COVID-19 - How's everyone doing? Anyone playing more music?

Hey Equipboard fam,

If you don't usually open Equipboard emails... hi! I'm one of the founders of Equipboard.

Just wanted to reach out to our global community of musicians and gear geeks.

What a crazy time to be alive. Luckily, at Equipboard we're able to work from home pretty easily to keep the site going, so that's our Coronavirus update.

The room where I work at home is where I keep my guitars, amps, pedals, digital piano, etc. so there's a lot of opportunity to get distracted :)

Just wondering, anyone taking time to play more music as we're stuck at home? It's a good time to do so, whether you're just a hobbyist or diving deep into some online lessons, songwriting, or production.

Hope everyone stays well, and would love to hear from you!

❤️ from Austin, Texas, USA

ps. I saw this Tweet from producerHudson Mohawke, thought it was pretty relevant!

https://i.imgur.com/Me3aJAo.png

I'm working on a miniboard. It's a work in progress, but it is based on a Pedaltrain Nano+ foundation and powered by a Truetone CS6. The signal chain will go Sonic Research ST-300, EarthQuaker Devices Westwood overdrive, Walrus Audio Iron Horse V2 distortion, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Triangle fuzz, MXR Carbon Copy delay, and Catalinbread Talisman reverb. What do you think?

https://images.equipboard.com/uploads/gear_photo/image/6427/xl_Pedalboard_in_Progress.jpg

The Evidence Audio SIS cable kit will get here Saturday, so I'll post an update with the finished product soon.

Hey guys, warm greetings from Croatia. We are fine here, as you might have heard - Italy got hit pretty heard and the country I study (Slovenia) has over 300 cases of corona. I have managed to escape from Slovenia before they locked the whole country down. However, in the process of escaping (I had about 20 minutes to pack my stuff and leave), I left two of my guitars and managed to take my acoustic guitar only. Apart from guitars, I left many things in Slovenia, including my personal documents and most of my clothes. I felt like homeless when I first came back to Croatia. They closed all the borders so I can't quite get back to Slovenia.

I am bummed regarding that, mostly concerned for my colleagues in Slovenia and I am without my two guitars. They closed down everything that is not necessary, which means that I can't get my guitar strings. I am worried that those on the acoustic would break and then I would be guitarless. It's hell, since we don't know until when is this going to last.

I have been working on some new music, but most of the songs are in some ridiculous open tunings and don't have vocals yet... Will share them sometime.

my studio is no longer in my home and I'm really regretting moving most of my gear out. I just have a few a guitars and a few amps here and a digital piano :-(

there was just no space at my house for my collection of gear and I moved into my best friend's studio. We're now closed up, His wife's an ER doctor.

I guess I could just do some ITB productions in FL, but I miss my monster synth collection. I've only got a moog, ARP and an mks50 left here and my SSL interface didn't come yet.

working in healthcare myself I was potentially exposed myself for a few days this week before I threw in the towell so I'm taking my temperature a few times a day for the next 14 days. No symptoms yet but I'm pretty much self-isolated with my family. If I don't need to go get groceries I might not come out for the next week or so, maybe longer.

Everyone be safe. If you believe in anything then go ahead and pray.

the bulk of us on EB are relatively young and healthy and so should not be at risk in the long run, but be cautious having contact with your older loved ones....

@kkolar Holy shit man, well I'm glad to hear you're ok. 20 mins to pack and leave sounds INTENSE. Looks like the case count in Croatia is still pretty low. At least you have an instrument. I'm staying as isolated as possible myself, I actually don't know what the situation is regarding post offices otherwise I'd send you some strings or whatever you needed. Do any online stores deliver to you?

@jimmarchi1 Glad you're ok so far as well. And a few synths and guitars is better than nothing!

Already been in isolation for nearly two months due to injury at my dayjob. It's driving me batty. Damage was to my hands, as well. Makes it hard to play guitar/bass. Plan to make music has been put on hold, I'm still writing though, so that's bene.

No exposure to the virus that I'm aware of for me personally, though my area has started seeing cases jump up double digits nearly daily. I've got a couple of underlying health issues, so bit worried if I get it, I'm in a higher risk category despite being in my 30s.

You lot stay safe out there, wash your hands, cough into your elbow, and please, can't say it enough, stay safe.

KK, just make sure you respect the rules, stay in unless you need groceries... and given your forced evacuation from Slovenia maybe take your temperature a couple times a day for the next 14 days, which is what I'm doing after having so much patient contact at work

and most of the administrative staff was officially laid off yesterday (including me), if this persists for too long we'll all be out of jobs permanently as our company is a non-prof and may not survive... fortunately they're covering my health insurance until june, it'd be a bitch if I got this virus at work and then they took my health insurance, wouldn't it?

I am measuring my temperature and it doesn't exceed 35,9 Celsius, which is about as perfect as it can be - this is my normal temperature and I don't show any symptoms. I wasn't forcibly evacuated, I just left before borders closed. I wasn't ordered to leave. I hope that the company survives - although I am still not sure where do you work.

We just had a horrible earthquake in Zagreb (capital of Croatia) - no one died, but our cathedral got damaged and several buildings and cars were torn down. A 15-year-old child is in critical condition, we hope that it will get better. People are on the streets again, which is so, so, bad because of the current situation with coronavirus. I don't know what the hell is going on, but nevermind...

