Wrong place to ask, I know… However, I was wondering if anyone here regrets their purchase? I went to a store which had both the Voyager and the LP. I was leaning toward the LP, but after using both…I’m leaning toward the Voyager. The LP was nice, but was just ordinary. A basic two osc synth that could get boring…and would not keep me from wanting a Voyager. The Voyager was the most beautiful, well built synth I have ever seen, touched or heard.
The Voyager is definitely an amazing machine. I don’t regret my purchase. Check ebay and you’ll see there aren’t too many used ones…that’s a good place to see how well people are enjoying a synth I think.
If you already feel this way about it before you own one, just think of how you’ll feel after you’ve gotten to know it. At the price they go for used, there is no way you could regret it. That’s just my opinion, though. You won’t know unless you buy one!
Nice pics on Flickr, BTW. I’ve been considering getting a Machinedrum, do you ever regret buying it?
Thanks. While I did not regret buying it, I did recently sell it. I only lost a few dollars on it (bought it used) and made a nice sample library from it. I sold it because the Akai MPC series works better for my needs. That said, I may go for a UW version in the future. I’ve never spent more than $1300 on any synth or drum machine…so the Voyager is something I really have to think about. However, I have wanted one for about a year and finally getting my hands on it yesterday was like waving crack in front of a crack addict. The LP just didn’t have the same effect on me.
Hers my take on the purchase of my Voyager.
At first, I was impressed. totally.
then months later, as I got into the digital end of the thing it began to get all confusing and I was second guessing my purchase. just too many things to remember and not enough time to experiment. I had only been into the old analog synths where there were just a handful of knobs and switches to keep one happy and for the most part, they did.
Now that I’ve come to understand the beast, I realize the Voyager is a Tonal MONSTER, seriously!! the possibilities are endless. The pot mapping alone has 800 possibilities to alter and mix your sounds, and thats in the software menu. The software will have to be kept current thru downloads at the Moog Site. right now its at Ver 3.2 and always growing into the the next version.
If you are into learning your machine and you dont mind the time it’ll take to Really get know your Voyager, then by all means get one. but if you are not, you will probably never get the chance to ride the beast as it was meant to. Well Needless to say 4 years later I still have my baby and all of the upgrades, addons, and toys that Moog has dreamt up for us and I love every aspect of it today.
Above all, the Voyager is not your fathers Model D Mini, for sure!!!
Good Luck!
Yes I do. It is almost three monthts ago that I purchased my Voyager and I am still not able to use it the way it is supposed to. The first day I used it oscillator 3 broke down. Two months later I got a replacement, I turned it on and after a quarter of an hour or so, oscillator 1 broke down. I am still waiting for a decent solution…
bad luck. You are in the minority.
i wouldnt let you touch one of my boards. 
Yes, it is very easy to make fun of…
But I think the problem is due to a failing quality-control and a bad service… I don’t think it is normal to have to wait for months and get a replacement which happens to be from the same series and has the same failure and then hear nothing again.
If the supposed service of Moog would be at the same high level as its reputation I would already have gotten what I paid for…
Sorry man but you need to find out whats caused the problem before coming on here wih your first post and flaming Moog.
Could it be that both were damaged during shipping?
Could it be user error?
Maybe its a faulty batch- if so moog would replace or repair the problem.
Have you spoken with Moog?
What was their response? Did you actually call them up and discuss the problems? Are they within warranty? This all seems a bit weird…
Moog are the most friendly, helpful, caring company that i have come across in a long time and if they are not helping you it is because its not their responsibilty ie. the boards have been damaged by the user or shipping company etc etc. im not saying that this is def the case but its a possibilty.
Give us some more info on the exact problem, and what your correspondence has been with Moog and then maybe it can be moved forward.
How’s the Voyager through just one output (as opposed to stereo)? What are the disadvantages? Anyone using it with MoogerFoogers this way?
I use it with just the left output. I feel I can get a more defined sound, and the spacing control seems more alive. I love putting the signal through the MuRF which will give me a “stereo” signal out.
well, it’s mono. depending on which output and filter mode you use, the cutoff characteristics will change a bit. people who don’t really know synths tend not to hear much difference, but to my ear the stereo spread can be really spectacular.
not to open a can of worms here, but i actually prefer the sound of this to the model D i used to have.
in mono, and with a bit of care, i can get plenty close to that ‘classic’ model D sound. not perfect, but if it’s in a mix, people tend not to notice. comes down to how picky you are when you play your own lines, imvho…
you mean in mono? i’ve done a lot of work with the ‘insert’ jack, at one point experimenting with using a 101 LPF in there and running the onboard filters wide open - result was very ‘mini-like’.
the moogers are mono, so you don’t have much choice there unless you are as rich as a sultan and like having lots of duplicate hardware lying about [not that i’m knocking it]. it’s a great little environment for sound design. the moogers are a blast to work with and look great. if you’ve got the $, you won’t be disappointed.
x
The disadvantage is that you lose the cool parallel LPF effect. I love this sound which is why I mostly run in stereo.
