this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2025
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[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

A more relevant question, explain why if there was a secret rhythm that had a very specific and meaningful impact on the human mind why the intense amount of musicians throughout human history, especially those with access to synthesizers wouldn't have already found and explored those rhythms long before scientists found it through a path of logic?

Idk, there is just something very condescending to me about binaural beats when I look back at the vast array of ambient, noise, experimental and electronic genres out there that have wayyyyy bigger dynamics and range of textures and complexity... the way people hyperfocus on only binaural beats is confounding. You are telling me it took a scientist to find the magic rhythm? Have you heard good west african drumming?

Yes binaural beats are a thing, but scientists don't get to take rhythms from musicians that already discovered them and claim it is a victory of science. A musician already found that rhythm a long time ago, and already made many works of music that transported listeners to manifold places. This has happened many times before with most rhythms that tend to move us.

Ambient music can transport you just as much as binaural beats can but I just meet so many people who would never give whole genres of ambient music a try but will sit there and dutifully listen to strange ass sounding binaural beats with a completely open mind because it was a technical minded person who devised the sound not an artist and it makes me forlorn as fuck.

ok ok I didn't mean to be overly snarky, here is a suggestion for ambient music that will most definitely take you places if you approach it from the same mindset you might take to listening to binaural beats. It is an ambient label called Cryo Chamber.

https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/music

A common place you can experience binaural type rhythms spontaneously is in the rhythms of large engines like those on a ferry and I have definitely talked to engineers that spoke of attuning to specific rhythms in a binaural beat/musical way, they spend a LOT of time around the engines so....

All that being said, I love weird music so yes I think listening to binaural beats types sounds is interesting it just feels like people are only interested in ONE specific shade of blue when there is a whole stunning range of different blues out there you can experience.

If you want to explore these kinds of rhythms yourself this is the kind of thing Supercollider is perfect for!!

http://sccode.org/1-50W

https://doc.sccode.org/Help.html

Supercollider is beautifully simple and clear in structure, this is a Sin Oscillator (a single frequency) at 440hz with a phase offset of 0 and a loudness of 0.2.

https://doc.sccode.org/Tutorials/Getting-Started/05-Functions-and-Sound.html

[–] xep@discuss.online 2 points 4 days ago

Thank you for recommending Cryochamber, I love it.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Just as I suspected all along.

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago

My friend Jen Gilbert, Knowledge Exchanger Manager at The University of Sheffield, tells me she uses them at night: “I don't get the massive 'braingasm' rush people talk about or anything out of the ordinary, but I do drift off easily with them on.”

Right, because those people have ASMR. Not everybody's brain is wired like that.