I am measuring my temperature and it doesn't exceed 35,9 Celsius, which is about as perfect as it can be - this is my normal temperature and I don't show any symptoms. I wasn't forcibly evacuated, I just left before borders closed. I wasn't ordered to leave. I hope that the company survives - although I am still not sure where do you work.

We just had a horrible earthquake in Zagreb (capital of Croatia) - no one died, but our cathedral got damaged and several buildings and cars were torn down. A 15-year-old child is in critical condition, we hope that it will get better. People are on the streets again, which is so, so, bad because of the current situation with coronavirus. I don't know what the hell is going on, but nevermind...

I wpork in behavioural health, mainly focused on finding outpatient services for folks with mental disorders although we also have therapy services for depressed housewives and ADHD kids which is ou bread and butter financially. But my thing is people with more severe pathologies, getting them in with our psychiatrists.... we had a lot of people in and out who maybe weren't focused on this virus, they were focused on their problems so everyone who had patient contact for the last 2 weeks could've been expsed, there were eople coughing up a storm and despite our encouragement not everyone observed social distancing

Hope everyone is doing fine right now even though the virus and everything surrounding it can be quite stressful at times.

Personally I play more music overall right now so I think that COVID-19 only has contributed to me having more time on my hands to play more. It has also allowed me to plan more gigs and make more music at home which is nice.

I was also talking with the owner of the local music shop in my hometown and we were discussing how everyone is gonna come out of quarantine as pros since they've had so much time on their hands :)

Much love and strength to everyone and keep on rocking! We'll get through this together.

anyone else mixing old recordings that they never had time to mix down before?

I'm currently re-writing some old stuff :)

anyone catch the corona yet? I just got rhough my 14 day self-impsoed quarantine and I felt ill for about 2 days with upper respiratory symptoms but if that was the virus then its pretty pitiful.... and I smoke! How is everyone holding up?

anyone catch the corona yet? I just got rhough my 14 day self-impsoed quarantine and I felt ill for about 2 days with upper respiratory symptoms but if that was the virus then its pretty pitiful.... and I smoke! How is everyone holding up?

Oh man, kinda scary but glad you're on the other side of it! Nothing here, just isolating myself, working from home. Trying to keep my usual routine intact, I'm fortunate to have a home gym so I try to hit some exercise at night. Picking up the guitar a little more often too.

New hobbies include keeping my venus flytrap alive, and tinkering with my motorcycle, making some upgrades to it, etc. I neither have a green thumb nor am I menchanically inclined, so if I get through this quarantine without having destroyed either thing that's a win for me lol

Temp of 37.4. Only symptom though. Don't know if it's SARS CoV-2, or if it's Flu, or if it's underlying health issues (like recurring malaria). Not going to the doctor until other symptoms present, or fever spikes to above 38. It's already got the healthcare in my area strained, I don't want to add to it if I don't have to.

Self-isolating as much as possible (due to work injury, the wife has to help me with many daily tasks--including getting dressed... ;.;), staying indoors, and not taking visitors.

Bright side? Making music. Not music like I've made before, but making music none the less. Nearly finished with my first ever all MIDI track. Pretty pleased with it. Got to use my fancy new Arturia Keylab Essential 61 as well.

Again, like my last post, wash your hands, cough into your elbow or summat else, don't touch your face, and STAY. SAFE.

Temp of 37.4. Only symptom though. Don't know if it's SARS CoV-2, or if it's Flu, or if it's underlying health issues (like recurring malaria). Not going to the doctor until other symptoms present, or fever spikes to above 38. It's already got the healthcare in my area strained, I don't want to add to it if I don't have to.

That's good of you! Wishing you a speedy recovery! What part of the world are you in?

Temp of 37.4. Only symptom though. Don't know if it's SARS CoV-2, or if it's Flu, or if it's underlying health issues (like recurring malaria). Not going to the doctor until other symptoms present, or fever spikes to above 38. It's already got the healthcare in my area strained, I don't want to add to it if I don't have to.

That's good of you! Wishing you a speedy recovery! What part of the world are you in?

East Coast of the USA, currently. State I'm in hasn't been hit as hard as others, but it's also not a super rich state, and the hosptials aren't super great. And because I'm sure the question is there, I grew up in Sudan, that's how I ended up saddled with the malaria (and why even though I'm in the US and have been here more than a decade now I still use the metric system).

Kudos for surviving, team.... although the virus isn't superlatively deadly, bitches might be coming for your toilet paper with dull axes and sharpened baseball bats!

I might go to my mother in law's to get the rest of my son's Lego and some of her TP stash so on the way back I can hit my studio. What gear should I grab? I'm thinking Volka Kick, Arp Odyssey full size, Pittsburgh Modular Microvolt, Mopho X4 or Prologue and maybe my DW6000? thoughts? I hurt my finger so I'm not playing any guitar.

Also... when this clears up enough to make a parts order, who wants a jim-watt? I could start wiring boards I just need transformers and chassis/headboxes to complete them. I'm so bored (pun intended) that I would sell them for cost. Free labor.

raided the studio for more gear yesterday... new track coming. Really bonding with my old korg dw6k today.