Greg Mein

After spending days running a chainsaw to clear out tree limbs and continuing work to pack things up and move them into storage it's fair to say I have disaster fatigue in a very literal sense. I'd never heard of a Derecho until the day I was standing there looking at the attic through what used to be a ceiling.

This is funny because my wife and I do 2/3 rounds of the Champs Tequila song as kind of an ice breaker when we return from break with me on guitar and her on the EWI-5000. She does some Pee Wee Herman dancing and people love it, some even join in. You get to the break and everyone knows what to shout!

I've found it quite sufficient and obviously much easier to go direct with my Takamine EF341SC for the few acoustic things I've added on my live gig backing tracks. It would be fun to try some other techniques when I ever allot some time to my own recording projects. Overall though, since my "productions" have never gone beyond a home recording demo level and I'm often pressed for time it's typically much easier to record direct for the acoustic and use my Digitech GSP1101, Line 6 software of Amplitube for electrics. I certainly like the idea of mic on amp though and I actually did that with my little '59 Gibson Skylark the last time I was recording some guitar. It's fun to compare those tracks to others recorded in a more direct fashion.

As retirement is now looming I'm wondering what the potential for part time employment might be with my musicianship and technical skills in relationship to the advances taking place with MIDI? I realize that's a fairly vague and open ended question but I'm looking for what people might think is ahead in the "new normal" future where tech marches on. I've often considered the possibility of getting an audition with a national touring act of some kind but that's obviously not a reality for a while yet perhaps and might even be more than I want to commit too. I knew I could run an amp/equipment repair shop if I were to stay where I'm at but I'm definitely moving out west where I won't have any connections, reputation or history. Perhaps there will be opportunities in programming apps/programs/hardware controllers?

I can hardly wait to hear how the weather hot babes and buff dudes pronounce it Seriously...who comes up with these names? It's like the Weather Channel naming Winter storms. It used to be "there's a Winter storm coming," not "Winter storm Alcibiades has its sights set on Montana." Since the next hurricane name will start with J, I'm pushing for Jaxxon or Jasembishuthutranp. Perhaps we are returning to the days of Greek Gods and mythology, that could be fun!

So is MIDIable the app/program you're using? I don't see anything searching google. Sounds rather fascinating and no doubt could be fun and open up a lot of possibilities!

Working from home is just not an option for me where my technician position requires me to be working at test benches/stations full of oscilloscopes, signal generators, spectrum analyzers, waveform generators, frequency counters, meters, custom fixtures, etc. ad infinitum. It would be nearly impossible to get all that into my house and also I work on different projects each of which has a completely different setup. No I'm stuck going in daily!

I used to build my own cables but haven't in a long time. Since my last couple moves I've never got a test bench setup back together and actually sold my o'scope and some other equipment, however, I do plan to get a test bench setup together again after the move out of state next year, the one I hope to be my last. It's kind of sad because when I have a cable go bad now I just toss them out even though they'd likely be easy to fix.

Yes, you have to get close to someone that is infected. But since it looks like 40-60% of those that have it are asymptomatic, how could you know? That's an understandable and valid concern and it's actually quite possible that I have been near someone who has/had it in an asymptomatic fashion but no one has been coughing or sneezing near me and I totally respect the space of anyone that I don't actually know, even under normal circumstances, while I don't generally spend much time interacting with them. My responses and comments here over these months may give some the impression that I'm being flippant or living a devil may care lifestyle but nothing could be further from the truth. I know what's going on around me, stay informed while ignoring media sensationalism and trust the knowledge and opinions of professionals I know. I typically approach things using logic, reasoning and critical thinking and I'm certainly not the type to get panicky or hysterical. I'd like to think that we all know this thing is not going away and nothing can change that, ever, but at the same time this is not the end all and there are many other threats in life we must face sometimes daily. I personally know of some success stories and have read and heard about many more, in fact, we've learned at this point that most people recover and get back to their lives. My wife tells me of a couple she knows in their mid 80's who recently had it, recovered and have gone on with their lives. A few people where I work have contracted it, quarantined, recovered and returned to work. Obviously I feel sad for the inevitable casualties along the way and hope not to become one but I'm not silly enough to think I can hide away from a virus indefinitely. I may end up with it or have already had it, many have or will but I feel strongly about my ability to cope and survive and if not, I've had a good run! The other day I learned that from the google search bar you can type in literally any three digit number followed by "new cases" and there will appear a list of articles about covid-19 cases that contain that exact number. I tried a whole list and it freaked me out. Left me with a creepy feeling as if I was being manipulated within some sort of horror/sci-fi movie or book!

My wife and I did two gigs in June, we hired an excellent band to play at our annual 3rd of July party where we and other friends also spent time on stage. Tomorrow night we've got friends coming to our house after some bachelor/bachelorette festivities and we've agreed to play for them. Sunday we have an afternoon gig at a town 30 miles east and then August 1st we're scheduled to appear at a lake side bar on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We recently returned from our M/C vacation trip where we rode just barely shy of 3300 miles through eight different states, stayed in hotels, dined out and did "touristy" things to the extent that we could. From my own account I've spent over $3400 dining out so far this year. I'm certain people would be astounded at some of the activities I participated in and yet I haven't contracted this virus. The reason is actually quite simple, you actually have to get intimately close to someone who is actually infected to get this. You can choose to believe that or not however there's no denying that I'm the living proof.

