Digital Instrumental Transcommunication

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

Hi,

I wanted to run the following idea with you. I'm completely new here, so it's quite likely that you have already thought and even tried this. If that's the case, just tell me. If not, bare with me...

NOTE: This is NOT the idea that I had before I joined this group, and which I mentioned in the introduction. This is a variation of that idea, which much better fits within the things I'm seeing in the forum.

We humans speak using our voice and our physically-derived languages (with nouns and verbs based on physical objects and actions), so it makes sense for the spirit world to try to reach us by synthesizing that. But they don't speak through mechanical vibrations (that is, sound), rather by emitting vibrations of an entirely different nature (not quite so but similar to electromagnetic radiation).  And they also don't use a language constructed out of physical objects, phenomena and experiences. So, when they produce an EVP they are synthesizing something designed purposely for our own requirements.
I'm pretty sure they do that by using an "ethereal device, or devices" constructed, on their side, specifically for this purpose (that is, is not like a spirit just shows up and all by himself produces an EVP).

Computers, on the other hand, "talk to each other", as for example, on the internet, by exchanging "bits" (that is, zeros "0" and ones "1"). The so-called binary (or digital) transmission has an enormous advantage over any other form of communication: it naturally leads to a complete separation between the information that is communicated and the way in which the message is transmitted and received. That is, the information is not directly transmitted, but encoded, instead, into a much much simpler message that can be easily and reliably transmitted.

For example... when, on the internet, you write an email, or watch a movie, or post a photo, etc... the text, the scenes, the pictures, those are not the messages that are being transmitted. Instead, all of that (the information) is encoded into a binary message, with just "0" and "1", and only those are transmitted. 

It is this complete separation between information and "transport", via encoding and decoding of the information, which boosted the information revolution. The entire internet is built upon a layer that, at the bottom, only needs to be able to communicate zeros and ones.

Additionally, we have become very very good at transmitting binary messages through entirely unreliable and noisy channels. For example,  when we connect via Wi-Fi to the internet, is not at all that each and very bit is received exactly as it was transmitted. Not at all.. yet, it all still works. 
The reason it works is that we designed "error detection and correction" schemes, which can be implemented to counter for all the deficiencies of the communication channel.

As said above, the separation between information and (encoded) message allows for just about everything and anything to be communicated using a trivial binary code, which can, additionally, employ error detection and correction techniques, to maximize the robustness of the communication. 
But there is more...

Generating, or as in "their" case, modulating a signal to directly encode rich information such as human speech is far, far more complex, error prone and difficult to error-detect, let alone correct, than modulating just bits. That is, Digital (signal) Modulation it's far more practical than anything else, and it is another area in which we are really good at, with lots of techniques and a comprehensive theory.

Therefore, considering that:

- A binary message can encode any information.
- A binary message can be trivially augmented with error detection and correction data to counter for noisy and unreliable transmission channels.
- Digital modulation (and demodulation) is far easier, robust and dependable than direct sound (or image) modulation.
- The spirit world produces ITC through a device (ethereal, of course) and not directly off their natural "speak" vibrations.

I propose to work on Digital Instrumental Transcommunication, or DITC for short. And I'll use the term Analog ITC, or AITC, to refer to the conventional ITC involving sound/images.

At the very least, we need a software to (1) take the recorded signal (2) demodulate it to obtain the binary message (3) decode it to obtain the final information. I plan to start working on this myself and right away. However, although I'm very familiar with all of the all the theory involved in this, I haven't work on audio applications since the early 90s, so, I would appreciate the help of any of you who are much more trained for this.

Logically, "the other side" should try out DITC (as opposed to AITC) and let us know.  I'll just assume they will. They always work with us.

What I would love to see happening, moving forward, is to have any of you record some DITC (not AITC), post it here, so I (or whoever is working on the software) can try it out.

As I said in my forum introduction, I've only know the theory of ITC, but I never done it myself, and I don't have any equipment, so I cannot try to record some DITC myself.

