procyon questions

[Lakusha]

I just got my procyon and love it but I do have a few questions. I intend to create my own Synchromuse sessions. It seems really easy and there is great documentation and tools available except about DC Offset and DC cycle. I know I will have to experiment with these settings but would appreciate others sharing their experience with them; anything that can be used as guidance as I don't really grasp them yet.

I am also interested in biofeedback and one thing that caught my eye in the procyon guide before I bought it was on page 11:

Utilities/Create PreSage Biofeedback Segment

This function will be activated when our PreSage biofeedback system is released
early in 2007, and allows users to use the multiple channels of biofeedback
provided by PreSage to control various parameters of your Procyon light and
sound session.

Now that I have more time to dig into it I find that PreSage was never released after all and seems to be vaporware. Have I missed something? Why is it still mentioned in the official documentation?

While I am at it is there some online documentation about MindGames? What I have found so far doesn't really explain what to expect.

And last but not least will there ever be a Mac version of the Procyon Editor?

ps: anybody ever tried to hook the procyon to led arrays?

Thanks

Eric

[Andy]

Hello Lakusha and Welcome!

Glad to hear you're enjoying your new purchase.

There's quite a bit about DC offset and Duty Cycle in the Editor Manual, starting at page 15, but it sounds like you've found that already.

DC offset is an amount that the lights will "stay on" in that segment. i.e. if the DC offset is set to 255, the lights are on all the time. If it's set between 127 and 255, then the lights will not go completely off. If it's set below 127, then the lights will only come on for the top part of the waveform, and if it's set to 0, the lights won't come on at all.

Duty Cycle is the ratio of on vs. off. There are some good examples starting on Page 19 with pictures in the Editor Manual regarding that, although they call it "Pulse Width" in that section.

The PreSage did not materialize. The manual does need to be updated.

There is documentation regarding MENTAL games on the ThoughtStream support page.

A Mac version of the Editor would require someone with Mac programming experience to step up. We're all PC folks here at MindPlace.

There are some threads about hooking up the Procyon to LED arrays, but the most interesting one is here.

[Lakusha]

Thank you. These are good links...lots to read and experiment with yet:-)

Eric

[neuroasis]

Hi Lakusha and welcome from me as well...

Just to expand a bit on what Andy has said....

DC Offset is probably the most difficult concept in programming the Procyon. It was what drove me (work completed by MarkT) to create the ability to visualize the effect with Excel graphs. You can now see the effect somewhat in the Visual Segment developer if you realize that 255 is the cutoff point and the wave 'clips' above this. That means it is flattened.
Here is a graphic that shows this.

Used in conjunction with Amplitude you can create flat waves that for instance could be used as Ganzfelds.

Future training videos will cover this.

Duty Cycle only works on the square waves. A true square wave has a duty cycle of 50% (127). That means it is 'on' for the same duration that it is 'off'. A Duty Cycle of 25% (64) creates a 'pulse' wave (as it can no longer be considered a true square). It is 'on' for 25% off its cycle and 'off' for 75%.

If it was a 1Hz pulse wave then the entire cycle is 1 second. So the square wave is on for 500ms and off for 500ms. A Duty Cycle setting of 64 (25%) would mean that it on for 250ms and off for 750ms.

Make sense? Again future videos will show this.

In a session, think of this as flicker intensity. The shorter the wave is on, for example at 64 or below, at high frequencies the more intense the flicker seems. It strobes more. The longer the wave is on the 'smoother' the flicker seems...

Future videos on Mental Games and ThoughtStream too... I just have only so much time and a very long list.

I have an LED array that will be covered in the future as well.

Hope my post has been helpful, if not, please ask further questions.

BTW, I a mulit-platform guy and have Macs and PCs...

Scott

[Lakusha]

Thanks a lot, this is an excellent comprehensive description.

ps (related to a different part of my original post): I found a more in depth description of MentalGames software here

Eric

[MarkT]

Welcome from me as well Eric, and I hope you are enjoying your Procyon. To add to what Scott described, here is another example of varying the R, G, and B DC Offsets while leaving other parameters the same:


VSD_03 Jan. 12 16.30 by M Turney, on Flickr

This is from the latest version of the Visual Segment Designer, which will be posted sometime later today.

[Lakusha]

> I hope you are enjoying your Procyon

Very much
I am also using the Visual Segment Designer and I will be quite happy to try the new one. I started a sequence based on the earth frequency and the universal biological frequency. Results are interesting but it seems I have years of happy experimentation ahead of me. Some frequencies seem to create some visual 3d space and I am not sure why. I was also startle to have visuals of writings in different languages; some of which I can recognize but can`t really read or speak. Are some frequencies stimulating visual memory or is this just imagination triggered? This is my first experience with a device like this and I expected kaleidoscopic effects, even in 3d, but not detailed landscapes and writings. Seems I don`t know how my brain ticks but interesting and fun.

Eric

[neuroasis]

Hi Eric,
Indeed years of joyful work. Everyone's experience is a bit different and it does seem that there are unlimited ways to interpret the visions. This has been studied up to a point. Google 'hallucinations form constants' . Many of the studied shapes lend themselves well to constructing alphabets. It may be the case that original alphabets were created in visions similar to yours.... just speculation..

It sounds like you are jumping in with both feet and having stunning results. That is great to hear! Keep sharing your insights.

Enjoy the ride,
Scott