Using the Voyager as a Ring Modulator

[jeffdoto]

Hello Everyone

Hopefully that title didn't make all the pros here just lose their lunch all over their keyboards. As you've probably gleaned from the topic of my post, I am a newbie to analog synthesis. I just recently bought a voyager with the 251 and 351 units and 3 expression pedals. Needless to say, it's brilliant fun.

My question of the day: Can I use the Voyager to act like a ring modulator? I don't really know scientifically what a ring modulator does, other than that it makes external audio sound really cool. If the voyager can't "ring modulate", why?

I understand I can route external audio into my voyager, but it seems, superficially, like the audio only gets routed through the "filters" section of the moog, which is cool, but not quite what I wanted. I mean it seems like it's only highpass / lowpass filtering here. I was looking for a more "Clockwork Orange" Beethoven's 9th Chorus part, if you know what I mean. Like an almost robotic computer-type voice, almost like a vocoder (I was pretty sure that Clockwork Orange wasn't a vocoder, but rather a ring modulator).

Can anyone out there give me some advice on what I've asked (whether it's getting a robot voice out of my moog, or if it can act like a ring modulator, and if not, why)?

A preemptive thanks to anyone who can help,

Jeff

[Qwave]

...Can I use the Voyager to act like a ring modulator?...

No

...If the voyager can't "ring modulate", why?...

Because it is missing a ring modulator

There are certain electronics needed for a ringmodulator. And you need a user interface that allows to select which two signal will be ringmodulated. And most Moogs got no ringmodulator. Just like most analog (monophonic) synths.

If you need a Moog ringmodulator, use the Moog Moogerfooger Ring Mod MF-102.

[jeffdoto]

Hey Qwave

Thanks for the quick reply -

Was I right about the Clockwork Orange thing?

What does a ring modulator do? Is it like a vocoder? Is there any sneaky way to home build some stuff and hybridize it with the voyage to get a vocoder or a ring mod?

Thanks again

Jeff

[Qwave]

The Clockwork Orange OST is using a vocoder for those choir sounds.

A ring modulator multiply the two ingoing signals. This results in at the output in a summed and subrated harmonic pitch of one of the ingoing signals by the pitch of the other. And this is not only limited to the base frequency, but also applies for all included particial frequencies included in both signals. So you get a very complex and most times non harmonic sounding sound. If the sum and sub is done on a voice from a stady pitch signal, you get some vocoder like sounds.
Building a simple ring mod isn't a big deal for a DIY project. But you need some solder and electronic skills.
Search the net for examples and more details.

[sir_dss]

You CAN get some very RM sorts of sound by having the VCO3 modulate the filter. Then run whatever you want to process through the EXT IN jack. It's not true RM signal but pretty cool itself.

[suthnear]

Ring modulation is a form of amplitude modulation in that it generates additional frequencies (known as sidebands) above and below the two frequencies multiplied together (these are known as the carrier and the modulator). However, unlike conventional AM, the carrier and the modulator should be removed from the result leaving only the sidebands. Since the voyager does not have this facility you're not going to get true ring mod, but by modulating osc1 or osc2 level with osc3 you can get a similar effect.

And as sir_dss said, using osc3 to modulate the filter gives you filter fm which has a very similar (but more pleasing IMO) result to am...