Moog Music UK 90s Minimoog?

You mean, this fake thing ?

Looks like more of a test fixture than a fake or prototype.
Photo with Bob and the same Voyager test fixture.

Another pic of the early prototype shown at winter NAMM 2000. (Non-working.)

And a photo of the same proto missing parts.

That early mock-up/prototype shows envelopes like the Mini D with ADS and was later changed to the ADSR type. The original idea does not look to be digital controlled like the production Voyager. Lots of speculation surrounding the announcement back in 2000 when Big Briar announced the “New Performance Synthesizer”.
One of the first working units shown here.

Different touch screen type/brand, and was changed.

The fake looking prototype was the Phatty one.
Looked like someone just sat the standard production front panel circuit board in front of Bob’s original two oscillator prototype.

When Bob regained legal title in the USA, he officially stopped using Big Briar. That said if you look at early Moogerfoogers, the front panel in direct view has Bob Moog’s signature, not Big Briar, which was less prominent on the back. A Moog logo later replaced the signature on the Moog Music branded moogerfoogers.

But your question was answered in real life -

The Voyager was initially re-branded “Voyager by Bob Moog” in the UK because of the trademark issue was not resolved when initially released. It had a modified version of the OS since the regular startup screen says “Moog Music” and “Minimoog”, definitely a reprinted user manual, likely altered boxes, who knows what else.

picture of the UK logo badge
http://www.matrixsynth.com/2011/12/moog-voyager-signature-editions-sn-338.html

I seem to remember something about a contest, back in the late '90 early 2000, for selecting the name of the future synth that was to become the Voyager ? Am I right about this ?

Often yeah ! :laughing: But not at every time:
Had a studied piano player about ten years ago in the band, grat player but refused with all energy he had inside him to buy a hammond clone for the D.P. and Heep stuff. He used always presets of some Yamaha Keyboards.
C3 sounds hadn’t been that fine, but for all the old SAGA songs (You know, mostly had been recorded and played with Moogs) he received most recognition for the preset synths sounds he used for…
But despite, I had heavy trench warfares with him for this. At the end I offered to buy him some Moogs…no chance,…he refused… :mrgreen:

This is the pic I took in Asheville when I visited the factory.

Thanks for the pic EricK! :smiley: Probably found it here on the forum.
That does look like it was scavenged for parts. A few knobs missing and the pitch/mod wheel gone. Might not have ever worked? Not sure if there are electronics or just a mock up to show at NAMM 2000. Would be great to see a higher resolution of the front panel to see what changed. There was talk of a 2/4 pole filter switch and selectable white/pink noise.

Yeah I shot that on the only camera we had at the time, but we’re shooting full frame now. I wish it was better resolution. Maybe next time.

I think i remember reading somewhere that there was never anything inside it. MC will probably chime in on this one when he sees it.

There was one forum member who had in his signature line something like “The guy who submitted the name Voyager to the ‘name the new synth contest and got nothing to show for it.’”

That looks curiously like the Analogue Solutions Leipzig.

Meh, maybe a little ?

I actually sent in “Voyager” to the contest then when Moog Music announced the name at midnight they didn’t announce who won the contest, just the name I had sent. So I waited all morning the next day to be contacted thinking I had won and they’d contact me any minute and it never happened. I guess what went down was an unknown number of people sent in “Voyager” so they picked one of them.

I don’t believe they spelled out in the contest rules anywhere what they would or wouldn’t do if several people sent in the same name and could see why they couldn’t send a free synth to X number of multiple people. But the point was there was like 12 hours or something between the name being announced and mentioning the winner of the synth when they didn’t inform me one way or the other. I thought if I was running a contest I’d offer a discount or something for preordering as a consolation prize which I surely would have went for since I was ready to preorder. In any event I did mention it to Bob via e-mail and he personally apologized. I did get to hang out with Bob a few times unrelated to that and had a great time. (I didn’t preorder after that but eventually bought an unused signature edition for really cheap a few years later)

The prototype was not finished in time for NAMM and was on display only. It did have MIDI jacks.

I was there the day before NAMM opened. We visited Bob’s booth towards the end of the night. The rest of the gang made a beeline for the new moogerfooger pedals and I made a beeline for the synth. When Bob realized I was standing behind him with the synth he covered it up and put it away. It was pretty obvious by then that Bob was not going to grant a request for a peek inside.

No.
When I said “Bob Moog Archives,” I meant it was a prototype design that Bob himself possessed.
It was a very simplified version that resembled a Minimoog far more than a Voyager, and had a section with a digital window called “MIDI.”

Yep, I have one, luckily. There were only 5 or 6 made as far as I know. Tim Vine :smiley:

Tim, do you have any recordings made with the Welsh Mini?

Also, a YouTube demo or something of the sort would be of great interest.

And, of course, welcome to the forum.

To sum up the SOS review of it (read it last night)
-Liked the additional sound features (PWN, multi triggering)
-Wondered why no Sync, etc why only go half way in adding they asked.
-Didnt like the switches chosen for front panel.
-Didnt like the DIP switches used to control some things.
-Wondered why the tick marks on the sustain dial were labeled with times. . (Prototype maybe?)

Sound was almost exactly the same… There was some difference in the way the three once beat against each other, a phase issue of osc 3 IIRC.

If you got one post a pic!

`Steve