The First Digital Audio Workstation
The First Digital Audio Workstation
As early as 1976 Salt Lake City company Soundstream founded by MIT grad Dr. Thomas Stockham, Jr. had a working digital audio recorder, a 2-track that recorded at a bit depth of 16 and a sample rate of 37 kHz. Soundstream later modified a Honeywell instrumentation tape drive to create a working 8-track recorder that would record 16-bits at 50 kHz. It recorded the digitized audio to tape running at 35 inches per second. To edit and remix the recordings, the digital tapes were transferred to a hard disc editor that Soundstream had developed, making this the first digital audio workstation. Soundstream partnered with audiophile record companies like Telarc as well as mainstream record companies like RCA, Philips, Warner Brothers, Decca, and others to record many of the classical releases for those though these recordings were released on vinyl, (CDs weren’t introduced until 1982), people still noticed and appreciated the improved sound quality.
