The Buddha Machine: Techno-chan
This is a bit of a larger post on the Buddha Machine - I've been using the Machine throughout the day and I've been loving. Now I can understand some people's puzzlement over this little device made (quite craptastically) in China that plays repetitive drones. The reason it's so great is not so much the drones themselves as the interaction between yourself, the drones, and the environment - which leads to an experience were the 'distinctions' tend to blur.
Let me explain - most of the time with personal audio devices such as MP3 players, CD Players, et cetera, the idea is to tune out (at least to a degree) the outside world and to focus directly on the music as a form of escapism. The Buddha Machine however turns this model on it's head. Through it's crappy sound quality the repetitive tones become Mantra-like and helps to bring the mind to a calm meditative focus (I personally like the bell-like tone).
I first heard about this effect in Almost Cool's Review of the Buddha Machine and decided that I had to try it for myself. I ended up being blown away by how interesting it made my walk to/from/around campus. For starters I set it on a medium volume and paired it with some cheap earbuds - after a little bit the tone became to the conscious mind background noise but served to calm and to focus the mind - while the sounds and sights I normally 'tune-out' on my daily routine came to the fore and it was very interesting to listen to the everyday sounds as they filtered into my ears along side the ambient tones. The crackling of static due to the poor quality and lack of any shielding from interference even added to the experience as it added an interesting and capriciously playful element to the experience with the static going from soft crackles to at one point a soft ocean-like sound in pace with my movements. In all this interaction of elements the ego itself even starts to fade.
The Buddha Machine is really innovative and quite the experience - to the point that it is really hard to express the true scope of the experience in words. It is truly awesome.