Voyager Oogle Love Synth Porn - PHOTO thread

[analoghaze]

that room looks very fun.

[chinard]

Wookie & chinard: How do your Ion and Voyager get along (sonically, not socially....)? Do you find them complimentary in your rig?

<3 my ion
out of all the VA's i've had this one is hands down sounds and acts the most like a real analog. (it even simulates analog drift between vco's)
Its real strength i find is in the filters. Its really gets deep into emulating the tone and behavior of many classic filters (moog, oberheim, arp, jupiter, tb303, etc) they aren't perfect but they do come close.
Sonically i like using it for strings and pads the most. It has some really tasty comb filters as well as some classic sounding oberheim stuff.
Of course i DID buy it years before i bought my voyager so alot of the analog FX, FM/sync, leads and basses that i used to love doing on the ion i can do on the voyager. (as long as they were the ones that used a moog filter )
on the physical side, its nice, compat and light which makes it a breeze for gigging. Lets face it, the voyager is friggin HEAVY!!!
The controller layout is very nice. Similar layout to the minimoog i find. everything you need is right there in front of you. Better resolution on the knobs than your average VA too. (12 bit rotary encoders!!!)

Thanks for your impressions.

sorry, i dont do impressions

[GregAE]

Wookie & chinard: How do your Ion and Voyager get along (sonically, not socially....)? Do you find them complimentary in your rig?

out of all the VA's i've had this one is hands down sounds and acts the most like a real analog. (it even simulates analog drift between vco's) Its real strength i find is in the filters. Its really gets deep into emulating the tone and behavior of many classic filters (moog, oberheim, arp, jupiter, tb303, etc) they aren't perfect but they do come close.

on the physical side, its nice, compact and light which makes it a breeze for gigging.

The controller layout is very nice. Similar layout to the minimoog i find. Everything you need is right there in front of you. Better resolution on the knobs than your average VA too.

I concur with everything Chinard says about the Ion. It has a very analog sound, and the various filter offerings cover most of the desirable vintage gear out there (no MS-20 filter, though). Also, it's worth noting that there are two filters available per patch that can be placed in series or parallel, and each filter can be a different type, so you can process a Roland filter through an ARP filter for example, or run both in parallel.

The front panel layout is logical and easy to grasp; it's similar in concept to the Minimoog, as Chinard says. The only downside to the Ion's design is that the LCD doesn't tilt upwards, so you have to either angle the Ion towards you or stand over it to see it. This isn't really a problem, but I think Alesis could have done a better job here.

The built-in effects are a nice sonic enhancement, but there's no delay or reverb available. Among the effects on offer, there's a thru-zero flanger to get the classic tape flanger effect (where the sound cancels out for a brief second), and a vocoder.

Overall, I'd say the Ion is a nice accompaniment to the Voyager for a VA synth. You could even process the Voyager through the Ion filters for some sonic fun ("Heresy", you say – sure, but it's nice to know you could if you wanted to!)

[chinard]

You could even process the Voyager through the Ion filters for some sonic fun ("Heresy", you say – sure, but it's nice to know you could if you wanted to!)

ooooh.. thats a good idea...

i already do something similar CV out for filt env going to my MS-20 using the mixout/filt in loop. (voyager has no resonant HP filter )
too bad the ion doesnt have facilities for CV input. I could probably figure out a way to use midi to trigger a filter envelope on the ion tho..
bah.. i'll play with it later

[Wookie]

Wookie & chinard: How do your Ion and Voyager get along (sonically, not socially....)? Do you find them complimentary in your rig? Thanks for your impressions.

I also concur with the other opinions expressed thus far. It has been decades since I've owned an actual analog synth, and I've made do with a variety of relatively inexpensive VA offerings over the years --most recently the ION, and the Minimax and Pro-12 from the nice folks at Creamware.

I realize it's heresy to say this, but I don't necessarily find the VA's as objectionable as many people with more discerning ears do. I'd actually been quite happy with my VA's until I rather impulsively purchased the Voyager after watching that wonderful documentary on Bob Moog.

