I don’t feel like I have a decent grasp on the Modulation Busses section of the voyager. I have read through the manual, and it still seems kind of grey for me.
specifically the Shaping section, any body out there feel like they can break it down to me, or point me towards some more detailed info about it would be much appreciated.
Also the Env. Gate setting on the LFO as well, what does this do?
Thanks
Hi,
here is what I did to try to understand the BUSSES. It is my latest version…read along with the drawing p.15-16, p.31 to 36
and p.51 to 54.
I must admit that I still don’t understand tough, why the HIGH value is associated with “coarse” and the LOW value with “fine”
on the panel screen menu.
I don’t use much the LFO SYNC control for now, it is mainly at the OFF/SYNC position. Two of the knob position
are MIDI-related and my setup isn’t.
The best reference you can have is to call and speak to staff where you bought your Voyager, staff at the distributor,
staff at MoogMusic and people on this forum.
hope it helps you, others and me too !
I honestly didn’t get a full grasp until about 3 months ago. I’ve had my Voyager almost 2 years. It just sort of clicked one day and everything be came so much easier to understand.
So to REALLY simplify things, the source is what will be modulating the destination. The shaping modulates the amount. So example would be set the Source to ON, set the destination to pitch, set the shaping to Filter Env and amount to Zero. Then set the the filter envelope for a long attack, short decay, zero sustain and release.
In this arrangement, the On source sends +5 volt to the pitch. Rising and falling in the shape of the filter envelope.
If you were to switch the shaping to pressure, then how far you push the keys down determines how much the pitch increases.
As far as the lfo sync, it doesn’t sync in beat divisions or anything like that. It just resets the lfo waveform at the peak of what ever the sync source is. So if it’s set to “key” every time you press a key it will restart the lfo, or if it’s filter envelope, every time the envelope triggers it will restart the lfo.
Hope this helps, let me know if you want any further examples. Maybe I could whip up a video to show you better.
Meterman, let me give a try:
SOURCE is self explanatory.
DESTINATION is self explanatory.
AMOUNT is the maximum of modulation you will get
SHAPER is the way the modulation will go from 0 to AMOUNT in time.
Hence SHAPER determines how the modulation evolves from 0 to AMOUNT, its maximum.
I hope this makes things clearer 
Hi again Meterman,
Imagine yourself on a surf board, at a certain distance from shore…from that distance you see the shore…
you have a message to deliver to shore…so it can modify your signal, your note, your melody, your performance
which is “walking” on the beach…from right shore (SOURCE) to left shore (DESTINATION)
the sea is calm…no wave at all…but there is a light wind and you move toward that shore…yes sir !
there is a “wave breaker” near the shore, you need to cross it to get to the beach, your lucky, it is fully open,
that is the PERFORMANCE CONTROL (MOD WHEEL or MOD 1 INPUT jack)
Imagine if you could decide how the wave would moove…that is the SHAPER, you’ve become a SHAPERMAN !
Dr.Moog thought that you could have 2 SHAPERS that always act TOGETHER…no mater what
SHAPER no.1 could be KEYBOARD CV with a value of -42 to +27
SHAPER no.2 could be a FIXED VALUE of -37 to +41 alone, or vice-versa, whatever you decide within the choices we have (p.53)
Imagine how the wave would moove up and down…that is amplitude…the FIXED VALUE…offset voltage
biggest wave possible…-2,5V to +2,5V or -64 to +64
thinyest wave possible…0V or NO FIXED VALUE AT ALL
other type of wave…-1,25V to +1,25V or -32 to +32
-0,625V to +0,625V or -16 to +16
-0,370V to + 0,630V or -to +_
you decide how that wave will act on your surf board, your message
tiny bottom-high crest…
deep bottom-tiny crest…
the FIXED VALUE is a FIRST BOOST to that message (drawing on page 31, first vertical zig-zag with arrow at mid-point)
the AMOUNT is the SECOND BOOST to that message (drawing on page 31, second vertical zig-zag with arrow at mid-point)
It will affect your “vision” of the shore at that distance, you will see the shore moove up and down…you decide
is the analogy helping ?
EDIT: 2015-Feb-01…I made a terrible mistake here…it should have been like this:
SHAPER no.1 could be KEYBOARD CV, or one of the list at page 53 of the manual
SHAPER no.2 could be a FIXED VALUE from -37 to +41, or one of the list at page 53 of the manual
We cannot give a range (-64 to +64) to anything but the FIXED VALUE…
And for what is following, I can’t seem to get these surplus-voltage values when measuring from the VX-351…
I can measure about -1 to +1V in extra when both shapers are together at their maximum values (-64 to +64).
