Rob Martino profile picture

Rob Martino

About Me


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My life is a mix of musical and technological backgrounds, having studied both computer science and music (with a focus on combining the two). I'm originally from the Boston area, am a composer and developing Chapman Stick player. The Stick is an awesome "uber-instrument" developed by Emmett Chapman that has allowed me to incorporate many of the things I like about keyboard, guitar and bass (as well as techniques unique to the Stick) into my own playing style. I use a mirrored 4ths tuning, with the bass strings going from E to F and the melody strings from B to C.
Above are some recordings I did at home:
One Cloud, Conscious Stream and Noodle Soup are solo Chapman Stick compositions.
Mighty Wren is a rock piece with multi-tracked Stick and MIDI triggered drums.
Wond'ring Aloud is an arrangement of one of my favorite Jethro Tull acoustic tunes. The synth part in the second half is part of the solo performance, I developed a simple MAX/MSP software program that analyzes the bass note I'm playing and generates an appropriate major or minor synth chord whenever I press a pedal.
Feel free to visit my website for more music, both originals and some Jethro Tull Stick arrangements.
I also help develop audio plug-ins and virtual instruments for Wave Arts and Camel Audio .

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/28/2006
Band Website: robmartino.com
Band Members: Rob Martino - Chapman Stick
Influences: Jethro Tull, Rush, Marillion, Phideaux, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Yes, Wendy Carlos, Pink Floyd, Deus Ex Machina, Anglagard, Van Der Graaf Generator, echolyn, Sylvian/Fripp, Trey Gunn, Discipline, Collage, Tool, Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Greg Howard, Boston, Iron Maiden, The Police, The Cars, Asia, Bach, Beethoven, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky
Sounds Like: Mix of prog, folk, rock
Here are a few first attempts at homemade Stick videos which give a better sense of what the instrument is like than mp3s... a bit rough in some places, but I'm getting better. :-)
Rob Martino - One Cloud

Rob Martino - Noodle Soup

Rob Martino - Conscious Stream

Jethro Tull - Wond'ring Aloud:

Jethro Tull - Cheap Day Return:

Type of Label: None

My Blog

2007 year in review

As I was preparing myself a snack of cheese and crackers today, I was contemplating what a crazy year of highs and lows 2007 was. So I figured, perhaps one of my 3 or 4 subscribers would be intereste...
Posted by Rob Martino on Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:20:00 PST

Life is different now

My mother-in-law Christine, who lived with us most of the time my wife and I have been married the past 6 years, passed away Nov. 2 after a battle with colorectal cancer. She lived a life of many str...
Posted by Rob Martino on Sun, 25 Nov 2007 03:45:00 PST

Doomsday is here...

I'm extremely proud to have a little part on Phideaux's new art rock album Doomsday Afternoon... I dusted off the flute and played on the third track "Candybrain". I've listened to the album a few tim...
Posted by Rob Martino on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:31:00 PST

Getting back to normal

Things are starting to feel normal again, I'm off all my medication and the discomfort of my 12 inch abdmonimal incision is greatly reduced. I've lost 15 lbs since surgery, 7 of which was the liver t...
Posted by Rob Martino on Mon, 14 May 2007 08:36:00 PST

Back home

I'm back from a 5 day hospital stay, mentally and physically exhaused but greatly looking forward to a shower and sleeping in my own bed... nice to be home. :) Will write more later.
Posted by Rob Martino on Tue, 08 May 2007 07:41:00 PST

Going under the knife!

As you may have read in my last blog I've recently found out that I have a rather large (but most likely benign) tumor on my liver. It's called a hemangioma... they are considered large when over 5 c...
Posted by Rob Martino on Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:12:00 PST

Can't say life is boring these days (the good and the not so good)

Greetings, I thought I would inform my two readers of musical and personal things going on in my life these days. I am hard at work developing a set of solo Stick material suitable for live performan...
Posted by Rob Martino on Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:18:00 PST

NAMM report

Well I just got back from my third annual NAMM trip, officially on business for Wave Arts (one of the software companies I work for, made up of founder/DSP guru Bill Gardner and myself). We stayed at...
Posted by Rob Martino on Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:55:00 PST

Second Stick gig, new videos

Happy holidays to everyone... Well my second Stick gig wasn't as smooth as my first, I struggled with the instrument from the get go and had a real hard time maintaining concentration, my fingers were...
Posted by Rob Martino on Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:52:00 PST

First Stick gig

So I suppose I've entered a new phase in my Stick development, I played at a "Stick Night" in Charlottesville, VA featuring six different players and ending of course with one of the masters, Greg How...
Posted by Rob Martino on Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:35:00 PST