Life has been a swirl over the past two years. The pandemic jerked our world into an invisible cage where the wild nature seems unreachable. We start to empathise with caged birds and animals. And we desire the sounds of nature to the greatest extent, instead of our partners’ constant complaining and snoring.
One day, I was video-calling a friend who showed me a project on Kickstarter that tries to address this problem by being the best sound machine. It is, quite aptly IMO, named SOUL. It plays over 250 mixed sounds of nature. He was excited while I was utterly confused.
The same confusion that overcame me when I first saw Terra.
“Why not use YouTube?” I asked. He hung up, leaving me even more confused. I wondered if he was using ChonkerKeys because he was a bit too fast on exiting the call.
But his excitement over SOUL piqued my interest and curiosity got the better of me. So I decided to take a quick look. It might surprise me by being magical.
What is SOUL
Let’s start with the basic definition, aka one of the ultimate philosophical questions. What is it?
SOUL is designed to play 8 sets of natural sounds. All the sounds are recorded individually from the source of origination. The recordings are done with professional equipment and perfected by sound engineers.
What problems does it solve
SOUL takes you away from all the hustle and bustle of your daily life, and clears your mind. At least this is what it claims it can do. Sounds like returning your soul to you. This is something we need during this special time. The pandemic caused not only economic fluctuations but also anxieties for many people. Good sleep is hard to come by.
This SOUL ambient sound generator brings in the comforting sounds of the sea surf or the soothing sounds of a forest. Featuring high fidelity natural sounds that replace the urban noises, the SOUL helps you to fall into a deep sleep quickly.
The sounds also help you to calm down for your yoga routine and overall elevate your wellbeing. The SOUL tackles the problem that these ambient sounds you don’t encounter in this concrete forest!
SOUL helps to bring them to you whenever, wherever.
Who is it for
Everyone needs to sleep. So it is a product that’s friendly to everyone. Unlike HBO series, kids under 16 are allowed to use SOUL.
But if you had trouble falling asleep every night or you desired to be part of nature without physically being in nature, this is designed for you. Use it as a white noise sound machine to help you fall asleep or a sound machine to calm your soul down.
White noise, according to science, would work fine as a hammer when it comes to knocking you out in bed.
Is it innovative
Yes and no.
The customization of different nature sounds stikes as a novel idea. You can listen to breeze alone, or to breeze and rain. This provides a new experience and you get to have a wider range of choices.
In addition, it doesn’t require Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to function. The sounds were all recorded beforehand. You can enjoy it even when you are in the wild with no Wi-Fi. But wait, if I were with nature…
However, the idea as a whole has existed for some time now. To bring wild sounds to your home is not an innovative move.
Is it worth it
SOUL retails at $199. A decent price for souls!
It seems a bit pricey to me. I wouldn’t pay for it because:
- The number of sounds is limited on this product and no add-ons in the current version. While at the same time, YouTube has a wider range of sounds for you to choose from. (Seriously, make use of YouTube!)
- This is not battery-powered, which means you’d have to attach it to the socket-on-the-wall or a power bank for it to work.
But, as the old saying goes, if you like it, you are stupid. it’s worth it!
Are there any alternatives
Yes. As I have mentioned earlier, YouTube has a wide range of sound choices. For instance, they have alpha waves, rain sound on the window with thunder sounds, the wind in the trees, etc. What I prefer doing is to find the sounds I want on YouTube and download them on my phone in case there’s no Wi-Fi network.
If you are looking for something to help you fall asleep, you can try some white noise machines which are dedicated to improving sleeping quality. They may have a narrower range of sounds but they are more focused on white noises and cheaper.
Conclusion
Humans have the tendency to realize how important some things are after they are not around anymore. The pandemic situation made us treasure nature more than ever. SOUL brings the sounds of nature to your room.
But to the question of whether it is the best sound machine that brings you the sounds of nature, I’d say “nay”. It represents nothing more than my own shallow feelings. If you feel the same as/ different from me, comment below to let us know!
We’d love to hear from you!
Hi, I’m Rainee.
I’m a reindeer that identifies as a bear. I’m the Critical Bear that does standup comedy.
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