HELP! I need Voyager OS help asap!

The Moog Forum Minimoog Forum
1

Hello everyone, I just posted about my Minimoog Voyager Old School but I have a couple more concerns… here they are.

1.) When none of my oscillators are on, I still hear a very faint noise sound. My noise is also off and turned all the way down, but I still hear a faint noise sound when I play a key. Is this normal?

2.) Oscillators 2 and 3 don’t stay in unison with their frequency knobs are dead-center. I have to turn my Osc 2 frequency like a centimeter or two to the left, and Osc 3 a centimeter or two to the right in for them to stay in tune with Osc 1. Is this normal? Does this mean my Moog might require calibration?

3.) My 3rd Osc sounds slightly different than my other 2. I’ll have all 3 Oscs turned all the way up, in unison mode, the same octave, and the same exact wave, so they should all sound the exact same. When I turn on osc 1, it sounds good. then I turn off osc 1 and turn on osc 2, and it sounds the exact same as osc 1 did. Then I’ll turn osc 2 off and osc 3 on and it will sound slightly different than the other 2. I can’t put my finger on it, but its just slightly different. you really have to listen closely to hear it though. I don’t know what this is but I DONT have my “1-2 Synch” button pressed, if that makes a difference.

4.) When I press the “3 KB Cont” switch to the OFF position, my Osc 3 just goes an octave lower and all the keys on my keyboard trigger the same exact note. However, it doesn’t go EXACTLY an octave lower, it goes a little out of tune. The only way I can change this note is by using the octave knob, but this note isn’t in tune with my osc 1 or 2 when I play them all together. Is this how it’s supposed to be?

5.) When I press the “3 FREQ” to Lo, all I hear is clicking sounds, with that faint background noise mentioned in question 1. Is this how it’s supposed to be?

6.) When I have multiple oscillators on and all in tune, it sound like some sort of phaser effect is being triggered. Is this how they are supposed to sound when playing in unison?

7.) My “Fine Tune” knob also isn’t exactly in tune when it’s dead-center. It’s only in tune when it’s a few centimeters to the right. Is this normal?

Please help. I wanna know if I got a heap of garbage or not for X-mas. This unit was used, but listed as perfect condition. Help!

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Hey okay,

  1. That may be an issue with the VCA pre-gain how loud is it compared to your playing? like would it make hiss loud enough to be noticed by someone listening to it while you were playing? Analogue is fickle so they get these things as close as possible.

Do me a favor and test this out, turn on a single osc. mix the rest of them down and off. Open up your filter all the way so it’s a nice bright sound.

Make sure the Release switch is set to ON.

Now go to your Amp Envelope section:

Set the Attack knob to 0

Set the Decay knob to 50%

Set the Sustain knob to 0

Set the Release Knob to 50%

Hold a key. it should pluck and go silent. is the noise there?

let go of the key. it should stay silent. If it was silent, did the noise come back?

if the noise goes away and comes back you may have the same issue I had on my voyager. something with a bad VCA part.

if it’s there it’s either normal or a different issue. if it’s relatively low compared to your playing volume I wouldn’t worry.

  1. The oscillators will probably drift a little. that’s normal analogue behavior. the older they get the more they’ll drift and then eventually you’ll need a calibration. if it’s slightly off that’s not a huge deal. If it’s like half the knob’s range, you’re in trouble. :slight_smile:

  2. Check the wave shape knob. if they’re lined up do this test: Set them all to triangle wave, Make sure Sync, 3-1 FM, are off, 3 KB control is ON, and 3 Lo Hi is set to high, Set all the octave ranges to 16’, Open the filter all the way up with the resonance turned off. Get the oscillators in tune and try them individually with the volume of each set down to like 8. Does 3 still sound different?

  3. The Range of the Oscillator 3 fine tune knob changes when you turn KB tracking off, this is so you have an entire range to tune a drone note. Not sure if the octave-ish drop is a red flag. May want to email moog tech support on that.

  4. The lo range is LFO territory. it’s set up so you can use osc. 3 as a modulator for the filter or other two oscillators. it’s clicking because it’s down near .2hz (sub bass is like 50-60hz) it’s not an audio oscillator at that point.

  5. They’re not exactly in tune then. keep adjusting, unison will always have a bit of phasey-ness to it. analogue isn’t as precise as digital.

  6. That’s what the fine tune knob is for. setting the master tune of the keyboard. if you can’t get the voyager in tune using the fine tune knob. then you’re out of spec and need a calibration. it’s like changing out strings on a guitar. after a while they stop holding a tune and you need to replace (or in this case manually adjust) them.

It sounds like you’re not used to dealing with the fickle nature of analogue :slight_smile: I think your OS is probably fine.

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Archer, don’t trust the visual indications that much.


Trust your ears :slight_smile: