that this is what made my siblings and I love music growing up. 🎸🎶
I was one of the backers of Animusic 3, and while I was disappointed that things went so wayward, all of it would be forgiven if they maybe released the in-house software they had theoretically completed in the meantime for general use. Even if it was offered at a professional price point, I’d still love that it would be out in the world and thus make doing fan animations like this that much easier. Hell, it could have helped them keep the lights on or something beyond the Kickstarter...
it's such a shame that crowdfunded projects fall apart so often, even with people who have a good track record.
I took backed it, and I don't view the music CD as actually being paid off for having invested. Course who am I going to complain to, aint like anybody's listening on the kickstarter page, eh?
This combines so many of my favorite things that it's a wonder I've never heard of this before. Weird early 2000's cgi, strange music, rube goldberg machines. It's all so great.
Heya! This is an incredible video! Lots of little details. Love it! If you didn't no, there's even a discord that I help run, and at the time of me writing this we're at 571 members. Insane to see this small little community alive and thriving!
where da invite at 😈
Mr. Crognale, thank you so very much for making Animusic 1 and 2, my whole family loved them and I was one who donated money on Kickstarter to see Animusic 3. Sad to say that Lytle turned out to be a liar and a thief. Of the 225,000 he raised on Kickstarter and claimed the project was fully funded, he then showed a video of all his new "toys" that he bought with the money and then stopped replying in 2015 or giving any updates and now has ghosted himself as all his former business partners have cut ties with him and want nothing to do with him anymore. Nobody blames you or Lytle's partners, but we DO blame Lytle for giving us pie in the sky claims and then running away with our money
Oh my god, seeing this thumbnail dredged up memories from my childhood. I loved Animusic so much. I have both DVDs somewhere and I need to watch them again.
What a surprise! I remember loving this series back then when I was first shown this in school, and it's still a fun watch to this day. Nice to see you cover it :)
EDIT: I had actually donated to the Animusic 3 Kickstarter once back when it was up
I remember first watching these on Tech TV's show "Eye Drops" where they showcase videos for both Animusic 1 and 2 and to this day I am marveled to see how Animusic is still the pinnacle of music and 3D animation combined.
Animusic was a big part of my 2020. During a time when we couldn’t perform live and could only send in recordings to be played at virtual events, my percussion director at my school thought Animusic would be a great set of music to apply this virtual performance concept to. He arranged drum machine, pipe dream, and pogo sticks for percussion ensemble, and we recorded our parts separately and he put them together as one video. The end results were cool, and it was a cool opportunity to revisit this forgotten childhood memory.
I come back to the music of animusic about onces a month. The songs themselves still hold up with how well composed they are. Personal favorites are Heavy Light and Fiber Bundles.
I still think about it a ton, I first watched it when I was 5 and it’s stuck with me ever since, seeing this video is an absolute treat. I literally talk to my family about it at least once a year.
I played it so often when I was a kid that when I hum the beat of the first song in this album my mom knows exactly what humming even though she’s only watched it about twice herself.
Thanks for covering it! I found your channel as a result and got an awesome blast from the past.
I'm with you. I'm old enough to remember the Mind's Eye series in the early days of CGI and how it took computer animation from a variety of sources and set it to music for a surreal experience. You can't make something like that anymore because CGI has become too good, it lost its unique look. Animusic is a spiritual successor to Mind's Eye if anything. Thanks for making this.
I worked at Radio Shack when those videos came out, and I'm also a big Jan Hammer fan. It was a glorious time to be alive! I was hoping someone would have mentioned the Mind's Eye series.
my uncle showed Animusic to me about 20 years ago, and i was blown away by it. im still blown away even now. i think it might be time i show my daughter this, and see what she things of it. Love your video about this. nice to see that there is still a lot of love for this
HELL YEAH ANIMUSIC
hell yeah csx42
HECK YEAH ANIMUSIC
One video in a year, I see we are very patient audience 😃
Holy...
This unlocked a new memory
I remember watching this in my music class in elementary. I definitely watched the sequel, because I remember seeing the robot band. As a dumb small brain child, I thought it was all real.
But wow, I wasn't expecting to see this movie again.
Thank You! I missed out on the beginning of Animusic. I had just started working at the county library system to pay for extras like our daughter’s senior pictures, then a year later I was battling cancer. I found Pipe Dream on UA-cam then I found Resonate Chamber, which I love most. (I love acoustic strings) So I watch for them on my suggested selections feed. From the thumbnails of the first DVD it looks like I have missed two of the “tracks”, Aqua Harp and Stick Figures and maybe Future Retro. I have seen Starship Groove of the second DVD but that’s about it. I will have to look for more, one of my favorite classical pieces is Pictures at an Exhibition. The history of Animusic is very interesting, I think you did a great job of presenting it, Thank You so much!
YES! I fondly remember this one! This is the album they'd play in music class all the time when nothing's happening in middle school. Surprised no one talks about it
I watched Animusic all the time when I was little, and I still remember it fondly to the point I have the entire trackset in FLAC on my computer! I listen to it every once in a while to get a rush of when I was little, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who loved this strange, endearing musical experiment
I used to watch the Animusic dvds when I was very young. The music still slaps to this day and the animations are still pretty damn good.
I just actually remembered this a few days back and started watching all of them again. So I stumbled on your video as a result. I remember watching animusic 1 on dvd from my library and the second one I found on youtube, but since I lived in the middle of nowhere, I had no idea that it had such a following and I thought it was just a cool one time thing. I really liked hearing about the history of the project and where some people have taken it. Thanks for taking the time to make this.
Animusic sure was a great inspiration to many, that’s part of what got me into composing in MIDI and you can still hear how heavily of an influence it is for me hah
These animation masterpieces were done in 2001 and 2005?! The quality is beyond this world for those years. After seeing this video I believe Animusic was the father of satisfactory animation videos too.
Unbelievable that the fandom is still standing, great job guys.
Animusic holds a very special place in my heart, the amount of times I've watched each song is probably very high.. and despite that, the tracks are still amazing.
My grandfather, John was amazed with computers and the fact that you could digitally mail (e-mail) pictures and VIDEOS to anyone's given digital mail address (e-mail address).
I remember checking my email around my 8th or 9th birthday to see a bunch of mail from family, but 3 separate emails from my grandpa that had a bunch of videos linked in each.
Those videos were these, Animusic. The first one he sent was Pipe Dream from 2002, sent that one first because he thought I'd find it cool this video was out as I was just born.
My little brain was ultimately blown, 12 years after that and I find my own success at being a little musician in my own small town.
Miss you papa, if I could go back and watch these with ya again, I totally would.
Thank you for giving me interest in something so big. Love ya.