Thread: Any Interest in This?

Hey guys.

I've been working on a little audio sound cue lucid dreaming program that plays a sound after a certain amount of time. I released a similar program awhile back but there wasn't much interest in it. Looking back at it I am a bit disappointed in the features. It wasn't very functional compared to what I am currently capable of doing.

That said, here's the interface of the new program.



The 'Main Timer' is the amount of time in minutes to wait until firing the first sound cue. The main timer, and all the timers after that, will repeat until you stop the program. The 'Backup Number' is the number of backup timers to keep track of, up to four. These will fire another audio cue after the amount of time specified after the previous timer has gone off. For instance, if you were to input 90 minutes into the main timer and 1 minute into the second timer, the program would wait 90 minutes and then fire the first audio cue, and then wait another minute and fire that audio cue again. 'Alternate Wait After Main' refers to changing the main timer to the specified number of minutes after the first cycle is complete. For instance, you want the program to wait 90 minutes before firing the first audio cue and then only wait 40 minutes each time after that. The 'Subtract' function subtracts the specified number of minutes each cycle. For instance, the first cycle has a 90 minute main timer. After the 90 minutes are up, the program will subtract the number of minutes you have specified from the main timer. So if you have entered 10 into the text box, the main timer will then wait only 80 minutes to fire the next audio cue, and then 70 minutes after that, and then 60 minutes after that, and so on until you reach 1 minute periods between audio cues. This is useful for the way in which the time between REM sleep cycles gets shorter as the night progresses. The 'Randomize' function simply randomizes the amount of time between each audio cue within the amount of minutes you specify. For instance, if you enter 10 minutes, the program will pick a number between 1 and 10 and wait that many minutes before sending an audio cue, and the next cycle it will pick a new number between 1 and 10, and so on forever. This function disables all other timers.

Sound settings are simply to pick which sound you would like to hear when the audio cue is fired. Thus far the program supports .WAV files. The 'Default Computer Beep' is the error sound you hear when you mash too many buttons at once, or try to click on something that is not currently clickable.

The screen flash is something I've been thinking about doing for awhile. If you click 'Flash Screen', the program will fill your computer screen with a completely black window that has only a close button. When the audio cue goes off, the screen will flash white for about one to two seconds and then go back to solid black. The 'Wait Before Blind' option allows you to set the number of minutes to wait before filling your screen with solid black. If you close the window, you can reopen it using the 'Open' button. The flash is surprisingly bright with my eyes closed, so I have high hopes for this feature.

The 'Time Until Sound' boxes show the minutes and seconds left until an audio cue, and the 'Time Running' boxes display the amount of time the program has been running. 'Begin' starts the program with the current settings, and 'Reset' stops the program.


I'm still experimenting with it to see if it even can induce a lucid dream. I've had a few problems with falling asleep on my back because the headphones I use are too bulky for sleeping on my stomach or side, and last night when I did fall asleep with them on the cord came unplugged in the night. I'm going to give it another go tonight and see if I get any results.

I'm also thinking about adding a dream journal and dream sign log. I'd like to make it so that I can quickly enter in or look over my dream signs before or after sleeping, and an easier way to enter in my dream journal. I'd also like to see my dreaming stats. If I do make a journal addon, I'd also make another section that showed on which nights I have the most vivid dreams, lucid dreams, or greatest number of dreams.


I know, it's a big read. Just glance over it though and tell me if you're interested.

Edit: Also, please tell me if there is anything else you would like to see added to make it more functional.