Binaural Tones with Surf 2

[Gale_Andrews]

@steve

There’s a couple of things where feedback from users would be useful:

1) Work flow:

Which option fits best with a “typical” work flow?
Option a) All of the initial settings followed by all of the final settings.
Option b) Alternate initial and final settings.

Option a)

• Duration
• Initial Tone Frequency
• Initial Beat Frequency
• Initial Amplitude
• Final Tone Frequency
• Final Beat Frequency
• Final Amplitude

Option b)

• Duration
• Initial Tone Frequency
• Final Tone Frequency
• Initial Beat Frequency
• Final Beat Frequency
• Initial Amplitude
• Final Amplitude

I prefer option a) as does the person I mentioned above.

@steve

2) Pink Noise

How useful is this feature really? (I note your comments earlier in this thread, but I think it would be useful to get feedback from users).

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats

Some people find pure sine waves unpleasant, so a pink noise or another background (e.g. natural sounds such as river noises) can also be mixed with them.

As the “sensed amplitudes vary with the beat frequency” it would probably be best if the amplitude of the noise could vary independently of the tone amplitude - that adds at least one more slider and even then it will be hard to judge what an appropriate level will be. If the noise was generated into a second audio track then the mix can be easily and precisely adjusted.

I think second audio tracks will be counter-productive. Person above would not want any noise. From what a few people have said who want noise, it sounds as if noise is an independent feature of the experience even if higher beat frequencies may be perceived as louder. I think they may want an initial and final noise mix %, or more likely a maximum noise % and a choice box for the “shape” of the noise:

• Constant
• Zero to Max +
• Max to Zero +
• Zero > Max > Zero +

The + choices could have three more options using “half” instead of “zero”, but the important one that an initial and final mix % won’t cater for is the the max in the middle.

This is a suggestion based on only a few people, so if there are people on the Forum who have written before asking for binaural tones, it may be an idea to see if you can PM them.

@steve

Then the option of what kind of noise.
Non-technical users are likely to have a very general idea (at best) of what “Pink” noise is (“shushing” that’s a bit softer than white noise), but “noise” can have any frequency profile that you like. In some contexts Pink noise may be too harsh or too bassy, but if it is generated along with the tones the possibilities of altering it (without affecting the tones) become limited.

I would have thought that only one option (constant proportion of pink noise) would be too specific, but adding other options will increase the complexity and the number of sliders. Personally I still think it would be better to have a separate “Ambient Noise” generator plug-in.

People want to get to their experience as fast as possible, so I’m pretty sure an all-in-one is needed for the majority.

As to colour of noise, some people said they found David’s surf noise “too much like the sea” or “obliterates the tones”. I think they may want to “colour” the tone rather than mask it. From what the Audacity tone generators do, brown sounds as if it may be better? I’ve given a few people the address of this thread, but I don’t know if they will want to register and contribute.


Gale

[steve]

@Gale Andrews

I prefer option a) as does the person I mentioned above.

Good, so do I
For the “Advanced” input it makes more sense to do it that way, so that’ll keep the format consistent between normal GUI input and advanced text input.

Re. Noise
As a compromise I can keep in a feature for noise (for those that want instant gratification) but keep it pretty basic so as to avoid making the GUI too complex (as with v6, but perhaps with one additional “Noise Color” / “Noise Timbre” / “Noise Spectrum” control).
Users could be encouraged to use a separate track if they want better control of the noise, but the best encouragement would be to not include noise at all.

[steve]

I received an e-mail on this subject asking for one parameter box for the user to enter (all in one data line):

Left channel tone frequency INITIAL hz.
Left channel tone frequency END hz.
Time duration.
Right channel tone frequency INITIAL hz.
Right channel tone frequency END hz.
Time duration.

Here’s the plug-in:
stereo-sweep.ny (1.89 KB)
I’ve called it “Stereo Sweep” (because that is what it does).