3M Digital 32-track recorder

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These machines are now exceedingly rare, and at Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services we have the privilege of caring for and using some of the last remaining working examples.

Meg Travis
Meg Travis
Global Head of Marketing, Communications, and Customer Success | Iron Mountain Media & Archive Services
December 11, 20207 mins
3M Digital 32-Track Recorder
The 3M Digital Mastering System, prototyped in the field at Sound80 in Minneapolis in 1978 and released in 1979, was one of the earliest digital audio recording and mastering systems (after the #Soundstream recorder and the Denon DN-023R and DN-034R) and the first to offer 32-track, 16-bit capability at 50KHz - a feat that truly pushed the technology of its time to the limit. Data was written in a proprietary format on specially formulated 1-inch tape, moving at a rather blistering 45 inches per second. Today, a good number of these masters remain.

These machines are now exceedingly rare, and at Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services we have the privilege of caring for and using some of the last remaining working examples. We have two that we are welcoming to our collection, where we will give them a good home and put them to work!