music4yourTrip :: Real-time improvised electronic music

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.

Three-quarters of an hour-long improvisational journey from September 2024. Featuring newcomer and rising star Nick Shelhoff on 7-string bass & Axe-Fx III, Dan Rosenstark on Maschine and Korg Kaoss KP3+ pad, and Mike Rosenstark on guitar. The trio explores dynamic and immersive soundscapes, with each rig utilizing MIDI Designer Pro X on iPad for tactile control and MIDI looping.

Embark on a juggernaut hour-long improvisational journey from June 2024. Featuring Kevin Brown on 7-string bass & Axe-Fx III, Dan Rosenstark on Maschine and Roland TR-8S drum machine, and Mike Rosenstark on guitar. The trio explores dynamic and immersive soundscapes, with each rig utilizing MIDI Designer Pro X on iPad for tactile control and MIDI looping.

Trio session recorded June 2023. Kevin Brown on 7-string bass (through Axe-FX III, controlled by MIDI Designer Pro 2 on iPad), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word with Maschine/Ableton (controlled by MIDI Designer Pro 2), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar, synth, optical theremin, piano, and spoken word samples (MIDI Designer Pro 2 & Guitar Rig).

Session From January 28, 2024. Personnel: Kevin Brown, 7-string bass; Dan Rosenstark, percussion; Mike Rosenstark, guitar and guitar-like noises.

Trio Session Thursday, September 7, 2023. Kevin Brown: 7-string bass & Fractal Axe-FX III controlled by an iPad running MIDI Designer Pro 2; Mike Rosenstark on guitar-, guitar-like-noises, and some 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.

Trio session recorded June 2023. Kevin Brown on 7-string bass (through Axe-FX III, controlled by MIDI Designer Pro 2 on iPad), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word with Maschine/Ableton (controlled by MIDI Designer Pro 2), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar, synth, optical theremin, piano, and spoken word samples (MIDI Designer Pro 2 & Guitar Rig). It's been a while, and we've evolved a lot since our last session: hope you like the new things you hear!

Trio session recorded April 18, 2023. Kevin Brown on 7-string bass (through Axe-FX III, controlled by MIDI Designer Pro 2 on iPad), Dan Rosenstark on drums, percussion and spoken word with Maschine/Ableton (controlled by MIDI Designer Pro 2), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar, synth, optical theremin, piano, and spoken word samples (MIDI Designer Pro 2 & Guitar Rig). It's been a while, and we've evolved a lot since our last session: hope you like the new things you hear!

Dan visits from Florida--and Kevin & Mike join him for an extended session. Featuring Kevin Brown on 7-string bass, Dan Rosenstark on Maschine (controlled by MIDI Designer for iPad) and Mike Rosenstark on guitar and guitar-like noises

Trio session recorded May 26, 2022. Kevin Brown on bass, Dan Rosenstark on Maschine & MIDI Designer, and Mike Rosenstark on guitar.

This is an experiment in remote music making. Dan created the percussion and english-language spoken word track; Mike then took that track and, while listening to it, recorded two completely separate tracks using guitar, synth & non-english-language spoken word. THEN, during the mixing stage, when Mike was comparing his two performances, he hit upon a novel idea: why not just use BOTH TRACKS, even though each was recorded without listening to the other? They were BOTH recorded IN SYNC, and they were BOTH recorded while listening to Dan's (excellent) track. So, there are bound to be cool coincidences, as well as horrific collisions of tonality. Enjoy.

A trio session from March 17, 2022. Kevin Brown on 7-string bass, Dan Rosenstark on MIDI Designer and Maschine and Jam, and Mike Rosenstark on guitar and guitar-like noises.

A trio session featuring Kevin Brown on 7-string bass, Dan Rosenstark on Maschine & Jam, and Mike Rosenstark on guitar and guitar-like noises.

An entire trio session recorded on January 13, 2022: Kevin Brown on 7-string fretted bass (through a Fractal Audio Axe-FX III controlled via MIDI Designer); Dan Rosenstark on Maschine, Jam & assorted electronic percussion & looping (on a rig controlled by the latest & greatest version of MIDI Designer, with Dan exploiting all the latest features); and Mike Rosenstark on guitar and guitar-like noises, as processed by an elaborate rig controlled by MIDI Designer.

Excerpts from a trio session on January 13, 2022: Kevin Brown on 7-string fretted bass (through a Fractal Audio Axe-FX III controlled via MIDI Designer); Dan Rosenstark on Maschine, Jam & assorted electronic percussion & looping (on a rig controlled by the latest & greatest version of MIDI Designer, with Dan exploiting all the latest features); and Mike Rosenstark on guitar and guitar-like noises, as processed by an elaborate rig controlled by MIDI Designer.

Dan Rosenstark: Maschine, Mike Rosenstark: Baritone guitar, synth, voices and so forth. Sometimes, the best sessions happen when the people recording are ticked off. And such is the case here! As Dan was annoyed that Mike suddenly announced that (via the "Radio" plugin) he was incorporating spoken word into his rig. Dan thus rightfully decided that he would retaliate for Mike's "getting in his territory" with the spoken word stuff by "playing the guitar," meaning he would play some horrifically bastardized simulacrum of guitarishness made available to him by Maschine. HOWEVER, due to the power of the rigorous debate between Mike & Dan's competing aesthetic viewpoints, the art produced thereby (at least, the first seventeen minutes of it) is quite listenable and poppy, almost. Almost.

June 24, 2021 session, Dan on Maschine, Mike on Baritone guitar. This is the one where Mike played around extensively with the Sequencer hidden in the Moog Little Phatty.

Trio recorded September 24, 2020. Kevin in a separate room for social distancing! Dan Rosenstark on Maschine & MIDI Designer, Mike Rosenstark on guitar, and Kevin Brown on 7-string bass.

Mike Rosenstark on Baritone (B-B) guitar, Dan Rosenstark on Maschine.

Jam session on January 9, 2020. Dan Rosenstark: Maschine & Percussion & Spoken Word sampling; Kevin Brown: 10-string bass; Mike Rosenstark: guitar and guitar-like noises.

A duo session featuring Dan Rosenstark on Maschine (and cool spoken word samples taken straight from the web and twisted beyond recognition), and Mike Rosenstark on guitar.

Jam session on September 26, 2019. Dan Rosenstark: Maschine & Percussion & Voice sampling; Kevin Brown: 7-string bass; Mike Rosenstark: guitar and guitar-like noises.

11/21/2019 Duet: Dan Rosenstark on Percussion and Mike Rosenstark on guitar. First eight minutes are pretty dang cool. 18:00 and on is interesting; starting at 21:00 until about 26:30 makes me transcend this physical plane of existence. Taken as one contiguous unit, the first 26 minutes of this session are great. Dan particularly does some great work with "speech mangling," a recent addition to his bag of tricks that I quite enjoy. As should you!

An excerpt from a trio session on February 6, 2017, featuring Kevin Brown on bass, Dan Rosenstark on Maschine percussion, and Mike Rosenstark on guitar.