RALPH'S DEMO ------------------------------------------------- ........... ------------------------------------------------- Something I have noticed ...(NANCY HAS RECORDED FROM HER PRIVATE THOUGHTS SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY IN HER FARSTAR)... is an effect which can only be called, I guess, a Mono in Stereo effect. The interesting thing about THIS is that it occurs in many areas of perception. For instance, I have noticed that in playing around with stereoscopic effects in Farstar with one eye closed, it is clear that, when I get things J U S T right, there are major separations between colors, so much so that I can create a stereophonic image using such colors, which is obviously STEREO even with only one eye, a single all seeing eye, to see them. The difference is there though, you cannot perceive a sense of real space between the colors, with bits of dust or such between the closeup and farther indepth parts. It is something like hearing stereo sound with one ear covered. But not quite. When Ralph had us over to demonstrate how he was getting STEREO from an old MONO TV set, the room and house was filled with echoing STEREO sound including the deep bass notes, all from one single 4 inch tweeter (that's what he said) in the old TV's cabinate, in spite of which, the way he had engineered a new technology sitting around the room in the form of six and twelve sided perfectly geometrical devices, big bass notes were vibrating the floor, I couldn't help but notice the significance of THIS, concidering the sound source was the old TV - everybody KNOWS what old original TV sets SOUNDED LIKE!, it was the world's worst criticism of high tech. But Ralph's demo was totally and completely DIFFERENT. You could hear that it was without doubt STEREO, produced entirely from a MONO sound source. Boy oh Boy was SLUGGO ever impressed. We could hear someone's footsteps in a subway station to the far left of the livingroom, and voices talking behind the TV set at the far other end of the room, and echos of a subway train rushing forward into the station, in a BATMAN CARTOON, would you believe!. But... the TEXTURE of the STEREO was different, cupping my hands over my ears and pointing the palms forward made the whole thing sound MUCH MORE like LIVE REAL STEREO, that's what I mean by TEXTURE. The sonic leap in STEREO effect by cupping the hands over the ears, is ENTIRELY the OPPOSITE of what happens when the hands are cupped and pointed forward over the ears when listening to true STEREO sound generated with two more more stereo channels and speakers. The hand cupping was something I noticed. Sluggo said, "hmmm, what a difference', he remarked between sips from a Pepsi can. But Ralgh was suddenly yelping with joy the moment he tried it. "All these weeks and I was WONDERING where the TOTAL STEREO PRESENCE was in my settup, and there it was, all along, just by cancelling out overabundant cross room interharmonic echoings", he shouted, listening so intently and so eager, his hands cupped over his ears, facing in this direction, that direction, walking rapidly through the house and coming back to stand in the doorway of the livingroom listening. "NO DOUBT"; he proclaimed; "there it is, REAL HONEST TO GOD STEREO, and ALL I am using is one single four inch TWEETER in the TV set to generate it". Careful, don't overjoy yourself, or you might win the Nobel Prize, mutters Sluggo, sipping fizz from the bottom of the can of Pepsi, a long noisy s l o o p finishes the sentence. Everyone laughs. When we asked Ralph how he's done this, this STEREO, all he did was grin and eat a handful of giant cashews. I5 months of research, he uttered between crunches, and I've barely scratched the surface, he said. The demonstration was illuminating for another reason. In inter- dimensional experiences for instance when lying full awake when physically sound asleep, I have always noticed that stereo vision in these scenes is as by a single all-seeing eye, that is, that stereoscopic is there, but not the same as with two eyes wide open in the physical world. The TEXTURE of the SPACE is DIFFERENT. So that's three different places where the TEXTURE of SPACE is different, even though stereoscopic depth and presence is in, er, full, no, er, uh, ah, obvious, effect. In fact, in all three - the stereoscopic effect of colors seen with one eye for instance in my Farstar Unit, plus Ralph's STEREO in Mono sound demonstration, and in interdimensional and Cosmic visions - the texture of space is similar. Interesting, but HOW and I mean HOW am I ever going to point this out to the ACADEMY. Even Sluggo, when I tried to show something to him in my Farstar Unit, was, ahem, quote, too Fucken busy right now sorry Nancy got things to do my Farstar hiccupped and farted this morning and I can't find the short circuit in the wire to the 'Sting' button and Eebles is due in an hour, an HOUR, and I can't get the 'Sting' to work right!. So much for Sluggo. Poor guy the effort he puts INTO such THINGS. Oh, oh, I feel better for him already, He's just got the 'Sting' button working again. That hunch I see over there caressing the 'Sting' button and saying 'thank you Juh-Eee-Uh-Zuz' is Sluggo happy that he's going to be able to, quote, "Sow, Hoe, and Reap Eebles". "Yes, lordwork is workin full power on ME today", says Sluggo, getting ready to reap. (Out of nowhere a voice echoes in on Sluggo's Farstar Unit, captured in the room echoes of Nancy's Farstar in the replay she is just now cruising through, the distant voice saying): Hey, Sluggo, I didn't know you were BORN AGAIN'. 'Not', answers Sluggo back, 'that's what YOU were saying the day you got your grant back'. 'It wouldn't hurt you to say a prayer now and then', says the distant echoing voice. 'It wouldn't hurt you to say a few less', answers Sluggo back while sitting upright and starting to get hostile'. 'Whoah, wait', someone else hastily interjects over the Farstar, 'I thought we'd already gotten rid of all of the religious cranks'. 'Well, you're not going to get rid of ME', says the first voice, upping the shout to high volume. 'Already, have', says Sluggo, shutting his Farstar OFF. Some fades, and a few bars of nonsensical music, finish up the replay. Nancy shuts her Farstar OFF on STANDBY, and goes for lunch. Greydon Moore 1995