RetroTech: Recordable Paper #MusicMonday

Awesome video from Techmoan on YouTube.

In this video I take a look at a multimedia educational format from the 1970s, the 3M Sound Page (AKA Ricoh Synchrofax)

UPDATE
I’ve seen a few comments where the assumption has been made that this device was still in use as an educational tool in the 1990s. I think this is highly unlikely. Here’s my take on this – if you’ve ever gone to school, you’ll know that they rarely throw anything away. I know in my school there were things in storage cupboards that hadn’t been used in decades. My theory is that this was used in the 1970s and then stored away until being discovered in the 1990s by some mischievous children who liberated it and used it to record music off the radio (over the top of the old teachers programmes).

Read more.


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Happy New Year 2025
Happy New Year from Adafruit!

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 11/15/2024 Featuring Adafruit bq25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 3.3V Buck Board! (Video)

Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: A Fabulous Year for Python on Hardware and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

Adafruit IoT Monthly — The 2024 Recap Issue!

Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — Same-day delivery, not for convenience, but customer loyalty

Electronics – Adafruit Daily — Level Conversion Hack

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !


1 Comment

  1. The Moller Artiste pipe organ player roll perforator at The American Organ Institute

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ppatxoSEBg

    A lot of people may be too young to know that some pipe organs could play paper music and it is hard to find information since a lot of it is old.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_roll

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.