And finally, as I said at the beginning, maybe I'm late to the party and you have already done this.

Best

Edited October 14, 2020 by Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal

[Michael Lee]

Fernando, 

 Your intuition is spot on. Digital ITC is very much being explored.

 First, I would like to say that at least one of the principles of the traditional Ghost Box is in fact a digital-like scheme, whereby we present a stream of audio clips, which spirits can selectively amplify with spikes of energy. It seems to be a little more complicated than that, in that they can also modify the audio, too.

 A few months ago I developed an alternative communication scheme for spirits I dub a "tone vocoder" Here, for every 32 ms interval, I break it into 64 sub-intervals. If a spike occurs in one or more of those 64 subintervals, it corresponds to a tone between 75 and 4000 Hz. Setting the threshold just right on what a spike is, they can use this method to produce speech better than direct/analog. One caveat is the hardware noise source should be white / flat.

The other "secret" to getting good results is a bunch of audio post-processing I do in "real-time" to convert between a tone-like voice and a real one, which I'll explain to everyone soon. 

But it goes beyond voice: Louis is looking at using quantum bits to make text. I'm also exploring using bits to control an interactive object on a computer screen. Finally, we have some digital imagery methods. I've posted one already in the Software section, although it only uses pseudo-random numbers - not something I would expect has that much spirit influence, but who knows for sure?

 

[Andres Ramos]

Hey Fernando, as Michael said your intuition  is spot on. As an electronic  engineer  I am more bound to the physical transportation  layer, leaving up the encoding to specialists like Michael or Louis. If you take a look at the attached picture  you can see sequences of impulses we gained with some of our devices.  In fact these impulses are also voices but extremely  overdrive. My theory is that the energy projections of spirits are nonlinear  since we frequently detect overdrive signals. It appears to me that they push their modulated energy against a kind of barrier. It doesn't let pass lower energy levels.  By pushing more and more energy this barrier suddenly collapses releasing a burst of ethereal energy into our physical world. Shortly after this event  the barrier raises up again. This could be the cause why we observe such big bursts. Now taking your considerations into account you could see these impulses as a logical 1. Despite these impulses are voices originally they could be interpreted as digital impulses as well principally.  The 0-1 encoding could be done by pulse level in time synchronized  information transfer  or by pulse width in asynchronous mode. Of course you must put another encoding layer upon this one that encodes morse characters or 5-bit teletype letters or 7-bit ascii. The problem is to negotiate  those parameters with the spirits. What do they want? What are they able to do? These details have to be stripped down even to such simple questions  like little or big endian  order.

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

Hi @Michael Lee

Indeed, the ghost-box method would qualify as DITC in the sense that they assemble the message by picking up "symbols" out of a discrete set (the alphabet).
Similarly, your "tone vocoder" would correspond to a 64-symbols alphabet and we could use that with some non-binary code on it.

When I first considered digital ITC, I started with similar sorts of non-binary alphabets and modulation methods. I even researched on the history and details of morse-code and telegraphy (in fact, inspired on the etymology of tele-graph, I dubbed the thing that I imagined here a "transgraphier", and this method as "transgraphy")

Eventually however, I become more and more inclined to use good old binary code. The fundamental reason is that we have already developed an entire world on top of that. That is, we had already progressed from the days of morse-code, its limitations and required dialects, to, for example, standardized text encodings like UTF32, or binary image compression such as JPEG. Even the error detection and correction codes that would be so needed here have been developed for binary transmissions only (as far as I can know).

So, the way I see it, if we manage to create a solid, robust and reliable binary transport layer, then everything else comes pretty much for free.

This might be a stretch, but when I visualized that layer, I also visualized the possibility of extending the internet (with its sites, pages, services, etc) right into the ether. That's because the only "actual energetic stuff" going on between the computers on the internet is the zeros and ones. Everything else is on top of it.

Now... speaking of a binary transport layer..  controlling quantum bits seems very promising! I'd like to know the details of that.