However in the few days that I've had the Voyager I've been completely captivated by the connection I feel with the instrument --a connection that is somehow missing with the VA's. It just feels somehow more organic. It's a very subtle thing --perhaps akin to the differences between tube and solid state guitar amplifiers that some guitarists are so adamant about.

In order to justify the purchase of the Voyager, I reluctantly chose to part with the Creamware synthesizers, however the ION will still retain a place in my rack. To me the ION has a somewhat edgier tone, which opens up a different palette of sounds that can contrast and compliment the Voyager.

[analoghaze]

photo moved

[CZ Rider]

Looking at everyones nice setups with thier Voyagers, is making me feel like an old fart. Aside from
the Voyager and an Indigo, none of my keyboards are new enough to have MIDI. And my oldest synth
was made way back in the 60's. Time to upgrade?

[jon_kull]

Looking at everyones nice setups with thier Voyagers, is making me feel like an old fart. Aside from
the Voyager and an Indigo, none of my keyboards are new enough to have MIDI. And my oldest synth
was made way back in the 60's. Time to upgrade?

I'd be more than happy to take some of those old useless keyboards off your hands.

[Bryan B]

Looking at everyones nice setups with thier Voyagers, is making me feel like an old fart. Aside from
the Voyager and an Indigo, none of my keyboards are new enough to have MIDI. And my oldest synth
was made way back in the 60's. Time to upgrade?

Looks like you are already upgraded to unattainably awesome status. Screw Midi, your setup is beautiful and thorough!

I suppose you could have been making a sarcastic joke, but it is hard to tell on these forums sometimes.

None the less, that is a great setup!

[analoghaze]

[CZ Rider]

If possible could you please post pics of each rack?

Sure! The studio is set up so more than one person can jam at a time.
The back wall has a sub-mixer, the audio cables go underneath the floor and resurface behind the main mixer. All of the synthesizers go thru the main mixer that is monitored via the main computer. So just a click on the record button, and the live jam is saved to hard disk.
Circling the room starting with an Oberheim Two-voice, Yamaha CS-15, and an Oberheim OB-1.

Next is a Moog Rogue, Moog Prodigy, and a SCI Pro-1.

Around to an Arp Odyssey MkIII, Korg MS-20, and Access Indigo2. Next over to the Moog Voyager and the NED Synclavier II. Across from the large Korg PS-3100 on top of the main mixer and FX units.

Tucked away around another corner is a modular with a Roland System 100M, on top of a Minimoog with patch points and a few MOTM modules, next to a Dot Com Q960 sequencer bank with a Voyager RME below.

And not in the fisheye photo in the next room is my old 1969 Moog 1P along with a custom Moog 1150 ribbon controller.

Lots of fun, and plenty of room, especially when jamming with others! Many jam sessions recorded here, this studio is known as "The Time Machine"
The configuration changes often too!

[MarkM]

Terry, that is a serious synth museum. You must invite me over, but chances are I may never leave.

[CZ Rider]

Terry, that is a serious synth museum. You must invite me over, but chances are I may never leave.

That's how it got the name "The Time Machine".
Stop over any time!
I can't tell you how many times the sun comming up caught us by suprise.
Although not as much a museum as a synth rescue center. Almost half of those were in pretty bad shape when I found them. That Two-voice was a shambles, the poor Odyssey was missing keys and sliders, the Synclavier would not power up for more than a minute without crashing, the Rogue would not power up,and the Pro-1 couldn't play a note. Some of the fun for me has been restoring these back to what they once were. Most were torn down and rebuilt by me. I like to call it a "Rusteration". They all work great now and get powered up and played at the lest three times a week. My latest project I'm in the middle of, is the Moog 1P.
Here is an idea of a before and after Rusteration

This is how I received the Prodigy, case falling apart and scratchy/intermittent controll.


Looks presentable now.

Hey! What do you get when you mix a Prodigy and Rogue?
A Moog Pierogi?

[analoghaze]

the audio cables go underneath the floor and resurface behind the main mixer

I have all my speaker wires for my home stereo wired through the floor as well. Makes everything look more organized. Out of sight, out of mind. (I like that saying)

Thanks for the added pics.

[till]

CZ Rider,
those coloured switch caps do look strange on the Prodigy.
Did you paint them? Or did you found a source for those colored caps?