Acoustic Curves

Acoustic Curves
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Available on:	Animusic 1 DVD
Animation Length:	5 minutes and 35 seconds
Previous Animation:	Pipe Dream
Next Animation:	Harmonic Voltage
Follow-Up:	Cathedral Pictures

Acoustic Curves was the sixth animation on the tracklist for the Animusic 1 DVD. Probably, Cathedral Pictures could be the follow-up of this.

Summary/Description[]

A set of autonomously-played instruments perform in a chamber. The instruments are surrounded by a thick brownish-orange chamber wall. In the beginning of this animation, the instruments are introduced one at a time, coming either the ceiling or the floor, and disappear at the end.

The instruments are a group of mechanized instruments. The band consists of an acoustic guitar, hammered dulcimer, bass guitar, vibraphone, tubular bells, and a drum kit. The acoustic guitar is the first instrument that appears in the animation and plays itself with pick installed to a hammer-like small arm. The dulcimer is the second to appear. It plays itself by using a hammer-like pick. The bass rises up with the drum set in the animation. It plays itself with blue picks and hammers, one used in only one mode (strum and hammered). The drum set, that appears with the bass guitar is a red drum set and plays itself with drum sticks. The vibraphone appears before the tubular bells. It plays itself by using purple mallets. The tubular bell set is the final instrument that appears in the animation.

Instruments[]

Instruments in the order they're presented:

Acoustic guitar (strummed)
Dulcimer (hammered)
Bass Guitar (strummed and hammered)
Drum kit, including a snare, bass drum, cymbals, and tom-toms, with purple mallets
Vibraphone
11 Tubular bells

Ranges[]

Guitar: E♭2-F5
Dulcimer: E♭2-F5
Bass: E♭1-F3
Vibraphone: C3-F5
Bells: B♭3-D5

Composition[]

This song is played mainly in C minor at 112 BPM. Also has some moments of 5/4 time signatures

Notes[]

Trivia[]

Acoustic Curves was written in 1999, alongside Aqua Harp.
The acoustic guitar occasionally plays a high note outside the range of the instrument.
If you look closely, you will be able to see that every string has the same mechanism used for playing, regardless of whether it is strummed, hammered, or both.
In fact, every single instrument apparently has a variation of this exact same mechanism specifically designed for it (even when the instrument is split into two parts, like the vibraphone and the drumset).
The song played during the set construction segment is the beginning of A Slight Delay.
The commentary for this animation describes nothing about the actual piece. Wayne Lytle instead uses the piece's running time to describe what goes into making each animation.
This is the only Animusic 1 song where there is at least one segment in which all the instruments are being played at the same time.

Solo Cams:

CAM 1: Yellow Hammer Dulcimer.
CAM 2: Blue Strummed and Hammered Bass Guitar.
CAM 3: Drum Kit.

Goofs[]

Strangely, as instruments not on a Solo Cam are faded in the background, the vibraphone is not heard at all on the CAM edition.

Gallery/Video[]

This is the gallery for Acoustic Curves.