 

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

Hi @Andres Ramos

You "barrier theory" makes sense to me. This primitive amplitud modulation method could get us started.
Having said that, I believe that, as you said, it all really boils down to negotiation with them.

So, what I propose is that we do the following: we design and build a complete plan and system, with all the glory details, then let them know we're ready. 

For example, I would start with a Big-endian, UTF32 text, Hamming code for error correction, time-synchronized pulse burst transport just as you shown here. We set up the device and write the demodulation and decoding software.
Once we are done, we just "tell them, all the details included" that we are ready to go. They will then just use what we have (I think).

Edited October 15, 2020 by Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal

[Andres Ramos]

A bold plan. I'm aboard!!

OK, just let me finish my inputs in the experimental section. This will be done lately when the official launch of Varanormal will take place. Then i can design the hardware. In the meantime we can discuss the details. What do you think?

The first question is how do we want to put the raw data in our system? I see two ways. First we can employ an arduino that does the noise sampling and bit construction and error correction and sends a plain UTF32 datagram via serial port to a host station. The arduino may be parametrized from the host by use of serial commands, e.g. setting the baudrate for sampling. The arduino could also send a signal, like acivating a laser impulse as an indication for the spirits when the first bit starts.

Another way would be to just feed in the noise through the audioport and let software do all the rest. Would probably add more flexibility to the project. The software then must do the level detection of the noise signal, maybe averaging, bit detection, calculating the time slots for every sampled bit and gluing together everything.

Tell me waht you think.

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

@Andres

As a first step, I would just feed the noise through the audioport and let the software do it all so maximize the flexibility in the development phase. I don't think we need to care for any real-time processing just now. 

But surely, once the system starts to settle, an arduino transmitting UTF32 datagrams would be far better in terms of a complete device. Even better would be to put a display an everything to build a sort of "pager" from the other side.

 

 

[Keith J. Clark]

Hi Fernando, much of your conversation is above my technical expertise. But ANdres, Michael, and L.Garrigue at a minimum are who you need to talk to for sure!

Also, if you haven't visited them already, checkout these live text streams, one from LGarrigue and one from Max in Germany. I have received, but not yet fully verified the Max stream as being of paranormal influence. Unfortunately I haven't had time yet to work with LGarrigue's stream (busy with site and all)

 

 

[Andres Ramos]

4 hours ago, Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal said:

@Andres

As a first step, I would just feed the noise through the audioport and let the software do it all so maximize the flexibility in the development phase. I don't think we need to care for any real-time processing just now. 

But surely, once the system starts to settle, an arduino transmitting UTF32 datagrams would be far better in terms of a complete device. Even better would be to put a display an everything to build a sort of "pager" from the other side.

 

 

Excellent approach  Fernando! I totally agree with you. At least during the development  process we need to minimize our efforts by doing most things in software.

[Michael Lee]

I highly recommend using my spirit soccer program. I'll put it in the Software section. It allows us to test different digital schemes, to see which is easiest for spirits to use. It accepts 4 possible inputs: left, right, up and down to direct a ball towards the target in real time. How we convert hardware input to these 4 choices is the "modulation scheme"

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

1 hour ago, Michael Lee said:

I highly recommend using my spirit soccer program. I'll put it in the Software section. It allows us to test different digital schemes, to see which is easiest for spirits to use. It accepts 4 possible inputs: left, right, up and down to direct a ball towards the target in real time. How we convert hardware input to these 4 choices is the "modulation scheme"

Ah, this is very interesting indeed. And it just made me think of an externally commanded Logo program.

What seems clear to me is that these schemes all involve a fundamental shift from their side in the sense that instead of trying to modulate a voice, they just need to modulate a digital stream. Whether that digital stream is ASCII text or commands on your soccer program is a detail.  What is not  a detail, not at all, in my opinion, is whether they try to modulate human speech or a digital message, specially with a small alphabet. I think that should be a break through from their side (to be able to focus on digital messages)

 

[Michael Lee]

My experience suggests that for voice, a digitally activated tone vocoder performs better than direct voice. I'll get around to explaining it in more detail in a few weeks. Digital spirit bits have an error rate, so trying to find the best hardware noise sources is another challenge.