It's complicated.......well no, not really! I met my wife on match.com, our 4th anniversary is only a few days away. In late 2015 the relatively long term relationship I'd been in had become irreconcilable and I decided to have a try with on-line dating. Initially it actually was a little complicated since I was still living in a mutually owned home with the ex. We got that sorted out soon enough and I bought another house that turned out to be a storage facility/practice space more than anything else. I put a lot of thought into creating my profile because I wanted to be as honest and upfront as possible. I used my pseudonym GG Midi as a sort of code to indicate I was a musician. I was in a busy and popular local band at the time so I made mention of that commitment. I also made it clear that I was a fairly hardcore biker and had intentions to move away from the area after retiring. Soon the responses began rolling in......well, not exactly, but I was getting a few. The profile for my wife to be had never appeared for me but apparently my profile was popping up for her frequently she has stated and at some point she decided to message me. Her profile was vague and it was obvious she wasn't taking it very serious but her credentials were extremely impressive with post doctorate degrees and such. We began text chatting and after a few weeks I'd weeded out most others and invited her to meet me for dinner. Things went well and the relationship developed from there. We had similar interests, ideas and a common sense of what is adventure and fun. She made it clear a little while into it that if the relationship was going to progress marriage would have to be involved so I caved and took the leap!

I have not had the test but my wife did about a month ago. Neither of us are/were experiencing symptoms but she volunteered so as to ad to the data pool and as a health care professional at the University Hospitals/Clinics testing was convenient and easily accessible for her. It only took a couple days for her results which were negative. I didn't figure it was really necessary for me to take a test after that and there really hasn't been any specific reason or convenient access for me to do so. We were both sick with some sort of cold/flu around the first week of January but otherwise, except for some typical mild seasonal allergy symptoms, I haven't been this healthy in years it would seem. I was left wondering, if covid-19 is as contagious as some reports would seemingly lead you to believe, why is it necessary to shove a cotton swab so deep into your nasal cavity?

I had this weird little Yamaha electronic drum for a while. It was pretty cheesy overall but I created a beat once that was so cool I built a whole song around it.

I'm just wondering if anyone noticed that this peaked back in mid-April and has been declining steadily since? CDC Death Count

The mechanical engineering involved in that thing is amazing, though. It's right on with the size, weight and hookup ease but apparently has way more functionality than what I need for some simple transport controls and to switch chunks. There are a couple others that look interesting but most of these footswitch devices appear designed more for amp/effects type control. I probably shouldn't have sold the iRig Blueboard, it might have done what I need. The LPK-25 actually does what I need quite handily but I have to set it on my keyboard with the fear that it'll fall off, the surfaces are not conducive to using velcro. Back when I was still in the band and using the full size FA-08 I was able to use the built in controls on that keyboard but the Krome 61 doesn't have that ability. It's not a show stopper, just something I've been looking into a bit.

I don't know about anyone else but I got to feeling that Reason upgrades were just becoming too frequent so I'm still on ver 10. I honestly haven't been using it for a while but I've always really liked it and have gotten a lot out of it. I remember being a bit annoyed when they came out with the fancy mixer because I didn't see any way for previous projects to easily switch over to using it.

I was hoping I could find a footswitch type unit that would have similar functionality to the Akai LPK-25 mini USB keyboard I currently use to trigger things in DP. Most devices appear too "clunky" for what I want; lightweight, small, no power supply or other connections other than USB. I did find this little Keith McMillen SoftStep but wow, $370 seems awful high for that type of device!

Last night, on a different forum, I discovered what it must have felt like for Nicolaus Copernicus when he blasphemed the church with his theory that the Earth is not the center of the universe when I stated the simple medical fact that covid-19 is not an airborne disease!

I bought the Roland Mobile Cube for my wife and may get one for myself. Boom box small, battery or adapter, stereo input pair as well as a "mic" input (all 1/4"). We're currently using it for a monitor on gigs but is great for traveling with keys/guitar.

Seems a little reminiscent of the Combinator in Reason which is what came to mind when I saw the promo emails.

I have a few waves plug-ins and a couple instruments but for my live project I'm only using the Tune Real-Time. If ever there comes a time when I can return to my backlog of original stuff it might be well worth looking into.

Pitting reality against the drone of the idiot box is a losing battle!

I was getting the emails about it but didn't look into it so I don't understand the concept or need for it. It appeared interesting but my bandwidth is limited; I'm still working full time and my time for music is limited to continuing to work on backing tracks for my duo where we did another gig last Friday night and I tried out some further adjustments I'd made to our setup. In addition to that we have a big annual party we're prepping for on the 3rd of July and then going on vacation soon after that.

Did anyone pick up any great deals at the "event"? I spent some time looking at the listings and saw some things that interested me but nothing I felt I really needed to have (which I can assure you would have been different if I'd physically been there!). There was never a sale price on the interface I might have bought and there were a couple other reasons for me holding off on ordering things I don't absolutely need; going on vacation soon and moving out of state next year.

I joined it last year at the recommendation of a biker group I enjoy on FB. Must admit I haven't spent much time there and haven't really learned how to navigate it. The premise for switching over was that there's less "nanny stateism" which totally appeals to me, I'm terrible at following rules or directives by people who haven't earned my respect. I don't know that I've ever been in the so-called FB jail but I may have had a post or two removed in the time I've been on it. It's quite understandable that bikers would veer away from FB. Perhaps less so for musicians who tend to follow along the more liberal idealist path but there's a "Musicians of MEWE" group I joined there.