It’s a while since I wrote “Quick Looks” at my collection of mind machines. In the intervening time nothing has come to my attention that I have felt need to follow-up.
The Procyon remains my most used machine. It does nothing that makes me think, “Damn, I wish I was using the other machine!” I use its standard sessions whenever I want a break from my own MWS sessions. I find the character of its light pleasing and the degree of control excellent. In As AnL (analog audiostrobe), with light control mapping to red/green, it is the reference machine for my sessions. Compared to any number of pieces of software I use, the Editor is perfectly fine. Careful consideration of the number of functions being controlled makes it obvious why it’s going to have a bit of a learning curve. There’s not a lot of ways to present the controls in as appropriate manner
Lori is in love with the Laxman. In spite of all the other options at her disposal, she is wholly content with the Laxman. The standard sessions cover all the popular frequency ranges and the session audio and lightshows are stunning. While there’s a few open-eye glasses out there, the Laxman goggles are still the ones to beat. Apart from being pricey, and not having any sort of audiostrobe compatibility, there is but one thing to be aware of – the Laxman goggles need to be treated with care, as excessive flexing of the bridge of the nose will damage the connections. I tend to forget we have the Laxman, as it’s hidden away in Lori’s lair, but when I notice it and settle into a session, I fully remember why I have so highly praised it. Quite a few of the Audiostrobe CD titles have been translated to Laxman and are available from the audiostrobe.com store.
When I want to work with a therapeutic protocol, especially if it involved asymmetrical sessions, I’ll usually start with the David Pal 36. CES tends not to be used – I get such favourable results from sound and light that I feel inclined to focus my efforts on enhancing what I know works. For me a huge part of the appeal of the David is psychological – I like that it’s a very no-nonsense, clinical box, that the sessions are simple but well structured, intended to deliver protocols that have better than average trial support. The David, for me, fully supports the belief aspect that is so valuable for any therapeutic measure. It delivers top-knotch stimulus. While I don’t think anyone’s got it quite right, the Omniscreen glasses are the best implementation of individual left/right visual field stimulation currently available.
I routinely use all of the machines I have to maintain a good perspective on session design and to verify that the visuals I create that please me so much on the Procyon, also behave much as I intend on other devices. There’s probably room for a few more incremental enhancements, but I feel that there is going to be a significant end of this generation and beginning of a new approach. I’m excited to say that I’m just awaiting a little bundle of eval tools and electronic gizmos so that I might be a contributor to “the next big thing”.
CraigT AVS 
Comments
Nice commentary on the machines! Any experience or input on Photosonix Nova Pro 100?
Ed
Hi,
How funny – I wrote this post as a reaction to a number of similar questions on a couple of the other forums I haunt.
I’ve not used the Nova Pro, but I was suitably impressed with the Innerpulse.
Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, I have yet to know, but I’ve diverged from being an independent and objective critic to an advanced user of the tools that have proven to meet my needs. If there were another tool that served my needs better, remotely within my price-reach, I’d be using it.
A big part of the fun is working out what you really want AVS for. Once you’ve got that piece of information, you can take a big breath and look at yourself – are you really going to do the things that the “desire vision” depicts you doing? In this particular case, I suggest you buy the machine that appeals to you most, and then find out what AVS really means to you, then you can become an AVS junky like me and treat each machine as a quite distinct instrument.
Above all else, have fun!
Cheers,
Craig
You mentioned in one post that the Laxman goggles work on the Procyon. In fact, they are completely interchangeable. Laxman goggles function well on the Procyon – and Procyon glasses work perfectly with the Laxman. The Procyon glasses are a little bit better on Laxman for closed eyes sessions because they are designed that way, and are more distinct in their closed eye colors, it seems to me. (The Laxman info encourages open eye sessions, but that is difficult and defeats the purpose of theta and delta sessions.) Now that I have my Laxman and have designed a few sessions with music, I’m not sure I’ll go back to the Procyon. Will probably sell it. However, for $50 I can order the Procyon glasses, so I will do that.
In the Laxman, you can choose, in some sessions, to have the pulses Standard, Binaural, or Hemicircle. The Hemi is kind of surround sound, as it were. Not sure I can tell the difference in the other two – do you know?
Anyway, the Laxman is a great machine, and with the goggles, earbuds and the mp3 player included in the unit, is a compact unit that will travel well and will be useful on those long international flights. I have had to create “mix” mp3s because the Laxman software will not play more than one mp3 per session. A bit of a hassle, but I now have a great deal of music stored on the unit. Perhaps firmware updates will eventually allow for a playlist to be selected.
Mark
Hi Mark,
Strange about the glasses – I’ve never had the Procyon glasses work on the Laxman – did you get lucky, or is there a change to the Laxman?
Standard gives an isochronic beat, while binaural is a standard binaural (two tones, left/right, offset by the beat rate).
Happy flying.
Cheers,
Craig
I wondered why you never mentioned the Procyon glasses worked on the Laxman. I hope I don’t order a new set of Procyon glasses and find out I have one in a million (or a thousand)… 🙂 (I don’t have spares to check this out on). My Laxman is new, so maybe the firmware is more recent, or their have been some modifications made to the unit.
Here’s another question for you. On my test programming for the Laxman, I can keep a frequency set but change from Standard to Binaural to Hemicircle and they all have a slightly different impact on the lights. For entrainment, does it matter, since you are wearing headphones, which form of beat you use as long as you stay on the same frequency? Changing makes the lights a bit more interesting, especially in the delta range.
Did I say how much I appreciated the information I’ve gleaned from you?????
Mark
I don’t know what the odds are, but you’re not the only one with bidirectional swappability – it’s a mystery I haven’t had time to investigate.
I’ve not verified this on the Laxman, but the type of beat shouldn’t actually affect the lights. It is usual, however, with any machine, for what you’re hearing to affect what you perceive of the lights. The standard beat should be the most compelling, but the lights will always dominate.
Cheers,
Craig