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

Hi @Andres Ramos

I've finished catching up and setting up a development environment to work on the software for these experiments (using the Essential audio-analysis C++ library), but it just occurred to me that the best way to go is to create a "simulator" app to easily generate test files to feed into the analyzer app. The simulator app would take a raw noise sample and add the modulation to it, trying to simulate what the spirit world does.
I've been reading your paper (which is VERY good, BTW), and it seems to me that, for this particular scheme (a binary amplitude-shift modulation, or ASK as it is called), the "spirit impulses/burst" method would be the best suited. What I would need then is a sample recording of the type of noise you used for it, for example, with the diode array. Do you have that in your shared drive? or can you add some? I would the the raw clean noise without any spirit imprint on them.
TIA

 

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

On 10/15/2020 at 12:43 PM, Keith J. Clark said:

Hi Fernando, much of your conversation is above my technical expertise. But ANdres, Michael, and L.Garrigue at a minimum are who you need to talk to for sure!

Also, if you haven't visited them already, checkout these live text streams, one from LGarrigue and one from Max in Germany. I have received, but not yet fully verified the Max stream as being of paranormal influence. Unfortunately I haven't had time yet to work with LGarrigue's stream (busy with site and all)

 

 

I Keith,

FWIW, I played with TransTexture for 20 minutes or so, on three different times, but I'm not sure I'm getting anything out of it. I mean, I see the sequence of words, but nothing  makes any sense to me. I supposed that's to be expected though.

I tried both English and Spanish. 

[Andres Ramos]

14 hours ago, Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal said:

Hi @Andres Ramos

I've finished catching up and setting up a development environment to work on the software for these experiments (using the Essential audio-analysis C++ library), but it just occurred to me that the best way to go is to create a "simulator" app to easily generate test files to feed into the analyzer app. The simulator app would take a raw noise sample and add the modulation to it, trying to simulate what the spirit world does.
I've been reading your paper (which is VERY good, BTW), and it seems to me that, for this particular scheme (a binary amplitude-shift modulation, or ASK as it is called), the "spirit impulses/burst" method would be the best suited. What I would need then is a sample recording of the type of noise you used for it, for example, with the diode array. Do you have that in your shared drive? or can you add some? I would the the raw clean noise without any spirit imprint on them.
TIA

 

Thanks for the compliments Fernando! Then it was worth the effort. I exported some spirit impulse sequences as mp3 here:Spirit Impulses

This is a directory with all my samples made with different flavors of the Ge.Diode Array. Look for the samples named as "Impulse-x". Keep me updated!

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

3 hours ago, Andres Ramos said:

Thanks for the compliments Fernando! Then it was worth the effort. I exported some spirit impulse sequences as mp3 here:Spirit Impulses

This is a directory with all my samples made with different flavors of the Ge.Diode Array. Look for the samples named as "Impulse-x". Keep me updated!

Perfect! I've downloaded the files already. Good job!

[Andres Ramos]

47 minutes ago, Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal said:

Perfect! I've downloaded the files already. Good job!

Thanks again! Can't wait for your results!

[Andres Ramos]

Maybe this weekend i can try to rebuild the germanium diode array for further tests.

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

5 minutes ago, Andres Ramos said:

Maybe this weekend i can try to rebuild the germanium diode array for further tests.

That'll be nice!

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

Good question. I'm not a member of any closed group (dedicated to this sort of thing) so let me ask this in order to fully understand the concern: what would we try to avoid, prevent, protect or maybe even allow by developing any of this behind close doors?

