Personally, I wouldn’t want one. Why ? Because it’s not the casing that makes the sound, first of all, and second choosing aluminum is a strange decision in my humble opinion. Wood represents warmth, richness, nature much more suited to the Moog analog sound. Metal represents coldness and harshness much more suited for digital.
What’s next, a steel or plastic casing version too ? Why not carbon fiber (that would surely set a record for the highest price tag for a Voyager)
Although I wish them well with this Al version.
Instead of constantly repackaging the same thing, over and over again, with gimmicky things like lights, different color schemes and finish, and now this aluminum version and such, maybe they should concentrate their efforts instead on going ahead with producing modules based on the famed ones in the modular Moog, and offering them in either 5U or Eurorack formats.
There’s a limit to endlessly coming up with gimmicks to try and sell more Voyagers. Unless you’re like Paul Shaffer of the David Letterman show, and use a Voyager simply as eye candy in the background without ever having played it ?
Perhaps not a product for everyone, I really like that aluminum Voyager. Polished aluminum was always one of my favorite metals. Polished and glass beaded aluminum has a certain depth and luster to it, unlike chrome that is completly reflective. Might go back to my cyclist days, where those high quality Italian made, hand polished aluminum Campagnolo parts had this amazing finish. Or the British hand polished/beaded aluminum covers on a Trimuph motorcycle. This is a true art to get an aluminum finish that has that depth no other metal has.
Not the first time Moog replaced wood with aluminum either. The all wood 955/956 linear controller was replaced with the mostly aluminum 1150 ribbon controller. Even though Moog covered the aluminum with a black anodized finish, I went through great lengths to remove the anodize and properly polish the aluminum housing on one of my 1150’s.
Looks warm to me, and a nice contrast between wood and polished aluminum.
I guess Moog could have put some wood accents to make the aluminum Voyager a bit warmer looking? But those old R.A.Moog etched aluminum panels are still one of the warmest looking and sounding synthesizers. All that etched aluminum looks badass!
Nothing but aluminum in those old Moog front panels. Even the original Minimoogs had an aluminum etched front panel. Metal and wood is good, and Moog has a history of using aluminum.
Not a fan of plastics, but a clear Lucite/Plexiglass case on a Voyager would look cool too!
I’m not saying I am hot for one but it didn’t take much R&D to give a Voyager case to a local metal shop and say “hey, make us a fancy aluminum case using this as your template, maybe we will buy 100 if the price is right and it’s well machined”.
For one thing, it might be good in an area with bad termite problems or high humidity. Or maybe the seashore? Maybe it has a built in theft detection system and if you try to pick it up you get electrocuted?
I like it better than the solid gold model but that’s just me.
Yeah I don’t really know what’s going on over there in Asheville. The Voyager is an amazingly capable, beautiful sounding synthesizer. I think that ought to be enough to sell units, but maybe it isn’t.
By special arrangement with Moog Music, I’m delighted to be the owner of Aluminum Voyager #007 I received it about 10 days ago, and it has already seen time on several live shows. The aluminum body is a stunning work of art, it lives on an aluminum Ultimate Support column stand with an aluminum MacBook perched over it and as I hoped it would be, it’s truly the Harley-Davidson of live rigs I play over 70 shows a year on average, so my Aluminum is far from a ‘collectable’…in fact, it’s almost paid for itself already. I also have a Voyager Select, Maple wood with Jade panel and have had great fun lately playing the two of them in duo mode…functionally, I’l no longer miss my Memorymoog for big 4th & 5ths in future recordings. I’ll testify in court as an analog synth Subject Matter Expert of over 30 years that that ‘the wood one’ and ‘the metal one’ sound…are you ready?..EXACTLY THE SAME:) But I bet you already knew they would. I must say, some of these remarks about what a Moog synthesizer should or shouldn’t be, are (I suspect, unintentionally) humorous. I have no dog in this fight, I’ve owned almost everything Moog has ever made at one time or another and they all had their charm, tho I’m in no hurry to own a Liberation again…I’m just glad Moog exists and is thriving in 2014. Not sure how things are in Canada, but here in the US we’re free to simply not buy the Moogs we don’t like personally, without criticizing the choices of others. I’d rather spend that time making music.
I’m so happy Moog is still around also. I never had the chance to get a minimoog when I was young and the thought of buying a vintage model today scares me. Today I own a Voyager, as well as a lot of the other great instruments Moog produces.
First of all, I’m not criticizing other people’s choices. If someone wants an aluminum Voyager, then let them get one and be entirely satisfied with it, there’s absolutely nothing wrong in that ! And besides, if it can provide some more money for Moog Music, it can’t be dismissed. But I doubt that with only 100 made it’ll be a permanent source of additional revenues, much like the recent Emerson Modular Clones.
And you’ve summed up my point in one sentence in your comment Vince, and I quote : “I’ll testify in court as an analog synth Subject Matter Expert of over 30 years that that ‘the wood one’ and ‘the metal one’ sound…are you ready?..EXACTLY THE SAME.”
So, besides showing off on stage with it, what’s the point exactly ? They could at least have upgraded the digital board with some extra flashrom room for added new features in firmware on it maybe ?
It sure looks cool (in all meanings of the word) but that’s about it. This is simply a great 14 years old instrument design in a new shell, yet again.
BTW, not everyone who plays a Moog can boast doing shows with them and have them paid for quickly. $4K is a lot of money for most musicians, doing shows or not.
