Voyager keyboard - how good is it?

[MBlom]

I plan on buying a Voyager at the end of the summer. I know my way around tweaking synthesizers but I'm no keyboard player. I've had a MonoMachine for a couple of years and enjoy tweaking sequenced synthlines for hours. But now I feel I want to improve on my keybord skills (or more accurately, get some). I could choose a cheaper synth if it only was for the keyboard action, but I'm totally in love with the Voyager's sound and interface. The thing I'm wondering about though is how its keyboard stands in comparison to other synths. I haven't played one in a while and then I was only focusing on the sound. The other day I hot to borrow a MS-20 and was quite dissapointed by the plastic feel of the keyboard. Please tell me the Voyager is nowere near that feeling!

[stiiiiiiive]

I can only talk for the Old School keybed: it feels really good. Even the mechanical noise is cool
Nothing in common with the Little Phatty's which is to light and a bit clanky. BTW I've been told the old MS20's was awful too.

Problem is if you ever use another keyboard after the Voyager, you will certainly find it cheap

[MBlom]

Sounds good! I'm not afraid to get spoiled, quite the opposite. I play a 75' Rickenbacker bass which is sooo good to play it feels like cheating. One reason I want to spend money on a Voyager although I'm not that good a keyboard player or a synth guru is i've gotten used to the feeling of a good instrument and instead of owning a bunch of synths that do different things well, having one that sounds and feels really good and learn how to sculpt all sorts of sonic characters out of it. He he. Now I start to sound like I'm defending buying a Voyager to my mom or girlfriend. Guess no one here will question my choice...

[stiiiiiiive]

Yeah I totally get your feeling

I've made the choice, over the years, not to buy much gear but to buy freaking gear: Kurzweil K2661, Clavia G2 and MDUW were my trio for a while.

That was before two years ago haha! Then I decided that life was too short And now, I feel like I have to sell some stuffs, whereas I don't have that much. I prefer the feeling of having just what is needed and of digging deep in each instrument.

[thealien666]

I've had the occasion to play both on the Old School version and the Electric Blue, and they were different. The one on the EB was of better quality and feel than the cheaper one on the OS.

But, both did not compare well to even the one on a Prophet 08. Mind you, they're all chinese-made keyboard, but some have better action and feel than others. But none of them comes close to the buttery feel of a well maintained Pratt-Read found on vintage gear (Moog, ARP, and a few others) as far as synth keys go.

But there are really cheesy ones. The Alesis Ion and Micron comes to mind. Or some old Roland gear like the JX8P, or Korg Mono/Poly. Nothing to write mom about on these !

[stiiiiiiive]

I think I read once that the Old School had two different keyboards over the whole production time. Right, Alain?

[thealien666]

It's possible. I don't know. My Old School was a fairly early one (serial in the dual digits), so Moog Music might have switched to a better quality one during the production run ?

If you ever compare yours to a "high end" Voyager (like an EB), you will notice the difference right away if yours is the same as mine was.

[ColorForm2113]

My voyager select series plays like butter (so does my micromoog for that matter) I like to use it as a master keyboard when I can, to control ableton or my jx3p

[stiiiiiiive]

It's possible. I don't know. My Old School was a fairly early one (serial in the dual digits), so Moog Music might have switched to a better quality one during the production run ?

Mine is post 500th. I'll try a regular Voyager when I can.

[EMwhite]

My Old School is in the high 300's and I really like it. I think at one point I read that you can tell which you have based on the number of screws beneath and I looked at mine to find that it was not the same as what is used on the higher end Voyagers. But like I said, like it alot, especially the aftertouch.

It's difficult to compare an Old School feel (taking into account what you hear or how easily or difficult it is to alter playing dynamics/expression) because it's not Midi, so you are relying on the sensitivity of your connected CV modules, or the onboard analog electronics. I'm struggling to explain this notion, but to me, it 'feels' like the touch sensitivity is a bit difficult to wrestle with in that you cannot route it to amplitude easily whilst midi keyboards routed to non-moog modules give a particular level of audible feedback that somehow many synth engines have in common.

But I've owned Novation SL MK II keyboards which I like the feel of quite a bit, and also have Kurzweil K250 (88 key wooden keybed made by Baldwin). My Phatty's kbd is rather poor from a feel perspective but I love the Phatty so it makes up for it. Opus 3 borders on horrible. Blowfeld feels really nice but aftertouch is the complete opposite of the Old School, meaning that you need some real pressure in order to actuate it, and this takes away from how expressive you hope to be with it.

If I could replace my Phatty kbd with something high end, I would.

[namahshaman]

I have the Performer Edition, and the keyboard feels amazing. The action is beautiful. My absolute favorite soloing board, well, the only board I'll solo with, ha. I did buy it slightly used, not sure if the original owner made any mods (pretty sure he didn't though). All of my music buddies get jealous any time they play it. ha. I can't compare it to any other Voyagers because sadly, I've never had the privilege of playing another one. I have played a couple Phattys though, not quite as good IMO.

Also, there's something about playing a Moog via MIDI that just doesn't feel quite as responsive or natural (maybe its just me). And, few things in life feel better than playing a Moog all by itself. The natural feel and responsiveness begs to be played . . . begs, I tell you.

I'd go with the keyboard. Good luck.

[GovernorSilver]

I like the feel of my Voyager Performer Edition keyboard. I can't really compare it to the keyboards of my Korg M3 and Nord Modular G2 because they too have good quality keyboards.

I did notice a dramatic difference in keyboard quality compared to M-Audio and Novation keyboards but that was back in the early 2000s. Perhaps the latest generation of M-Audio, Novation, etc. has gotten better.

[stiiiiiiive]

If I could replace my Phatty kbd with something high end, I would.

Definitely agreed. Besides, it's true the whole instrument feels good.

The G2's keyboard is nice and when I bought a NL2X, I was REALLY disapointed. No aftertouch, first, but the fell is so much cheaper. The NL3's is like the G2's for that matter.

Novation SL Compact are very, very comfortable too. I opened one in order to see whether is could be swapped with that one of the NL2X haha. It cannot.

M-Audio, Kurzweil K2661 (not the K2600), E-mu little control boards... nah.

[thealien666]

On the subject of M-Audio, they came out a few years back with a master MIDI controller with real hammer action keyboard, the Prokeys 88, which is really bad. It was supposed to be an affordable solution to the much more expensive digital pianos equipped with such a keyboard action. Unfortunately the build quality, or should I say lack of, resulted in inconsistant action and even some hammers getting stuck sometimes.

I don't know about the newer models, but when I tried the Prokeys in a store, after only a couple of minutes, some notes were not triggering properly. I thought it might have been a defective demonstrator model, but I went to different music stores that had it on display, and they were all the same. Moreover, the hammer action would "disappear" if notes were quickly played !

When I played a Yamaha CP-5 (digital grand piano) the keyboard action was flawless. But at $3K it's way too expensive just to use it as a MIDI controller...

[EricK]

The keyboard is far superior to the Phatty keyboard I have played, but not necessarily as good as some of the vintage models I have played (which were restored).

Eric