Questions for Voyager owners

[Nillerbabs]

Hi folks!

 

 

I've just returned from a couple of relaxing days in London. Lately I've been considering which Moog has the edge, weighing pros and cons, and so when the opportunity to play a Voyager came along, I grasped it. Although I'm convinced that it's a mighty fine instrument with incredible sound and construction, I also got a few negative impressions. I'd like to know whether Voyager owners can confirm these, or if there have been any updates to solve these issues (not software related, since the OS is OS-free. Lol.).

 

Here are my observations:

 

An obvious Voyager pro is aftertouch sensitivity. However, as mentioned in the SOS Voyager review, the aftertouch is multiplicative. Since I'd want aftertouch to control vibrato, I thus can't have vibrato-less leads (which is just crazy), and not only will I have to set the mod-wheel with obscure precision - I also lose the wheel as modulator for another parameter. Also, the aftertouch seems very un-gradual; just a slight pressure will transmit the maximum value, and thus an oddly delicate pressure is required.

 

The release off button, which could be immensely convenient, doesn't cut the release totally, but leaves a short tail. This leaves a clever and potentially necessary shortcut redundant.

 

 

- Are these observations correct? Also, to my surprice the Voyager didn't kick me in the balls (in a good way!) like the Phatty did when I played it. I realized that I don't need filter spread and high-pass filter, and as such the only appeal in the Voyager OS are in the build and philosophy (non-digital) of the instrument, wherefore the Phatty starts to look as the brighter solution. Nonetheless - can these observations be confirmed or disproved?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Niels

[llamastorm]

Can't really speak to the first part, but as far as ball kicking goes, yes, the Moog filter is a bit tame.

 

However, there are some fierce patches. There's a very nice Taurus approximation, for instance (forget what preset this is). Some have lots of teeth -- if you are playing with a model with the stock patches, hold down cursor +/- and look at some banks other than "A".

 

You can also route the right input into the external in and crank the external mixer up and that can be interesting. Depends on the patch -- on light sounds, not so much, but if the sound is already aggressive it can be nice.

 

I don't know, I had a Moog LP 1, and the keyboard made me dislike playing it. Felt like the toy Casio I had when I was in middle school. Mod wheel kind of got loose and weird too. I think I heard that's much better keyboard wise with the Stage 2 -- no idea. The multi-knob thing wasn't so much of an issue, I mostly just tweak the filter cutoff anyway.

 

But the blue blacklights (on the Voyager), God, the blue blacklights... really fun in the dark.

[keybdwizrd]

My synth purchases have always been preceded by an "A-ha!" moment, where I played one in a store and said to myself, "I've just got to have an instrument that sounds/plays like this." I've had the opportunity to play Voyagers several times, often at length, and was just never compelled to pull out my credit card. I bought my LP maybe four years ago, thinking that ultimately I would trade up to a Voyager, but that never happened.

 

I am quite sure that if I had a Voyager I could make good use of it, and who knows, maybe over time it could become one of my favorite instruments. But one has never grabbed me and ended up in the trunk of my car the way so many other instruments have. Certainly the steep price tag (especially for a monophonic synth) has contributed to that.

[xpander]

 

Also, to my surprice the Voyager didn't kick me in the balls (in a good way!) like the Phatty did when I played it. I realized that I don't need filter spread and high-pass filter, and as such the only appeal in the Voyager OS are in the build and philosophy (non-digital) of the instrument, wherefore the Phatty starts to look as the brighter solution. Nonetheless - can these observations be confirmed or disproved?

 

i can say that the Voyager doesn't hold a candle to the Model D or Prodigy to my ears- i use those over the Voyager in almost every studio situation. still, the Voyager has it's own unique sound and can certainly shine.