Dreamachine

A dreamachine (contraction of dream and machine) is a stroboscopic instrument consisting of a cylinder with regularly spaced shapes that is rotated on a turntable (at either 45 or 78 rpm) and a light source placed within the interior space, the rotation producing a regular oscillating light output, which is to be placed in front of the closed eyes of the user(s) for the intended purpose of stimulating the ocular faculties in order to induce the perception of random visual phenomena and to bring brain waves (neural oscillations) to the alpha (8–12 Hz) frequency. The instrument was first devised and demonstrated in 1961 by William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Ian Sommerville, based on inspiration from W. Grey Walter's The Living Brain (1953), a book on the evolution of the human brain and the use of EEG (electroencephalogram) machines in understanding it.

Schematics

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  Cylinder for a turntable of 45 rotations per minute (rpm).

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  Cylinder for a turntable of 78 rotations per minute (rpm).

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  Type A slit with measures.

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  Type B slit with measures.

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  Type C slit with measures.

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  Type D slit with measures.

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  Type E slit with measures.