[Andres Ramos]

I hope I can dispel anyone's doubts now. The closed group iDigitalMedium is a remainder of the original group information structure that was based on Threema (a very secure swiss Messenger system). As in Threema the group was closed and invisible from the outside we have migrated this structure into the forum because the goal was to put everything in into the forum. We not really knew if this would be necessary but in the iDigitalMedium group the members know each other for quite a time and exchanged many private things that we assumed could be good to kept private in the future as well. The second reason is for the experiments. We can discuss certain concepts and thing in the forum publicly but for some experiments we collaborated in the core team (also in Threema times) and discussed them on a technical level between the members before the outcome was ripe to put it in the public. Or to say it in other words, we wanted to ensure a certain state of ripeness before we show it out to other people. This is not because we want to hide something from you but because it's nasty to discuss about stupid errors and other fallacies that might be in the product. This annoys everyone and is discrediting the product. Inside the iDigitalmedium team that had only 4-5 members this was no problem but with a larger community with valued the situation as different.

[Andres Ramos]

On 10/21/2020 at 7:04 PM, Andres Ramos said:

Maybe this weekend i can try to rebuild the germanium diode array for further tests.

To pick up the ball again, I had troubles in replicating my results since obviously the diodes are VERY different in their noise characteristic and it seems that by chance I had some very good ones in my previous circuit (that is not existing anymore) earlier and with the ones I tried lately the results sadly were not the same. If I can spend some time again I will think about a better solution or making a large bulk test with all ge-diodes I have.

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

6 hours ago, Andres Ramos said:

I hope I can dispel anyone's doubts now. The closed group iDigitalMedium is a remainder of the original group information structure that was based on Threema (a very secure swiss Messenger system). As in Threema the group was closed and invisible from the outside we have migrated this structure into the forum because the goal was to put everything in into the forum. We not really knew if this would be necessary but in the iDigitalMedium group the members know each other for quite a time and exchanged many private things that we assumed could be good to kept private in the future as well. The second reason is for the experiments. We can discuss certain concepts and thing in the forum publicly but for some experiments we collaborated in the core team (also in Threema times) and discussed them on a technical level between the members before the outcome was ripe to put it in the public. Or to say it in other words, we wanted to ensure a certain state of ripeness before we show it out to other people. This is not because we want to hide something from you but because it's nasty to discuss about stupid errors and other fallacies that might be in the product. This annoys everyone and is discrediting the product. Inside the iDigitalmedium team that had only 4-5 members this was no problem but with a larger community with valued the situation as different.

OK

So, if I get this right, the idea is to develop these things behind closed doors until they reach a state in which they can hit the spotlight.

I totally understand that. And as a software engineer, I completely agree that it is better for these things to be ready before they are released. We do that all the time.

Having said that, I wonder what the virtual, asynchronous, online equivalent of closed doors really is?  For example, I would imagine that this forum would function like that already, even with its public and open nature, because in my experience with engineering oriented forums, the normal "attention dynamics" of people (for lack of a better term) functions as a natural filter.

For example... there are only 4 participants in this one thread. Yet it is out there in the open. So, I guess that only the few who really care enough to get seriously involved get down to the details.  I think this and other low activity threads show the way in which the natural attention dynamics cluster the right people behind virtual closed doors.

In any case, for as long as no one that would be a positive contributor gets side tracked, I don't mind something more closed. Just don't leave me out 

 

 

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

We are on the same page then.
And don't worry about the off-topic..  I actually think this was better asked here since both Andres and Michael are members of the IDigital research group, so the audience was right on spot.

I probably have to say that I tend to need to learn to keep my mouth shut, so to speak. My wife is rather reserved and many times she pointed out to me how I shouldn't have said something or let something being know. So I guess I'm biased toward keeping everything out in the open. But I did have a few counter-experiences, like first dates turned into last and only dates because I couldn't stop talking about spirits, reincarnation and life after death , so I can see the need for at least a bit of reservation.

 

 

 

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

1 minute ago, Dr Jeffers said:

As for your home life Fernando, we have a saying in our country : "Happy wife, (means a ) happy life". Works in most instances, should be patented!

JEFF

LOL
You bet! 

[Keith J. Clark]

Hi Jeff, first of all I'd like to say hi and welcome! I'm on a mobile so I will reply in short. It's great to have you here. You'll be seeing an email from me soon.