Imagine how the wave would moove up and down…that is amplitude…the FIXED VALUE…offset voltage
biggest wave possible…-2,5V to +2,5V or -64 to +64
thinyest wave possible…0V or NO FIXED VALUE AT ALL
other type of wave…-1,25V to +1,25V or -32 to +32
-0,625V to +0,625V or -16 to +16
-0,370V to + 0,630V or -to +_
For the rest I think I’m ok. I am very sorry if it fooled anybody.
I will get back to correct anything else if so after talking or E-mailing to Moog Music staff.
EDIT: 2015-Feb-16…had a “panic momentum” here…happens sometimes…looks like the “fixed values” does something
on the modulation path…either busses… From the VX-351, I can’t get extra voltages more than ±4 V because it is design
to regulate what comes out from both busses, manual p. 96…waiting for precise facts from Moog Music, meanwhile, I’ll
try to look cool and stay put…
nice hapenings to all
Wow, and I thought the Theory of Relativity was difficult to understand!
Stephen
.
I thought the Shape summed with the Modulation amount.
Meterman, are we seeing you surfing towards us from ashore ?
Hmm… I believe if you set the amount to zero, no SHAPER will lead to effective modulation. But you had me wanting to check
EDIT: So I’ve just checked. If the Voyager old school’s “CONTROLLERS” are the same thing as the Voyager Performer’s “SHAPERS”, then I’m positive that Total moulation = AMOUNT x SHAPER.
Yeah,upon inspection, the shape gave no apparent modulation at all with the amount set to zero, which makes sense due to the voltage being attenuated to nothing, right?
Well, to me it makes sense since they multiply each other to result in the total modulation. I.e. whenever one of them is zero, there is no modulation.
The way I see it:
When AMOUNT is set to full, SHAPER/CONTROLLER can express freely.
When AMOUNT is set to zero, anything is multiplied by zero.
Everywhere in between is fun too
Hey thanks everybody, Think i’m starting to see the light, using the source as “ON/MOD2” allowed me to dial in some modulation using the Filter EG shaping or pressure, seemed to show well what is going on, for some reason I never really tried that before. I appreciate all the insights and approaches to the subject.
I guess that has lead me to another question:
So what is the difference between turning up the amount to filter knob on the “Filter Envelope section”
or patching using the Pedal/ON Mod Bus "Source > ON/MOD2 Destination>Filt Shape>Filt. Env. and turning up the Amount Knob there?
Shouldn’t the amount knob of the Pedal/On Mod Bus. act identical to the center to right position of the amount knob in the Envelope Filter section?
Cause it sounds less dramatic to me.
It might be that either the filter envelope section puts out a higher voltage than the Pedal buss or that one gives an exponential response and the other gives a linear. That’s just a guess though
Hi,
just did that test over and over and it’s quite the same to my ears…I can recall a “pico-difference” but ? I wonder if it is just normal…
it’s analog, all those interconnexions and still quite the same sound…I am assuming that nothing was plugged in the ON/MOD 2 jack…
EDIT: yes, there is a difference…if the FILTER MODE is Highpass/Lowpass…the sound isn’t the same…my test was only on Dual lowpass
which sounded the same…except for the pico-differences of my bad ears!
I tested this too, and I got very different results from the Pedal buss and filter envelope. Which actually was kinda cool, specially when used together. The pedal buss opens the filter about half of what the envelope does
Well, my bad ears aren’t so bad…same over here ColorForm2113
EDIT:
I got differences in both highpass/lowpass and dual lowpass modes…hmm interesting. Are you running stereo or mono? Filter shaping centered?
Hi,
Colorform 2113, I was in mono, but just did a stereo test too, here was the setup:
Initialized parameters
both modulation busses modified as per Meterman setup (source: on/mod, destination: filter, shaping: filt.env.)
nothing plugged in at mod 1 and mod 2 input jacks
cutoff knob at 180
spacing at 0
resonance at 0
kb ctrl amount at 255
amt to filter knob at midpoint
mod.wheel full ahead (in all cases)
both busses amt knob at 0
Both busses, one then the other, were “competing” against the amt to filter knob…here are the results:
Dual Lowpass
mono or stereo
both busses v/s amt to filt
same sound
High pass/Low pass
mono or stereo
both busses v/s amt to filt
different sound
I will pause and think now…
Ok I did your test as above and got the same results
I think everything is working fine here. The filter curve is more noticeable in the high/low setting when you have the cutoff set where it is (180) but if you dial it back to sound 80 you should notice a difference in the dual low as well. The cut off frequency around 180 is about 2k hz which doesn’t leave much to be filtered out for a lowpass, but for a bandpass (which is what the high/low creates) there can be a more significant change in the upper register.
I think this all happens from one of two possibilities. 1) the filter envelope in the mod buss routing and the envelope are different slopes (linear and exponential maybe) or 2) the filter envelope section just puts out more voltage than the ON source in the buss
This is just speculation since I don’t have equipment to test it