Hey. I’m thinking of buying my first synth, and I’m pretty sure I need a Moog after having tried al the synth at my local musicstore. But they only have a Little Phatty and therefore i need to know what I’m gonna miss out on if I don’t buy a Voyager. So basicly what are the differences between a LP and a Voyager, and what do I need as a beginner in synths.
I gonna use the synth for leads and bass sounds in my band and of course to mess around with. I’m a fairly good pianoplayer, but this is a whole new world to me.
I currently own a Phatty (and a Taurus 3), and I used to own a Voyager. They are different beasts - the Phatty is an excellent 1st synth, but it only scrtaches the surface of what the Voyager can do. I use my Phatty mainly for leads, so the overdrive feature is important to me, and I don’t require all of the extra modulation capabilities of the Voyager. That said, the Voyager is a far more enjoyable synth (imho) to dig deeply into and create wild and complex sounds. Ideally, one of each would be fantastic (selling my Voyager was a mistake, and I plan on buying another soon), but if you can afford it, I would get the Voyager 1st, and maybe add a Phatty sometime down the road. Moog build quality is great, so buying used is also a good option - just have a knowledgable player check it out thoroughly before buying.
My opinion is that you should pick yourself up a used Little Phatty. They float by here every month or two and can be had for $800-900.
Analog synthesis is not rocket science but facing a Voyager without any background on how Moog does things can be a bit intimidating.
I have a LP Tribute and an Old School Voyager and each has it’s place. After you get all that you can out of the LP (not that you necessarily will reach that point), you can always trade up or decide that you too want to have both.
As mentioned by Superd2112, the LP’s modulation options are far fewer and it’s not equipped for all of the I/O from a control voltage perspective. But the Two OSCs, filter, general synthesis design are nearly identical. The LP also has overdrive, a built in arpeggiator (depending on what version LP you pick up), is more portable (if that matters) and I feel will retain it’s value. (not that a Voyager will not).
The Voyager has more modulation routings, a second filter and a third oscillator.
I think the LP will fit you perfectly, just based on what you said (keying in on the words “beginner”, “leads” and “bass”).
Even though the Voyager has more features, the LP will cover everything that you said you wanted to do and still leave room to explore more weird “out there” effect sounds too.
I disagree. The Little Phatty is a amazing synth. Great starter synth, and in all honesty, it really depends on what you want to do with your music. I personally find I use my Little Phatty marginally more than my Voyager. They have similar but different sounds, and can be used for different purposes… Technically you should be able to duplicate a LP with a Voyager, but I’ve yet to really have done it to my ear.
For your first synth, unless your loaded and money does’nt matter, I’d say buy the LP first. A Voyager keyboard will cost you twice as much… plus you could always buy a LP now, and get a Voyager RME like I did, for around 1500$ or similar used, and still be under the cost of a brand new Voyager keyboard. Again, it really depends on what your looking for, what music you want to make, what your purpose for buying the synth’s are… but I personally have no regrets, in buying a LP and Voyager RME for the same price as a Voyager keyboard would cost. Go LP first.
I say the Voyager, but if you shop smart, you can get both.
I have seen used or open box Stage II Phatties go for 800 bucks.
I have also seen Voyagers as low as 1900. (i believe that was a used rackmount).
If I coudl only get one, Id have to go for the Voyager because its simply a top notch synth in furniture grade cabinetry, and you can’t beat the CV inputs. THe touchpad, modulation routing, expanded keyboard, extra Oscillator, stereo output, effects loop…you really would be at a loss to forego all of that and go for the phatty. The phatty is a nice synth, but it just doesn’t compare to a Voyager.
The only benefit to going the phatty route is that you can spend the difference on Foogers if you so chose.
But ultimately, the Voyager will provide more growing room.
If you got the Phatty and an RME then you have the best of Both worlds. Unfortunately they don’t make a rackmounted Phatty or Else Id say to go that route.
If you can afford a Voyager, get it.
It is an incredable piece of equipment that will grow with you.
It is not hard to learn. Look through the Voyager photo thread and see how many people allow their childern who are 5 years old mess with it.
If I were to have either the Voyager or Phatty, I’d pick the Voyager in a heart beat. No questions asked, no comparison. The Voyager is a better piece of gear.
Hi, I began with a LP and, although enjoying it immensely, eventually felt a little constrained by it. I ended up selling it to buy a voyager performer, loosing a little money along the way. I’ve had my Voyager for 12 months now and love it, play it every day and am still discovering amazing sounds. My advice is, if you can afford it, go for the Voyager as I’d be willing to bet that you’ll do it eventually.
Hope this helps.
Barrie (UK)
I would personally say go for the LP, especially if you look around and pick up a good used model (they’re available for well, well under $1,000 used).
That way if it’s constraining to you later it’s quite easy to “upgrade” to a Voyager without taking a serious financial hit. The LP does the basics very well already: PWM, hard sync, S&H, variable lowpass filter response (highly underrated, in my estimation) in a nice compact size.
Well no matter how you look at it you are going to be out a small mint to get a Voyager. Someone who is looking at both might be able to shore up a grand for the Phatty now, but might not be able to shell out 3 for the Voyager down the road. I say get the Voyager now and if you don’t like it, trade down for the Phatty. You never know what the economy is going to do that might limit your purchase options later.
I don’t see ANY good reasons to choose a Phatty over a Voyager unless you look at cost, size, and weight.
With the exception of the Overdriven Filter and the arpeggiator, THe Phatty offers nothing to a prospective Voyager owner.
The Voyager right off the bat comes with a bigger keyboard, CV inputs, expanded modulation routings, pot mapping, stereo outs, the abillity to get a lowpass highpass filter series, KNOB-PER-FUNCTION INTERFACE, extra oscillator, 896 presets, a programmable touch surface. It will provide you with much more room to grow than the Phatty will.
Having said all of that, there is nothing at all wring with a Phatty, but unless logistics is an issue, the Voyager is the way to go.
The knobs and switches invite you to explore the possibilities in ways the interface of the Phatty and the T3 don’t.
The CV implementation and the addition of Foogers into the setup takes the entire thing to a whole other level of both interactivity and complexity and weirdness.
If you go with the Voyager eventually you will want a VX-351, CP-251, and probably the MP-201 as well. Then you’ll want some Moogers.
I would look closely at Craigslist and Ebay. The economy is still pretty shakey so there are good deals out there.
One of my absolute favorite features of the Voyager is the mixer out/filter in jack. (something not on the Phatty)
This blows the doors wide open.
If you send an effect through it with mono in/stereo out like the Mooger phase you can use the aux out to another effect like the ring mod and route that into the audio in on the Voyager… or if you have or someday plan to have some modular gear, you can send the aux out to an envelope controlled VCA and so some really neat stuff.
You will need the XV module for the Voyager to get the Gate out, but you still have the possibilities.
The touch screen even sends a gate signal!
The Voyager really is a cool piece of gear. It works so well in an analog setting.
With imagination, it really is near limitless.
I personally would get bored with just an LP fairly quickly, as it lacks many basic modulation options. The Voyager is also easier to learn basic subtractive synthesis on because each knob only does one thing (until you dig deeper and program pot mappings). If you can spring for a Voyager, definitely do it because once you learn the basics, you will always have room to grow and not get bored.
If the budget is not the limiting factor you should go for a Voyager. Comparing the Voyager with the good old Mini Moog model D I think the Voyager is the only real successor of the D. The sound is extraordinary, simply the best you can get. And if your physical constitution is strong enough, assuming you may have to carry your equipment by yourself, give a Voyager a new home.
And yes the Voyager is a monophonic instrument, similar to a saxophone, a trumpet, a human voice… . But with the Midi functionality it can be connected to an external Midi-expander or other Midi-keyboard or synthesizer and you can play the Voyager keyboard with such extensions polyphonic.
Personally, I went with the LP not because I couldn’t afford the Voyager (I could), but because I liked it better. Yes, the feature set is more limited, but it still does much more than my old Model D used to do (although I wouldn’t be happy with it if I didn’t also have a CP-251). And I find that musically, more possibilities isn’t always a good thing. The LP offers enough for my needs, and I don’t get distracted exploring all kinds of possibilities. For similar reasons, I find the smaller size and more streamlined interface to be major plusses. So, without disagreeing with anyone (this is all about personal taste and style anyway), I would suggest that more doesn’t always equal better: give some thought to the benefits of owning an instrument that offers just as much as you need. If the sound is good then getting bored shouldn’t be an issue – a piano offers just one basic tone and even that can be a whole lifetime of music.
I have to agree with you. I find a lot of the times I go to the LP actually BECAUSE it’s simpler. I can usually get around things faster to get the sound I need. I don’t know if I personally like it better or not, but I definitely feel like I love the LP and RME on similar levels, but for different things. I’m also definitely glad I got a LP first, and a RME second. I think I would’ve been more confused with the Voyager off the bat, being a newbie to synths… but the LP made everything really easy to understand/tweak/learn from. Then after getting a RME it made it really easy to catch on to the additional features.
I still swear on my grandfathers grave, that they sound different as well. To me, there is a noticeable difference.. of which I actually go to one or the other for.
And I think there is something to be said about how much the LP can actually do. People that just keep saying it does not do what the Voyager does… To a newbies ears that might sound like its inferior or doesn’t do a lot.
But let me be clear.. it does do a lot.. and for a newbie to the Moog world, it’ll take you some time to really explore the entire synth and find all its creative boundaries. By the time a noob does that, I would predict they could save enough money for 2 voyagers on a modest budget.
So in my view, it’s not exactly like, “if you get a LP instead of a Voyager, your losing out”… If you get a LP first, your gonna have a lot of ability for creativity at your disposal, and will probably take you quite sometime to maximize it. If you ever do long for the extra features of the Voyager, then by the time you get one, you will really appreciate what those features are, and what they add to your setup… Instead of being totally blind to what they do, and hardly ever utilizing them untill way later anyway.
I know this post sounds bias towards the LP… but I’m really thinking in terms of a synth noob asking what would be good for his first synth… I don’t know why everyone would jump and say “a Voyager for sure, it’ll just give you more mmph” or whatever… It’s like a kid asking what would be a good first car, and pointing him directly at a pricy BMW instead of a more logical decision.
My first synth was a Little Phatty. As a first synth, this thing is a beast! So it’s a bit limited once you get going. So I bought a MoogerFooger when I ran out of modulation routings. And another…and a CP-251. The nice thing about the LP, is even without the CV out upgrade, it’s expandable. I’m still discovering new sounds on it three years later. To me, the Little Phatty is like a Chevy and the Voyager is like a Ferrari. While a lot of guys want a Ferrari, (as I eventually want a Voyager) a Ferrari would not be a good thing to give a 16 year old driver. A Chevy would be much more practical. My 2 cents.
I think I would’ve been more confused with the Voyager off the bat, being a newbie to synths… but the LP made everything really easy to understand/tweak/learn from. Then after getting a RME it made it really easy to catch on to the additional features.
Interesting view, anoteoftruth. Like you, I have a Voyager RME (but not an LP). I agree that especially the modulation busses on the left side of the Voyager panel can be confusing for a newbie. But if you take the rest of the panel - from the oscillators via the mixer to the filters, ADSR’s and to the output/volume - this is the basic configuration of a “typical” mono synth sound (bass/lead), and I found it extremely clearly laid out, with one knob per function.
The LP doesn’t have the one-knob-per-function design. And I know that reviewers and owners find it very easy to operate the LP. But still - I would imagine that the main part of the synth that I described above is even less confusingly designed on the Voyager.
Not true?
(And I am not commenting on the editable, hidden functions now - pot mapping etc. But strictly on the knobs and buttons on the panel)
I felt a bit confused when trying out a Voyager at a GC nearby several months ago, to the point of having doubts about getting it. I’ve owned several synths, and still have my Mini D. The Mini D is simpler than both the LP and the Voyager. Its knobs are fewer, and the signal path is very easy to understand, truly intuitive. Still, I regret not purchasing that Voyager.
I’ve not tried the LP but I have talked with LP owners, and watched videos, and I’ve owned a few Micromoogs, which I believe the LP is the modern version of (although with a better feature set).
Just because the LP has multiple functions for various knobs isn’t a reason why it would be any more confusing to operate. I think the fewer knobs would make it easier.
One thing about your post that intrigues me is that you say you’re a pianist. So you have good keyboard skills. I have rudimentary keyboard skills based on piano lessons at age 7 and then playing it every now and then. So I think a person with more of a challenged keyboard ability may appreciate the greater feature set of a Voyager, while a person with better piano skills who is new to synthesis might not really appreciate all those features, and may actually prefer a polyphonic synth like a DSI Prophet 08, or something like that.
I didn’t know a LP has an arpeggiator. I talked to a guy who said he wanted an LP Stage II because the version I doesn’t have the USB connectivity to your computer. Which version is the one at the store? If it’s version I I’d go elsewhere even if you do decide to get an LP.
There’s a bit of a dichotomy between keyboard players and synthesists. A synthesist would be happy with both but probably prefer the Voyager because he/she would prefer all the modulation routings and controllers and be more interested in shaping sounds, while playing one note. A keyboard player might prefer a rackmount unit and a nice large midi keyboard controller so he could maximize the result from his keyboard skills, and add modules and play the keyboard. That way you can take advantage of the polyphony other synths offer.
So there’s the other question, mono-or poly-? Are you a knob-twiddler or a keyboard player, or somewhere in between? You’re a beginner synthesist, so if you think you will be missing polyphony, and money is an issue (it very often is) maybe a Voyager RME with a controller and another poly-synth module to utilize your other strengths as a player while you’re learning about what all the knobs do.
