WHAT

This one is a short, 46-minute journey into the world below, but always ascending. And the world above, but drooping and perking up. Listen as these humans improvise in a no-holds barred explosion from the rocket-launch pad.

Minio Class: keys

Dan Rosenstark: drums

Mike Rosenstark: guitar

GEAR

Control: All rigs performed and routed via MIDI Designer Pro X on iPad.

Guitar and sources: Bleep Labs Thingamagoop, electric kalimba, Moog Little Phatty into Neural DSP Quad Cortex, Fractal VP-4 units, AM4, dual Eventide PitchFactor, Boomerang Phrase III with Sidecar. Augmented with Pianoteq, Native Instruments FM8, four spoken word channels, and six internet radio feeds, running on an Apple M1 MacBook Air with a full plugin chain.

Drums and percussion: Native Instruments Maschine MK3 and Jam, YouTube sound sources, ValhallaDelay, iZotope StutterEdit (the first one, thanks Devine).

Keys: Sequential Circuits Take5 and Arturia AstroLab 37.

Thanks to Ableton Link for keeping us together.

WHAT

They come in loud and the first few minutes are dense. Things overlap, then separate. Space shows up. They listen more than they talk. But it's always evolving. By the end it’s stretched out, slightly odd, and steady after pushing through the mess.

Kevin Brown: bass

Dan Rosenstark: drums

Mike Rosenstark: guitar

GEAR

Control: All rigs performed and routed via MIDI Designer Pro X on iPad.

Guitar and sources: Bleep Labs Thingamagoop, electric kalimba, Moog Little Phatty into Neural DSP Quad Cortex, Fractal VP-4 units, AM4, dual Eventide PitchFactor, Boomerang Phrase III with Sidecar. Augmented with Pianoteq, Native Instruments FM8, four spoken word channels, and six internet radio feeds, running on an Apple M1 MacBook Air with a full plugin chain.

Drums and percussion: Native Instruments Maschine MK3 and Jam, YouTube sound sources, ValhallaDelay, iZotope StutterEdit (the first one, thanks Devine).

Bass: 7-string Conklin fretted bass with Bartolini pickups into Fractal Audio AX8 and VP-4.

Thanks to Ableton Link for keeping us together.

They set up, find the missing cable, restart once, dial in levels. No count-in. A couple early starts, then they let it run. Some talking at first, then it settles. Ends up wide, varied, somehow cohesive anyway, the kind of session you keep coming back to because there’s more in it than you thought.

Bass through a Fractal Audio AX8. Drums, percussion, and spoken word via Maschine and Ableton. Guitar direct and processed in the chain. Everything controlled from iPad with MIDI Designer Pro X.

Nick Shelhoff: bass

Dan Rosenstark: drums, howling

Mike Rosenstark: guitar

Trio Session: newcomer Nick Shelhoff on 4-string bass (through a Fractal Audio AX8), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word using Maschine/Ableton (with MIDI Designer Pro X), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar.

Trio Session: newcomer Nick Shelhoff on 4-string bass (through a Fractal Audio AX8), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word using Maschine/Ableton (with MIDI Designer Pro X), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar.

Trio Session: newcomer Nick Shelhoff on 4-string bass (through a Fractal Audio AX8), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word using Maschine/Ableton (with MIDI Designer Pro X), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar.

Trio Session: newcomer Nick Shelhoff on 4-string bass (through a Fractal Audio AX8), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word using Maschine/Ableton (with MIDI Designer Pro X), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar.

Feb. '25 Quartet Session: newcomer Nick Shelhoff on 4-string bass (through a Fractal Audio AX8), Kevin Brown on 7-string bass (with Axe-FX III using MIDI Designer Pro X), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word using Maschine/Ableton (with MIDI Designer Pro X), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar (through Fractal Audio AX8, NeuralDSP Quad Cortex, a pair of Eventide PitchFactors, and a pair of Fractal VP4's, then through a zillion plugins on a macbook), synth, optical theremin, piano, and spoken word samples (with MIDI Designer Pro X).

March '25 Quartet Session: old friend Anthony Cornicello on Take 5 (through a Fractal AX8), Nick Shelhoff on 4-string bass (through an AX8), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word using Maschine/Ableton (with MIDI Designer Pro X), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar (through Fractal Audio AX8, NeuralDSP Quad Cortex, and 2 Eventide PitchFactors), synth, optical theremin, piano, and spoken word samples (with MIDI Designer Pro X).

Trio Session Wednesday, December 4, 2024. Nick Shelhoff: 7-string bass & Fractal Axe-FX III controlled by an iPad running MIDI Designer Pro 2; Mike Rosenstark on guitar-, guitar-like-noises, and spoken word samples using Gig Performer (awesome!). Dan Rosenstark on a custom rig using MIDI Designer Pro 2 on iPad and two Maschine controller (MK3 & Jam) to drive drums and spoken word in Ableton.