Disenchanted - Ron Grassi - The Miller Machine

Triangle

Finger Cymbal

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Horizontal

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Triangle Arm

Body

Finger Cym Arm

Plus Body

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All pieces interchangeable. Mix and match.

Beater Upgrade Kit

Extra Plastic Ties

Finger Cymbal Mount

Triangle Suspension Mount

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Photo of Miller Machine Trucker Cap in brown, with gold embroidery.

Brown/Gold

Long Sleeve

Grey/Black

Short Sleeve

Photo of Miller Machine 5 panel trucker cap with a Flaming M in red and yellow. Cap is a grey color.

Grey/Red

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Ron Grassi's setup for Disenchanted at the Steel River Playhouse, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

Ron's gear list and write-up below photos.

Ron Grassi's setup for Disenchanted at the Steel River Playhouse, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

Below: The Dootle Machine (description below)

Ron Grassi's setup for Disenchanted at the Steel River Playhouse, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

Drums:

Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Shell Pack - Raven Black Finish

Snare:

Yamaha 4"x14" Recording Custom Brass Snare Drum

Cymbals:

Zildjian 20" A Medium Ride
Zildjian 18" A Thin Crash
Zildjian 14" A Hi Hats
Zildjian 12" A Thin Crash
Zildjian 10" A Splash

Hardware:

Ludwig Series Single Kick Pedal (L415FPR)
Yamaha Hi-Hat Stand (HS-650WA)

Percussion:

LP Trap Table
LP Aspire Bongos
LP One-shot shakers (two - taped together)
Ratchet
LP 26-Bell Tree (LP450)
Grover Metal Slide Whistle (W10)
LP 36-bar Concert Chimes
LP Vibra-Slap (LP209)
Miller Machine with Alan Abel 6" Symphonic Triangle
LP Mounted Castanet Machine
LP Cyclops Mounted Tambourine (LP179)
LP Li'l Ridge Rider Mounted Cowbell
LP Jam Blocks High & low (Blue/Orange)

Electronics:

Roland SPD:ONE PERCUSSION Pad (for "gong" sound)
EV ZLX-12P Powered 12" Loudspeaker
"Dootle Machine" (custom built - see below) for sampled sound effects - timpani, chirping bird, Westminster chimes

Lumber:

Vic Firth "Steve Gadd" Signature Drumsticks with Nylon Tips
Vater KT-MAL-S Yarn Mallets (specifically for the MalletKat, custom built by Vater)
Vic Firth M6 Hard Keyboard Xylo/Bell Mallets, Black Phenolic - 1" Ball

The Dootle Machine:

"Disenchanted calls for a few sound effects which were unavailable to the Sound Tech, so the Dootle sound guy (based in Sammamish, Washington) designed and built a simple sound effects device for me.

This unit (a compact orange metal box) houses a timpani 'comic booinnnngggg', a chirping bird, and Westminster chimes. For you tech people, this unit is based on an Arduino microcontroller which has a few switches connected to its GPIO pins. A subroutine polls them for a button-press event, and when triggered, sends a command to a DF Player module to play the appropriate sound file.

Programming is quite easy - you plug the device into a laptop and you copy the sounds (in wave file format) to it. This machine is the prototype, and I'm assured by Mike (owner of Dootle) that several improvements are on the way."

Disenchanted - Regional - Ron Grassi
February 2022

Ron Grassi's setup for Disenchanted at the Steel River Playhouse, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

Conducting a National Tour by Danny Taylor

"Conducting a National Tour is incredibly challenging, but so rewarding. Stepping on to the podium with a new orchestra every few weeks really keeps you on your toes. Every player responds differently so you are constantly adjusting to get the desired result. I would compare it to playing a multi-percussion piece where the instruments are constantly moving."

5 min read

Reporting from the Broadway Trenches by Jon Berger

"After a grueling four years at SUNY I still had one theory class left to finish. I was really depressed. A classmate of mine recommended me for a tour of a Broadway show. This completely changed the course of my life."

7 min read

Drumming for "Ain’t Too Proud" by Clayton Craddock

"When I first got the call to start working on Ain’t Too Proud - The Life And Times Of The Temptations, I was curious about which era the show was going to focus on. Their career began in the early 1960’s and they’re still releasing albums today."