182 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
182 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
[ See also the p-drop script for related material ]
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Subject: CenterPointe HoloSync entry level analysis
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I received the entry level package in the CenterPointe HoloSync
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programme a couple of weeks before Christmas. I've been using it more
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or less every day since.
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I hadn't been tempted to analyse what frequencies they'd been using
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until just recently, and now I've got some results that might be
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interesting to others on this list.
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Basically, they are using plain binaurals with no fancy tricks at all,
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as far as I can make out. It is simple enough that I don't even think
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they would object to me showing you.
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See this image for an overview of the beat frequencies in the
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entry-level "Dive", their basic 30-minute track to listen to each day:
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(The image is in my 'temp' directory, so I may delete it in a few
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months).
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http://uazu.net/temp/dive-beats.gif
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So, this is very reassuring for the rest of us experimenters out here.
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I think what it shows is that you don't need anything too fancy -- the
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thing that matters more is the dedication to keep using it.
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I think the thing that makes their programme work is the structure and
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encouragement they give to people who have signed up, rather than
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purely the raw technology. I mean, it's the technology that does the
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work, but it can't do anything for you unless you listen to it often
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enough (e.g. every day), and that is where the support system and
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structure comes in. They apparently send out letters or packages
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every two weeks once you're on the programme. There is loads of
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stuff, too much to handle (in 4-5 weeks I have received in total 5 CDs
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of talks, a couple of subliminal soundtracks, a 'bonus' CD, a book,
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and loads of 'special reports' etc). This is what makes their
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programme tick -- the activity and constant reminders to stick with
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it.
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Anyway, apart from the binaural beats you can see in the image above,
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there are also other sounds on the tracks. There is a constant
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background of falling rain, which seems to increase and decrease in
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strength at times. There are also some kinds of bells (or 'crystal
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bowls'). These resonate, and this sound seems to go right through
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your brain sometimes. At times I thought I heard sub-bass tones, but
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I haven't found those yet through analysis.
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I know they claim that it is the binaurals that are doing all the
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work, but the other sounds must have some effect, psychologically at
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least. When I was doing analysis to find the binaurals, I noticed
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that the 'bell' sounds often modulated at delta-frequency kinds of
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rates, for instance (although not binaurally).
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You can hear an example of the whole thing on their MP3 demo on their
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website:
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http://www.centerpointe.com/links.cfm?ad=27103
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Anyway, back to the binaurals. Their idea is that deeper levels of
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their programme use lower and lower carrier frequencies. You take
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this stage-by-stage, spending 4-6 months on each level, requiring 12
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levels and about 7 years for the whole thing. By the end you can be
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entraining to carriers down as low as 4-8Hz, and using special
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headphones. The lowest beat frequency they entrain to is 0.2Hz, I
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believe. In much later levels they also do use some night-long
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entrainment. (All the above information is my impression from the
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various materials sent, and so on, and I may have got some of the
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details wrong).
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Each level takes as long as it does in order to allow any emotional
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junk to clear as necessary.
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The entry-level "Awakening" that I have here uses carriers around
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140-145Hz. The demo on the site uses carriers around 85Hz. (Who
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knows what level that corresponds to!)
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Anyway, here are the frequencies, approximately, for the entry-level
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"Dive", with about 3 minutes on each, using SBaGen notation
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(i.e. centre carrier frequency, then beat frequency, so 100+2 means
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101Hz and 99Hz; a negative sign (100-2) would put the channels the
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other way around).
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144.6+10
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144.3+9
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143.9+8
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143.4+7
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142.9+6
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142.4+5
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141.7+3.5 (x2)
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141.3+2.6 (x2)
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These values are not too accurate -- probably +/- 0.1. Also, I had to
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use a long filter (0.1Hz low-pass) to get these values, as the signal
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levels are quite unstable. I don't know if this is intentional, or
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simply a side-effect of the rest of the audio going on. If they put
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the whole thing through a dynamic compressor (the kind of compressor
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you use in a music studio), it could perhaps have had this effect.
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Also, one channel is often louder than the other.
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Maybe all these things are significant, and I'm missing some big
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secret in their technique, or maybe it is all accidental. I really
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can't say.
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"Immersion", which is the 30-minute CD you use immediately after
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listening to "The Dive", once you have got used to "The Dive" by
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itself, just keeps you at a nice low beat frequency for the whole
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track:
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141.4-2.5
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Apart from that there is more rain, varying, but no bells, if I
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remember rightly. However, I'm often far away by this stage. I think
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there may be some other sounds/tones around as well.
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Regarding levels for the binaurals, these vary between about 0.5 and
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0.2, using SBaGen notation again (i.e. between 0.5% and 0.2% of the
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amplitude of full-scale sine-waves), assuming I count the quieter of
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the two tones when they are unbalanced. However, the tracks
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themselves aren't too loud (except for the resonances), so these might
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need adjusting.
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Incidentally, is it possible, do you think, that this left-right
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imbalance is intentional, to give some kind of bias towards one side
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of the brain? I can't be sure myself.
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Now, looking at the MP3 Demo on their site. This one is quite
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confused -- there is a loud tone one one side, and a much quieter one
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on the other. The difference is large -- much larger than in the
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packaged level -- the signal in the left ear is 6x greater amplitude
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than the right. There also seems to be significant cross-over,
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perhaps due to the joint-stereo encoding. However, the binaural
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effect is still clearly present in the analysis:
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http://uazu.net/temp/demo-beats.gif
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The tones go like this, about 2:30 each one, taking 18 minutes in
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total:
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86.3-10.2
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85.8-9.1
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85.3-8.0
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84.8-7.0
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84.3-6.0
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83.9-5.3
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83.5-4.4
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So, there we are. Never mind slides or long fades or anything like
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that, just plain tones seem to be doing the job, at least for the
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binaural part of the HoloSync package. (Add to that: rain, resonating
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bells, "Silent Subliminals" in later levels, possible unidentified
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low-frequency content, huge amounts of support materials, and so on,
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and so on).
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So, that's interesting, I think. I certainly don't mind recommending
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their programme now to other people, so long as those people are
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willing and able to pay the asking price.
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For myself, I don't have the cash for later levels, so I'll probably
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be experimenting with lowering carrier frequencies in my own way. If
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cash were not an issue, though, I would be tempted to carry on with
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the programme.
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That's it for now --
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Jim
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P.S. Incidentally, in writing this note and my web-site pages, I've
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been trying to send all the uncertain people with cash to spend and a
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need for support to CenterPointe, keeping the remaining hard-core
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experimenters to play with SBaGen. I think this serves everyone's
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purposes, and avoids any collision of interest when I reverse-engineer
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their tracks, like I just did above.
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--
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Jim Peters (_)/=\~/_(_) jim@uazu.net
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(_) /=\ ~/_ (_)
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Uaz<61> (_) /=\ ~/_ (_) http://
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B'ham, UK (_) ____ /=\ ____ ~/_ ____ (_) uazu.net
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Design/view/compare digital filters with Fiview: http://uazu.net/FI
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