Brain Wave Generator

[Utopmk]

http://www.bwgen.com/

:wacko: :wacko: :wacko:

Get rid of headaches?

Quit Smoking?

Increase focus?

Quit drinking?

Lose weight?

Do what you can with it.

[Niflheimian]

How could a brainwave-generating machine help you to lose weight, quit smoking, or quite drinking? Wouldn't that have to involve subliminal/hypnotism? Maybe self-suggestion or whatever it's called.

However, a year or so ago I bought some "Brainwave Suite" CDs. The Alpha CD helps me to relax and concentrate (and does seem to alleviate headaches), but I haven't noticed much of a difference with the Theta, Delta, and Alpha-Theta CDs.

[melancholeric]

How could a brainwave-generating machine help you to lose weight, quit smoking, or quite drinking? Wouldn't that have to involve subliminal/hypnotism? Maybe self-suggestion or whatever it's called.

However, a year or so ago I bought some "Brainwave Suite" CDs. The Alpha CD helps me to relax and concentrate (and does seem to alleviate headaches), but I haven't noticed much of a difference with the Theta, Delta, and Alpha-Theta CDs.
That's what it does, induces a suggestible state of mind.
I used to use that for meditating, but for some reason i didn't like it on the long run. This machine messing with my brain... http://intpcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/ninja.gif

[Chicken]

all your brainwaves are belong to us

we are they.

[Lucas]

I tried BWG last year. I found it very relaxing, almost trancelike. The important thing for me was to use really good headphones in a quiet and dark room, and just listen to the binaural sounds.

[melancholeric]

all your brainwaves are belong to us

we are they.

:rofl: :rofl:
I tried to increas my focus with that aswell, and the only noticeable result was a horrible headache and dizzy feeling.
Maybe there's something wrong with my brain, not the BWG. Thus it won't work for me. :ph34r:

[spirilis]

woah, I'm trying this out :)

Got it to work in Linux using WINE (came default with SuSE 9.1)

after starting the self-hypnosis one I immediately noticed a slight relaxation... or at least some form of change in my head :)

[spirilis]

Wow. This is interesting.

I don't think it's doing what the samples suggest (e.g. "CreativityIncrease2(varying)"), but it is putting my mind into a... less distracted, more clear state. I like this.

[melancholeric]

Maybe I should give it another try. It can't kill me, can it? :ph34r:

[spirilis]

I've tried it a few more times since.
It's definitely more useful as an "aide" in getting your mind into the target state. It doesn't work right if you're intentionally antagonizing it, although you can feel something happening, it's just that your brain snaps out of it.
I used it to help guide me into a near-sleep state (theta wave; the creativity 2 sample) while laying on the bed with the lights out. I could feel weird sensations in my head, and eventually landed in a dream-like state without fully going to sleep. Woke up out of it after 30 minutes totally refreshed.

Interesting tidbit about Theta-wave state- http://neuroacoustic.org/articles/articlebinaural.htm
Resetting Your Brains Sodium/Potassium Ratio In Theta

Your brain cells reset their sodium & potassium ratios when the brain is in Theta state. The sodium & potassium levels are involved in osmosis which is the chemical process that transports chemicals into and out of your brain cells. After an extended period in the Beta state the ratio between potassium and sodium is out of balance. This the main cause of what is known as "mental fatigue". A brief period in Theta (about 5 - 15min) can restore the ratio to normal resulting in mental refreshment.

I read this on multiple google searches on different pages, so it's something the brainwave entrainment freaks tout a lot. Maybe there's some research backing it?

[Star Cannon]

I've tried it. Definitely makes me sleepy. ^.^

Although that was because my mom had the T.V. blaring at 3/4th's volume and no quiet the freakin' house. Oh well. There's quiet right now so I may as well take advantage of it.

Star Cannon

[SheepDog]

I'm skeptical, of course. But having said that, I do have a CD that was designed to help you sleep. It contains these binaural beats at varying frequencies. I've only used it a few times, but I can say that it does help me relax, and when I am wanting to go to sleep, it seemed to help speed the process.

[file cabinet]

I fell asleep after listening to it for awhile, I want to do it again in a more comfortable position[laying on the floor].

[file cabinet]

Here is a temporary link to 50MB of presets you can import.. that's assuming you have it registered[cough]...
http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=371AFDAA742104AD608F44E2DCE23F8A

the files originated here:
http://www.bwgen.com/inx_all_dat.htm
the number prefix on the files correlate with the links on the site:
http://www.bwgen.com/presets/descXXX.htm
for example:
http://www.bwgen.com/presets/desc667.htm = 667_BlueAngelPot.bwg

[spirilis]

Good stuff FC :)

At first I didn't know what you mean by [cough], 'cause I figured a simple prog like this wouldn't be cracked.
But then I recalled, half those piracy/cracker geeks are probably stoners, so this would be a real toy for them. LOL

I'm gonna d/l those presets and, err, enjoy them in my Wine-on-Linux-ified BWGEN environment :D

[spirilis]

Lol, interesting experience today.

After finding myself into a slump after lunch, barely able to concentrate on anything, I decided to listen to the CreativityIncrease2 preset in bwgen. After about 5-10 minutes I was feeling a little more focused, and one thing I REALLY noticed is increased clarity of visual perception. Like, my laptop screen suddenly looked clearer... colors were more contrasted, everything looked better.

Right after that a coworker and I played ping-pong (we have a big break room with a bunch of stuff). For the first ~5-10 minutes I was royally kicking his butt. He had nothing on me. Around that time the effects started to wear off, and my coordination started to suck, so after that we were playing normally (~50/50... we don't keep score, but we're roughly equal skill, having mostly practiced on one another)

[file cabinet]

found this one(was looking was for a bwgen alternative).. http://uazu.net/sbagen/
definitely less user friendly.. but I am trying it out anyway(mainly because it has a Linux version).

[TraditionalNonconformist]

I tried studying with this and I don't think it helped with focus or anything but it is nice to relax with it. I start to almost feel like I'm floating.
Really want to try sleeping with it; see if it could amplify dreams, but I can't get to sleep with headphones. (]-_-[)

[matthew0028]

Given you people's responses to it, I'm getting really curious, and would like to try it out. Of course, since I have a Mac, I really couldn't, unless there were a way to get an expoted .WAV or .MP3 of it from somewhere. *shrug*

[CoHo]

If it could make a person stop smoking you'd think the developers would have tossed a little subliminal in that'd make people register the product. 8O

I don't doubt that it can help you sleep or relax you, simply listening to white noise can do that. But I seriously doubt that it will help you quit smoking/become a better person.

Oh, matthew0028, if you want to know what it sounds like you don't need to download that program. Look for any relaxation music that talks about "binaural beats" or Alpha/Theta stages. If you can find music that promotes that they will probably sound similar to this program (an oscillating humming noise). Although it may have stuff like birds chirping and/or whales mating as the primary sound.

Did some more looking around, here they have a Mac OS X version of a BrainWave style program, it sounds just like BWGen

http://uazu.net/sbagen/#download

I tried the Windows version, can't say what happens with the Mac version though.

[alex]

I downloaded and tried the OS X version a few weeks ago. It works (at producing sounds).. takes a few minutes to skim the documentation on usage though
The effects were weird, I haven't messed with it much since though

[momidoll]

I've used it before and it helps me relax. I also create my own binaural beat mp3's using Cool Edit Pro which is now Adobe Audition. Right now, I'm researching isochronic tones and how to create them because it's similar to binaural beats, but you don't have to use headphones for them to be effective. My next goal is to figure out how to quiet my mind because I have a really hard time stopping my thoughts.