Is anyone using the voyager with a modular system?
I’m considering taking the jump and start building a modular system around the voyager. From the ones I’ve been researching the modcan B series seem to be the ones that seem more compatible out of the box with moog gear. However they are a bit expensive compared to stuff like doepfer or .com systems.
Does anyone has experience with such systems and could give me some opinions about the sound quality and interface easiness with moog gear?
Hi - my Voyager is permanently wired up to a MS20 and vice verses. I think they sound great together as one is smooth and classy (can be dirty also) and the other is a wild violent beast. And despite the popular misconception, the MS20 is total compatible with Volt synths like the Voyager - its only the keyboard tracking that is in Hz/Oct, everything else is standard Volts..
Yea, I love having those. They are fantastic. I actually sold an Elektron MonoMachine on ebay to fund the two delays and my second MuRF. Have not regretted it at all. The effects loop is a feature that must be used.
I like just making feedback, noise, alien insect noises, weird stuff.
I’m using my Voyager with a Dot Com setup, they work great together.
I have heavily considered adding a somewhat simple .com modulation set-up for what I have here.
I’m building the entry level month by month dot com and it works great with the Voyager. So far I’ve got the oscillator, Env generator and amplifier module and even these few modules have really expanded my sound design capabilities.
It is great patching an extra modulation source into the Voyager or running the dot com oscillator through the Moog filter.
My dot com filter is just being built now and I should have it in just over a month (I live in the UK and it takes forever!).
I have to say that after having looked around there are some other more experimental modular companies about like EAR. Check out all the varieties and see what suits you. I think once I have filled my dot com cabinet I will look at the options - I’d still kill for a Wiard Wogglebug!
I’m continuing to explore the `semi-soft’ approach - yes, I know it sounds like something that needs Viagra, and I’m not sure if everyone would necessarily put it in the modular category.
At the moment it’s mostly just Voyager and Arturia softsynth (usually Moog Modular V), either layered or with the Arturia output fed back through the Voyager, so it’s modular as far as the Arturia itsef is concerned and also in terms of the triggering and routing options back through the Voyager - but I’m thinking about connecting two computers via MIDI and running both from the Voyager, as well as adding a second and maybe a third hardware synth - a rack-mount Voyager and possibly a Micron.
I also have an MS20 to add into the system sometime, but I haven’t done that yet, and I tried my V-Synth but didn’t get really satisfying results with it as part of this set-up (though I love it as a synth in its own right.)
I have a growing collection of odd-sounding patches on the Voyager and the Arturia that are weird because they’re only half a sound. Add the other elements and they start to make sense, and they have the richness and tonal complexity that a smaller synth can’t achieve.
It seems to me that MIDI is potentially what voltage control was to the original modular systems. It allows individual synths and even computers to become components in a larger system, and synchronises the treatment of one sound source by the elements of another.
The fact that the Voyager keyboard will play polyphonically over MIDI and the Voyager will handle external signals as well as having its other connections with other synths makes it the perfect centrepiece of a system like this.
You guys might find this interesting. I did an A/B comparison with the Dot Com and the Voyager for another forum. I ran them both with the same sequence, first as a saw (at about the 4 mark on the Voyager, and straight out of the saw jack on the Arrick), then as a square (which as harder to match, I don’t have an osciliscope.
The filters were wide open on both, the resonance turned all the way down, evnelope attacks at 0, decay and sustain and release turned up a bit and about equal on both.
One thing I got wrong was that I ran the Moog out of the left jack thinking I was getting only one of the filters. Amos straighten me out that I was in fact getting the sum of the filters, where running out of the right jack will give only one. But I’ve since tried that using this same patch and really couldn’t tell a difference.
Future-Retro is coming out with an expander module this summer that looks like it will work very well with the Voyager…I had a chance to play the prototype, it sounded great! (disclaimer- I am not associated with them in any way)
MarkM, I tried it both with the spacing all the way to the right, as well as centered, and I can’t tell a difference. Try it and tell me if you can. I mean, I use the spacing alot when I’m running both sides out to good effect, but in this case just can’t hear what the second filter is doing.
Yes! Just as I’m about half way through the entry level plan. My monthly payments remain the same which I am pretty happy about but once the plan is complete I get the new prices.
The dot com is a great system, it sounds great and looks amazing, but I have to say that once I have added shipping and import tax the cost really starts to get high. I have also had real problems with Parcel Force (also known as Parcel Farce) who deliver in the UK. I’ve had the cabinet, power supply, midi/cv, osc 1, Amp and env delivered in two shipments and both times I had to go and collect them from the depot myself which is about an hours drive (bear in mind I have paid for this delivery!). One time they told me to come and collect it only for me to turn up and be told it had been sent out!
I know this isn’t dot coms fault but it is frustrating. I have let them know but apparently the shipping charge would be too high using UPS etc.
Through all this I’d still recomend the system as it is amazing and works really well with the Voyager.
I’m still reading and reading and reading more about the subject. I’ve never thought of getting a modular before so this is all new to me, but I’m really looking forward to expand the voyager’s possibilities.
One question regarding the .com modules. Are they fully compatible with the voyager? The envelopes seem to be 0-5V which is ok but I believe all the rest works with 0-10V. Isn’t this a problem interfacing with the voyager CVs?
The other solution I can find for it are the modcan systems (1/4 inch jacks and 0-5V for every CV) but they seem to be 2x to 3x more expensive than the .com’s but on the same time they have some more exotic/flexible modules that may perhaps payback in the long run…any experience with these?
The “separate module” approach may also be a possibility for me. Get some foogers and a sherman and go from there…what do you think?
My budget is around 2000$ for this and I don’t mind starting slow but getting the best quality and future proof solution (modcan?)
Well for 2k you could pretty much fill up a dot com 22 space cabinet - assuming you got the cheap cab type, or better yet, built one yourself – Roger even has a how-to on his web page, and you could use much nicer wood than whats suggested there.
I don’t have any first hand experience with MOTM, but they are supposed to sound great. But that’s the nice thing about modulars, most play nice together, you usually just have to sort out different cabinet spacing or heights, and find power adapters.
You know, I’ve never run any controls from the dot com into the voyager, so I’m not sure about that. I use the controls from the voyager on the dot com regularly, though, like the envs and the lfo, mod bus outs etc. Someone will come along soon and tell you for sure.
Talking of the Korg MS20 (as someone was earlier, as a possible synth to interface with the Voyager) -
I can’t decide whether to keep mine or to sell it. Prices seem to be rising, and I’ve seen prices of £400 a few years ago now being replaced by suggestions nearer £700. Any definite suggstions on this? - or even offers, though I haven’t made a decision yet.
Mine’s in good working order, with all the little rubber seals in place, and I have the original patch book and a photocopy of the manual.
