Identifying 16mm sound (6 track optical???)

[RyanH]

So I've got a roll of 16mm film with a really odd optical track. It sure looks like 6 channels of optical audio which is absurd and ridiculous. Does anyone have any idea what this is and how it could be played? I've attached an image. You might need to scroll over to the optical track on the far right. Anyone know what I'm looking at?

Sound.jpg

[pberk]

You could try AEO-Light software to digitize the optical track. I've had success doing this with two channels.
I think it would work with six.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/aeolight/

[Andreas Wideroe]

AEO-Light is awesome software. We use it all the time.

https://usc-imi.github.io/aeo-light/

Btw, great filmstrip. Would love to see one of these. I have never seen more tracks than 2 here in our facility.

/Andreas

[RyanH]

Btw, great filmstrip. Would love to see one of these. I have never seen more tracks than 2 here in our facility.

Neither have we. It's bizarre. I guess I kind of want a sanity check. This really looks like 6 tracks of optical to other people too?

And my googling has turned up nothing. Not a single mention. 2 track 16mm optical is pretty poor already. Not sure why someone thought 6 track would be a good idea, but I can find no mention of any equipment that would have either made or played this back originally. It certainly was never any sort of standard I can find.

[RyanH]

Apparently it's a Maurer soundtrack
http://www.paulivester.com/films/filmstock/guide.htm

[Andreas Wideroe]

Awesome

Thanks for sharing that great soundtrack info/resource site.

/Andreas

[Mmechanic]

You’re welcome.

[Tscan]

Apparently it's a Maurer soundtrack
http://www.paulivester.com/films/filmstock/guide.htm

There's quite a variety of sound tracks out there, as I've learned using AEO Light for about 6 months now. It will scan that 6 track just fine, I've even used it on a Variable Density Track, which freaked me out at first, but sounded great after I processed it. You may be dealing with more detail, but if you get a sharp scan on it, it should sound really nice.