Electrode setup and calibration - Amethyst-Sysadmin/Howl GitHub Wiki

Electrode setup and calibration

Howl expects you to set up your electrodes such that channel A creates a "lower down" sensation, and channel B creates a "higher up" one. This is especially important when playing funscripts, as our algorithm will distribute power according to the positions in the funscript, so that you feel sensations in the right place.

The most common setup is to have two separate poles on each channel, which usually means two electrodes (e.g. two TENS pads or two conductive rubber loops on a channel), but some toys will be connected as both poles on their own. On devices that support it, you can also use a configuration with three poles in total (sometimes called a "triphase" configuration), with both channels sharing one common electrode in the middle (and having an additional dedicated one each).

Either type of setup can work well with Howl, and you might find that some patterns suit certain electrode configurations better than others. This tends to be very much personal preference - experienced estim users often have different opinions on what types of electrodes or what placements they find the best. So really it's just a matter of experimenting and figuring out what feels best for you. Unfortunately there isn't really a "one size fits all" approach. I'd suggest starting out with simple and cheap electrodes like TENS pads or conductive rubber loops, and investing in more expensive equipment later if you want to, once you've figured out how to get the best out of your chosen device and software.

Always follow best practice and your device manufacturer's instructions, and do not under any circumstances connect any electrode above your waist.

We've provided some calibration patterns (found on the "Activity" tab) to help you choose optimal settings to get the best effect with your chosen electrode configuration.

Calibration 1 - positional effects

To optimally experience positional effects, it helps if the power levels to each channel are well balanced, with signals to A and B feeling equally strong.

Calibration 1 is a pattern that moves from channel A to channel B and back, repeating every 4 seconds. Just a single frequency (the middle of the configured range) is used. The goal is to adjust your main power levels for channel A and B so that each end (when the signal is fully on A or fully on B) feels equally strong to you.

Once you've done this adjustment, you should hopefully find that you can feel the illusion of sensation travelling through the middle (where you don't directly have electrodes) as it moves back and forth. This is the intended positional effect.

It's not an exact science as you'll probably want to adjust power levels over the course of a session. But the calibration should at least give you rough guide to think "Ah, I always need to set the channel A power higher to get a good balance with these electrodes" (or whatever you discovered, depending on your setup).

Calibration 2 - frequency balance

Calibration 2 is a pattern that sweeps through all of the configured frequency range. It's designed to help Coyote 3 users optimally set the Coyote's frequency balance parameters so that high and low frequencies feel equally strong.

The pattern changes channels periodically, as follows: -

  • Channel A only (16 seconds)
  • Channel B only (16 seconds)
  • Both channels simultaneously (16 seconds)
  • Then back to channel A only, with the same pattern repeating forever.

Your goal is to make the lowest (most thumpy) frequency and the highest (most buzzy) frequency on each channel feel equally strong to you. This can be a little tricky as they are different types of sensations, but this is all about your perception, so just give it your best shot.

You adjust this by changing "Channel A Frequency Balance" (or the equivalent for channel B), which is found on the "Settings" page.

  • If the low frequencies are too weak and the highs feel stronger, increase the frequency balance.
  • If the low frequencies are too strong and the highs feel weaker, reduce the frequency balance.

Take a note of the optimal frequency balance numbers that you discovered for your electrode configuration. As this is a Coyote feature, you can also reuse it in other places (e.g. the DG Labs app supports the same frequency balance setting).

Having a nice balance between the high and low frequencies helps give you a good experience across the whole frequency range. It also helps to limit "surprises" where a pattern might change frequency and suddenly feel much stronger.