I havent read the whole thread (pardon I've been obnoxiously absent due to site related work) so am commenting on the question of why one group would be closed where people can only read and comment but not start new topics - the research team forum.

The research group has good cohesion and low number of members. We grew it from 2 people to 5 and have seen both improvements and challenges. The improvements are that we bonded and became a support group for each other personally.  In addition, this group has applied ideas to creations at a rate faster than anything I've ever seen. So much so that it soon became apparent that my assistance in getting their ideas out was far more important than any experiments of my own.

We're bringing ITC directly into the path of the paranormal crowd, with expected casualties. In addition, the collection of ideas that was being worked through was very expansive.  

It had to be protected, and the members of that group needed a place to catalog their ideas, to document the chronological history. Without the structure of a forum the history did not exist.

The only forum registered members can't create a new thread in is the idigitalmedium research team forum.  The team presents their ideas, and registered users can comment or make suggestions.

If and when we see other community members contributing and communicating in such a manner as the research team does,  then clearly we would consider approaching them as a potential team member.

When you know you're going to go through the gauntlet, you don't expose your most valuable asset.

That's pretty much it. Some of their work is partially segregated by intention, by design.

They've built receivers, interferometers, machine learning models, and all manner of devices in just over a year. 

We'll promote anybody we see in the community that is doing similar work with a similar purpose and manner.

P.S. We're learning on the fly. The concept of whether one forum stays private or not is up to the team itself and can change at any time.

We WANT to see invention. Boldness. Out-of-the-box-thinking.

This team's job as a public-facing endeavor is to inspire people by demonstrating method.

....I think....I just answered a question you did not ask. Perhaps I misunderstood. 

You're welcome to be as granular as you wish! It's up to the individual.

Keith 

[Andres Ramos]

12 hours ago, Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal said:

We are on the same page then.
And don't worry about the off-topic..  I actually think this was better asked here since both Andres and Michael are members of the IDigital research group, so the audience was right on spot.

I probably have to say that I tend to need to learn to keep my mouth shut, so to speak. My wife is rather reserved and many times she pointed out to me how I shouldn't have said something or let something being know. So I guess I'm biased toward keeping everything out in the open. But I did have a few counter-experiences, like first dates turned into last and only dates because I couldn't stop talking about spirits, reincarnation and life after death , so I can see the need for at least a bit of reservation.

 

 

 

Well I can say I made the same experience regarding my wife and my friends. Seems to be a standard operation procedure the world is running against people like us to push us back.

[Andres Ramos]

13 hours ago, Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal said:

OK

So, if I get this right, the idea is to develop these things behind closed doors until they reach a state in which they can hit the spotlight.

I totally understand that. And as a software engineer, I completely agree that it is better for these things to be ready before they are released. We do that all the time.

Having said that, I wonder what the virtual, asynchronous, online equivalent of closed doors really is?  For example, I would imagine that this forum would function like that already, even with its public and open nature, because in my experience with engineering oriented forums, the normal "attention dynamics" of people (for lack of a better term) functions as a natural filter.

For example... there are only 4 participants in this one thread. Yet it is out there in the open. So, I guess that only the few who really care enough to get seriously involved get down to the details.  I think this and other low activity threads show the way in which the natural attention dynamics cluster the right people behind virtual closed doors.

In any case, for as long as no one that would be a positive contributor gets side tracked, I don't mind something more closed. Just don't leave me out 

 

 

Yes i see your point. And now as you said it I have doubts that I expressed myself in the right way. In fact developing something behind closed doors was an attitude we aligned with after creating the forum and we were aware that we have this Threema core group and a lot of new people from the outside we don#t know very well. That's where the idea came from, "lets tinker around with our ideas in the core group and put it to the rest only if we can be sure it is not total bullshit. It's not said that this is the right manner to proceed for the future. The point is that new people like you and Jeff and many others are as keen on doing something really new and important as Michael lee, Keith, Louis and me. You're not only people saying, "Oh that's nice. I give it a like. Now what comes up next?" Thus the core team now will grow naturally as Keith said and maybe at some time we will see we don't need the iDigitalmedium team corner anymore. For now it's still good to have it because, like Keith said, we rocked things a lot and there is definitely some kind of special group spirit that enabled us to do all those things. Let's say the iDigitalmedium team corner is still the house of this spirit. However I can feel by people like you that this spirit is growing and maybe we will come to the conclusion that now the whole forum now is the house of it.

A last word, there is no need to disclose anything we discuss here. We want to say, think, discuss and do everything around ITC what's possible. Please don't hesitate to contribute and collaborate on any topic discussed here. We are open minded and we want the same for you. We don't have any political correctness here in terms of ideas that are not allowed to be spelled out. We want discuss everything, that's why we made this forum.

[Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal]

Hi Jeff

I really like the idea of combining burst levels with different tones!! Indeed, level detection of noise alone might not have enough pk intel, but if the bursts are searched for on different regions of the spectrum, then it would provide with a cleaner separation of symbols (such as 1s and 0s).

As for using just two tones, i.e., just 0s and 1s, or using more tones to extend the symbols to letters in the alphabet...  I thought about this a lot. On the one hand, it's easier for the spirits to just resonate with the tones which directly correspond to the desired letter, so that's an advantage. 
But on the other hand, a binary "transport layer", once settled and robust, can be used to transmit anything that has ever existed, not just text. The entire internet is, down at the line, just bits.

Additionally, using a strictly binary code, we can use the so called error detection and corrections bits (which I mentioned here). There exist error correction and detection codes for extended alphabets, but they are, well, alphabet dependent, so they are not universal.

This is perhaps too far, but I do quite seriously envision a binary transcommunication tansport layer that would allow us to connect the spirit world, for real, to the internet (for as I said, down at the line the internet is just 0s and 1s)

 

[Andres Ramos]

One thing that worked very well for me to pick up those tiny changes of the tone amplitude is noise gating. The SSM2167 from Analog Devices works just perfect for this.

I use it in my Laser Interferometer to achieve something similar to what you guys described. Spirit imprints are hidden in the tiny changes of the maximum amplitude levels. So I adjust the noise threshold to somewhere in the middle of these fluctuations around the visible maximum of the signal. The noise gate works as an modulation enhancer. In fact it does not actas an ideal hard switching path but starts to open rather softly at a certain point. When the signal amplitude  rises just a little bit the signal after the noise gate goes up much higher. It's like a very steep transfer function that suppresses lots of the unnecessary spectral noise energy that does not contribute to the modulation. As a result the signal to noise ratio (S/N) is increased dramatically. Maybe we could use this to pick up the spirit modulation of the tone impulses and amplify them this way. Behind the noise gate we just need a small RC-lowpass to filter out spikes and a comparator to detect if the amplitude is over some level we specify as a threshold. To shape a signal that is binary and suitable for digital processing we could let the comparator trigger a single-shot multivibrator for example.

The problem is that the tone amplitude, apart from the spirit modulation, must be stable because the bias at the noise gate input is critical. Thus we must use an oscillator with a stable amplitude. But this could be achieved by taking a binary oscillator (NAND gate with feedback or the good old NE555) and applying a lowpass filter chain at the output. Since the amplitude of a binary circuit is always stable (HIGH state) the lowpass filter shapes a sine function from the square signal with constant amplitude.

[Andres Ramos]

If you prefer analyzing the frequency components of the tone there is also a good way. You know I am experimenting with the Javascript WebAudio Kit that gives you the means to run audio applications in your browser. I already used it successfully for my SpiritFax program that will be issued soon. For the Web Audio kit I use a framework called p5.js that makes programming a lot easier. One function is a real time analysis of the signal spectrum. The results are provided as an array of spectral amplitudes in a specified frame. Thus you just need to to look what  frequency amplitude represented by an array values is going up or down or you easily can put them into relation to each other. And everything in realtime.