Build your own pocket-sized Dreamachine !

Construisez votre dreamachine de poche !

By Kevin Meredith

www.myspace.com/ermineviolin

Questions, suggest, improvements etc. : Kevin S. Meredith: alan_one@msn.com



This is a weekend project I just finished putting together (Friday, May 26, 2006). It's inspired by Brion Gysin's Dreamachine from 1959 which you can read about HERE

I have designed this simple strobing Dreamachine-type circuit that can be built into a small pocket size box.  It flashes between 7Hz and 14Hz with a  speed control.  Attached is the schematic diagram and a picture of my finished prototype.  Please feel free to distribute the schematic however  you like.

I was going to build a proper Dreamachine, but I didn't have room for it and record turntables at cheap prices are hard to come by - SO I came up with  this little circuit that does essentially the same thing but in a small project box that you can fit in your pocket.  I call it the  Electro-Hallucinator.

It's basically just a LED chaser that goes at around 10Hz or so. There's a speed control that varies the rate from around 7Hz (upper range for Theta  brainwaves) to 14Hz (upper Alpha). You can use any NPNs for the transistors. I used four super-bright white LEDs for the lights, which seems to work well  -- these were the most expensive parts, but you need to have a bright light! Two pairs of LEDs are spaced 6.5cm apart - the average distance between  human eyes.  My prototype runs on a 6V camera battery which was chosen for its small size.

To use the Electro-Hallucinator, just hold it about 5-10cm in front of your closed eyes. The type and intensity of visual artefacts can be changed by  moving your head and eyes, etc. just as with the Dreamachine.  Experiment !

Kevin S. Meredith



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Kevin S. Meredith music

Catalogue Dreamachine- Machine à rêver