Oh, and Vince, the fact that I live in Canada has nothing to do with anything whatsoever. That was a kinda cheap shot. But hey, I too sometimes write things on the spur of the moment and it doesn’t always come out right, and even goes a little too far occasionally.
In conclusion, to each his or her own, and I’m glad you’re entirely satisfied with your Al Voyager, Vince. I wish you success with it.
The notion that Moog should continue to repackage old designs for the purposes of “staying afloat” has probably been argued ad nauseam. Solid gold Voyagers, quintuple A topped guitars and electric lap steels are products which have some people scratching their heads. Hopefully they will offer some a la carte 5u modules or the Emerson system will be added to the above list. There have been people clamoring for a polysynth for a long time and people start to wonder what’s up with decisions like that in the product vacuum of their customer’s true desires.
The argument is fallacious. Not only is it a false analogy, it is a tu quo que fallacy to point to another in defense of what I argue is not necessarily a good thing. Being fallacious it doesn’t require an answer.
Fender and GIbson are not tiny companies like Moog.
The market for guitars is exponentially larger than the market for analog monosynths.
Guitars are totally different from Synthesizers. There are endless pickup wirings and neck/body combinations, wood configurations, and number of strings, all which play an important role in the tone and overall function of the instrument. Voyager changes are (for the most part) cosmetic.
Amps/cabinets, brass, woodwind, stringed, acoustic, and percussion instruments all depend on the sum of their parts to make a complete package. There is no functionally dependent change the Voyager can undergo lest it no longer be the Voyager. There is no student model Voyager.
The Select Series Voyager gave us 40 different versions of an otherwise identical instrument. Are you really arguing that there needs to be more?
A company is welcome to engage such marketing schemes, but when they do, they open themselves to criticism that they are failing to innovate.
Strats and Les Pauls are successful instrument designs that are widely accepted by musicians.
As is the Voyager which is a modern derivative of the model D.
Emu’s Scott Wedge used to say that company size is a red herring. No argument that there are many more guitar players than analog synthesists. You also can’t argue that Strats, Les Pauls, and Minimoogs are all accepted tools of the trade.
I see nothing wrong with Moog offering different finishes for Voyagers. The finish does not alter the tone of a Voyager, but it can alter the tone of a guitar.
But if people started screaming for a Voyager in “Hello Kitty” finish like Fender did for the Strat then we might be approaching fallacy
Sure the monophonic architecture is getting old. I’d love to see a polyphonic. I’m also a realist. The bar for analog polyphonic was set pretty high since instruments like the Andromeda. Every time a new polyphonic is introduced it is inevitably compared either by price or by features. Analog polyphonics are very dense in components. A Moog polyphonic would be so dense in hardware that the price would disappoint many people. Dave Smith ran into that with the Prophet 10 and the T8, and succeeding SCI products suffered from cost-cutting to compete in the market.
One can argue about failing to innovate, another can argue if the market can support it.
Marylin Manson. Eminem. Howard Stern. Aluminum Voyager.
Change isn’t a bad thing.
Cosmetics? I see aluminum as a decent alternative to wood for a structural replacement. Very strong, and light, doesn’t look to bad after 100 years. As long as they have created a good seal between the dissimilar metals of the front plate and aluminum chassis, this version should last quite a while longer.
I personally like it. I also think that wood is becoming a precious resource (given that trees make oxygen) and an easily recyclable metal like aluminum is a better choice than epoxy, resin, carbon fibre etc.
Did anyone else catch that video a year or two back of a dude who took it upon himself to make an all aluminum voyager? If I remember correctly, he used his own voyager… Maybe Moog is helping out the little guy.
It would look nice next to a Mac book, even in a Canadian winter. Cosmetics do matter - just look at the start of my post.
Peace be back at ya, my alien666 friend And please accept my apologies for blaming the great nation of Canada for what I perceived to be hurtful comments about my beautiful Aluminum, as well as my love of identical sounding Voyagers in different-colored clothing. Wait till you folks see the aluminum hat I had made to match!
Goofing aside…for my part, I’m totally enchanted with the cosmetic variety in Voyagers, and not any kind of purist with respect to them being made out of walnut or whatever to resemble the Model D or other 1970s-era Moog product. Love the lighted panels, the build quality and most of the available wood & light combinations. In addition to the Aluminum and Maple Jade, I’d love to add a black with red or amber panel, and/or a white with purple. Because I carry one and sometimes two to shows, I’m actually VERY interested in the possibility of a Voyager with some kind of high-impact, high quality plastic body in spite of the level of sacrilege this might represent to the purist. In fact, if we were trying to keep the level of Voyager redundancy down, a Voyager panel with the possibility or interchangeable bodies/cases might be kind of fun and would have a practical value to me…what if Hello Kitty had different outfits? I think bright plastic colors would look great on stage. Or sell the light-up panels separately, group four of them together, have Moog make a custom controller and have a four-voice wall of color, for hours of stage and studio fun…
In case anyone is interested to know, although ‘weight-relieved’, the Aluminum is definitely heavier than my Maple Jade by several pounds, I’d have to weigh it to be more accurate.
I received it about 10 days ago, and it has already seen time on several live shows. The aluminum body is a stunning work of art, it lives on an aluminum Ultimate Support column stand with an aluminum MacBook perched over it and as I hoped it would be, it’s truly the Harley-Davidson of live rigs 
But hey, I too sometimes write things on the spur of the moment and it doesn’t always come out right, and even goes a little too far occasionally. 