The advantage is that you can do the ext. input feedback trick and you can integrate more easily with a moogerfooger setup since they are all mono inputs (unless, of course, you have two of each moogerfooger). Also, some might argue that it will sound more like the original mini if run in mono, though I would not argue that since I don’t care about it sounding like a mini.
Woah! Three posts in one minute.
…awwww..I’m last..
Well, I only hate that I do not have a Voyager (yet)!
Sorry for the off topic JSRockit, but:
Wow! Tell us more about what difference you hear using the MF-101 instead of the Voyager filter.
Here is a something that may be of interest to people who want to try the MF-101 LPF with other synths:
Thanks for your help everyone.
I never hated mine in the least, but I ended up selling it after almost two years. The reason? TOO MANY features I never used. I don’t use software so all the internal features that catered to that were lost on me. The one thing I really disliked was the touchpad…thought it was gimmicky and took away from the overall appearance. I also really disliked the glow in the dark mod wheels and the blue background lights…again, too gimmicky and modern looking for my taste. The memory was nice, but again, it’s something I NEVER used because I automatically record a patch once it’s created.
Now, the LP…I absolutely love it. It has more of the kind of “limited” qualitites that appeal to me in a synth, but still has the exact same sound as the Voyager. Asthetically, I love it’s simplicity and compactness.
I hear what you are saying about the simplicity of the LP, and i love mine.Its a great studio/performance synth.
BUT The voyager is a sound designers dream.The touchpad is great and ive come up with riffs that couldnt have happened with just the keyboard. Further to this the backlighting and blue wheels are not just aesthetically pleasing-they serve as a godsend on dark stages.
Dont mean to make you feel bad, but i think you’ll regret selling it…
At its simplest, the Voyager can be used solely as a ‘preset’ box with 706 patches immediately available. But you can go way beyond that if/when you wish - all the way to using the Voyager as the basis for a CV controlled modular system. The choice is yours.
The Voyager’s touch surface seems to be more of a love it/hate it kind of thing amongst users. Personally, I really like it, but I do wish it was placed on the left side with the other LHCs instead of in the middle of the panel.
I’m not sure what to make of your comment about the Voyager’s glowing pitch and mod wheels, since the LP has them as well. Of course, the LP does have a nice grippy surface on the rim of the wheels that the Voyager doesn’t (wish it did).
Glad to hear you’re happy with the LP. Sometimes having just the right amount of features and ease of use makes all the difference in the world.
“When it’s right, it’s right” 
- Greg
I just wanted to comment on an earlier exchange. A previous forum member had stated:
[It is almost three monthts ago that I purchased my Voyager and I am still not able to use it the way it is supposed to. The first day I used it oscillator 3 broke down. Two months later I got a replacement, I turned it on and after a quarter of an hour or so, oscillator 1 broke down. I am still waiting for a decent solution…]
Another forum member then accused this person of “flaming” Moog. That’s absolutely ridiculous!! Someone started this chain by asking for honest, open feedback about peoples’ experiences with the Voyager. How can you slam somebody for simply saying that they haven’t had a fanstastic experience? Is this a forum or a cheerleading chorus?
I bought a Voyager almost exactly a year ago, and I’ve had a mixed experience with it. It sounds phenomenal is a really well designed instrument. But a couple months after I got it, one of the modulation busses started randomly shifting its setting. It seemed to me that there was a loose connection in the board. (Not surprising since the synth had been a floor model at a Sam Ash store and had probably had some rough treatment from customers.) I contacted Moog. They agreed it was probably a bad connection and asked me to send it back. When I did I also asked them to give me the 3.0 update.
When I got the Voyager back, Moog had performed the 3.0 update, which sounded great but the loose connection had not been fixed. I contact Moog and they admitted that they dropped the ball. They asked me to send the synth back on their dime. I did and they fixed it.
I got the Voyager back in April at almost exactly the same time I purchased a refurbished/recalibrated Arp 2600. It’s been a blast playing the two together. The Voyager was performing great until a few weeks ago when I noticed that Oscillator 1 had become detuned. That was surprising. The synth hadn’t been moved from my home studio since I got it back in April. And I was disappointed that a 30 year old Arp has held its tune longer than a Voyager. So, as the unit is still under warrantee, it’s back at Moog getting re-tuned and calibrated.
I’m not posting this stuff because I’m attacking Moog, I’m just relaying my experience. To have to send the synth back to the factory three times in my first year with it is not good.
That said, there have been lots of positives. As is often mentioned in the forum, Moog’s staff are always friendly and helpful, and everyone from the president of the company on down are willing to talk to customers, which is very refreshing. It’s obvious that customer satisfaction is important to them. Also, the Voyager IS an amazing sounding synth. It has unbelievable presence, punch and dynamics (let alone vast sound capabilities). The keyboard is one of the best I’ve ever played on an electric instrument and the precision and control over sound it gives the user is comparable to that of the finest musical instruments - acoustic or electric.
So would I buy a Voyager again? Yes. It’s simply too good an instrument to pass up - even with the disappointments I’ve had. That’s my two cents. I just hope that I now have a long trouble-free stretch with it.
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