Anchor Sounds & Anchoring Technique

1 · What anchoring does

An anchor (NLP/hypnosis term, coined by Bandler & Grinder, based on Pavlovian conditioning) is a stimulus — sound, touch, word, image — linked to an inner state. Re-triggering the stimulus brings the client right back to the linked state. The ship-anchor metaphor: what's anchored stays put, even when the water flows.

In practice: in trance you say „feel this moment of complete calm", press the anchor button — the sound plays. The client links sound + state. Later (even outside trance) you re-trigger the sound — the client snaps back into the calm state.

2 · The six slots in the cockpit

Hypnotika has six anchor buttons as a row below the phase buttons. Hard-coded labels Anchor 1 to Anchor 6. Keyboard hotkeys:

Q — Anchor 1 (default: deep singing bowl)
W — Anchor 2 (default: clean finger snap)
E — Anchor 3 (default: clean heartbeat)
R — Anchor 4
T — Anchor 5
Z — Anchor 6 (on QWERTY keyboards, Y triggers it too — Z and Y are swapped there)

Anchors 4–6 ship unassigned — fill them via one of the three ways below. Hotkey position is shown as a small key-tile top-right of each button. Left-hand position on the keyboard, easy to grab while you speak or take notes with the right.

3 · Audio routing

The trigger bus runs parallel to the music, not instead. When you press an anchor while music plays, the client hears both — music stays full, anchor sound mixes on top.

Optionally, Settings has an „Anchor ducking" switch: when enabled, the music briefly dips below the anchor sound so the anchor cuts through clearly. It uses the same values as the microphone ducking but toggles independently. Off (default) = the anchor mixes on top without dimming the music.

Important: mic ducking does NOT apply to anchor sounds. When you speak (mic active → music auto-dims), the anchor sound stays at full level. So the anchor remains dominant while you set the verbal cue.

Anchors are also captured in the session recording — if the client gets the MP3 to take home, the anchors are included and reinforce the link on re-listening.

4 · Three ways to assign

Way 1 — Library drawer (recommended, with preview)

Open Library → click „Sound" filter (cyan anchor icon ⚓)
All 38 anchor sounds appear in the list
Click a sound → play button (▶) for preview
If you like it: click the edit icon of the row → detail drawer opens
Top of drawer: cyan section „Assign to anchor slot" with six buttons
Click Anchor 1 to 6 → sound is assigned immediately, toast confirmation

Way 2 — Edit icon in cockpit (fastest swap)

In the cockpit, look at the desired anchor button
Bottom-right of the button: small edit pencil icon (cyan on hover)
Click → opens floating menu with all 38 sounds grouped by category
Click a sound → slot is reassigned, menu closes
Current sound is marked with checkmark

Way 3 — Settings (power-user view)

Open Settings → top section „⚓ Anchor Sounds"
Per slot: label, volume, key, auto-pitch toggle, file picker
„Other bundle sound" dropdown (cyan) → 38 sounds grouped
„Other own file" → file picker for MP3/WAV from anywhere

5 · Own files vs. bundle sounds

Bundle (green 📦 pill): one of 38 shipped sounds. Auto-updates on app upgrades.
Own file (orange 📁 pill): MP3/WAV from your disk. Never changed by app updates.

6 · What is not yet in Hypnotika 0.1

Auto-pitch of anchor sounds to the track key — planned for 0.2. The slider in Settings is already visible but temporarily disabled due to an audio path incompatibility.
MIDI triggering of anchor slots — coming with the MIDI mapping extension in 0.3.
Freely mappable hotkeys — the keys Q–Z are fixed to slots 1–6.

7 · Recommendations for your own sounds

1-5 seconds in length (longer is unusable as an anchor)
Stereo preferred (stronger anchoring on headphone setups)
Soft attack (no bang dropping into the trance)
Tonal & gentle — no atonal clusters, no harsh noise signals
Level: pre-normalized to -6 to -12 dBFS

Anchor sounds and the anchoring technique in Hypnotika.