Auditory assistance for MMO training: Attractor.

Hey Anerosi:

This is number 4 in my ongoing series of posts about tools and tricks that have helped me along the path to MMO-hood.

Today's topic: Auditory tools.

Over the past 6 months, I have tried a wide variety of mp3 recordings and iphone applications to help me focus during my practice sessions (HypnAerosession, the Gamma Meditation, Kelly Howell's Ecstacy, and others), but the one I have found most useful is the iPhone app "Attractor" (iTunes link) If you don't already have an iPhone (or iPod touch), Attractor is yet another reason to get one.

Attractor is a highly customizable binaural beat generator. It allows you to create (and save as presets for quick loading) a nearly infinite variety of waveforms. It has four basic patterns that you can use: meditate (start at a high frequency, ramp down to a lower frequency, hold there for a period, then ramp up to the start point), maintain (pick a frequency and hold for the duration), awake (start low, slowly ramp up to higher target frequency), and sleep (start high, slowly ramp down to a lower target). Aside from the extra focus I get from the binaural beat patterns and sensory isolation of headphones, the app functions as a wonderful timer, saving me from watching the clock while I do the practice.

But it is the other features of this app that make it shine over the many others out there. In addition to the binaural beat track, it allows you to play two other tracks at the same time. The first is termed a "location" track; the app comes with a handful of high-quality ambient sound loops, of ocean waves, a rainstorm, forest sounds, etc., which, when activated, play continuously in the background behind the binaural track. You can also record or upload to the app mp3s of your own to use as ambient sounds.

The second, termed "inception", is for recordings that you record or load into the app, which will play once the target frequency has been reached. The idea behind this track is that you can create recordings of subliminal or audible suggestions that will play once the app (and your brain) has reached the desired frequency.

The app also has a 3-level audio mixer that is adjustable on the fly, to let you set the exact volume level of each element. This is handy when you want to have a track play at sub- or barely audible level.

So here's how I tend to use Attractor myself: Most of the time, I use the Meditate function, set to go from 24Hz down to 4.5Hz, and then back to 24Hz. When I do my every other day key sound practice, I run this sequence for 30 minutes. I loaded into the app the 20 minute Key Sound demo from Jack's "Triggers" seminar (the 2nd set of mp3s), which he provides as a tool for following along while you get the hang of the KS yourself. In Meditate mode, this starts playing when the app has reached 4.5Hz. I also either play the ocean wave ambient track, or if I am in a more "active" mode and looking for more arousal, I play loops of female masturbation & orgasm sounds, which I ripped from videos I downloaded at IFeelMyself.com. (This trick is very effective for ramping up arousal. Sometimes I play it at full volume, and at other times at a barely audible level, which seems to work as a subliminal arousal generator.) If I am going for longer sessions, I sometimes just extend the total length of the session, and fade out either or both background tracks if they are becoming distracting.

The beauty of Attractor is that while it works great out-of-the-box, it is infinitely customizable, so the sessions never get boring. I've only just scratched the surface of what you can do with it.

I hope that some of you might find this tool useful, and am curious to hear more about similar methods you have used.

Cheers
k