Voyager noise, is this normal?

The Moog Forum Minimoog Forum
1

Hey all

Today I was playing with my voyager, I noticed its was a little noisy.

I stumbled across it when I was filtering my machinedrum through the input, while all Oscillators were switched off and their volumes down on the mixer, I noticed a noise when I pressed a key while the machinedrum was not playing.

So then I ran a few tests, I unplugged the input, turned external off and the knob down and all Oscillators off plus turned knobs down and I still hear the sound, the sound is a hiss with a bit of a resonance attack at the start.

I turned down all envelopes, filter and amp and played with amount to filter knob, -5 was sound as described above and 0 through to +5 it is a very predominant percussive pop sound.

It is noticeable at normal monitoring levels (sound card) with the master knob at about twelve (faint) onwards louder.

Normal?

2

I haven’t experienced this with my OS, but maybe I ought to perform the same tests on mine so we can get to the bottom of this. I’ll let you know what I find.

3

Hey Ken, that would gold!

Thanks mate!

:mrgreen:

4

May I suggest you read this thread ?

http://forum.moogmusic.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=677

5

:cry:

So there should be no noise at all then when keys are pressed with osc off? nothing that can be shaped?

Maybe I am tripping out, can the filter be played to some degree making a blip or pop sound with no Oscillators present? even without resonance?

I can shape whatever noise there is to some degree with the amp and filter envelopes

My synth is an XL so its more allot recent than early performer models… mmm

EDIT: I have contacted Moog for piece of mind

6

Very good idea. Especially since it’s under warranty.

Sounds to me like a bad VCA…

7

It is under warranty thank god!

Although I would imagine it will be a long turn around, its a week + post either way to the distributors, plus time to fix :frowning:

I am in love with this thing, I don’t know if I can go with out her for any length of time…

Hopefully they will swap it if it is faulty :smiley:

8

You mentioned the oscillators in your post, but you didnt mention the noise generator… Dumb question, but you have that turned off also right?

I had to send my Little Phatty back to the factory for a faulty LED… it was gone for about a month. The studio was such a sad place without it… :frowning:

9

Yeah I turned the noise generator down and switched off too… I wish this was the answer!

So no one can produce similar results?

10

I just tried this on my Voyager, and I do get a little bit of noise which is manipulative via the filter and volume envelopes… It sounds just like static, and it can be turned up or down with the amp sustain knob… All the way down, i dont hear anything. I dont notice any difference with the amount to filter knob though… I just hear a small pop when i hit keys, no matter what the amount to filter knob position is in…

11

do you get noticeable sounds when sweeping filter cut off also?

cheers mate

12

this test will answerer weather is just how these things are or not…

I loaded preset C # 126: Gentle Runner, then turned off all Oscillators and noise source plus turned down all knobs,then pressed the highest key on my XL (you might have to transpose up an octave) and I can still hear the preset faintly, this test is with the moogs output volume all the way up.

13

Hi All,

Just wanted to add that my brand new Voyager Performer is having the exact same issue with noise when all Osc/Noise/Ext are switched off and a key is pressed. The problem is identical in everyway as decribed above. I’m very interested to follow along the outcome of this thread. Thanks

14

Hey BHC and All,

I have just experienced the EXACT same problem (did all the same test’s etc.) that you have described on my brand new Performer.. Funny, I’m on the Gold Coast too.. weird. Spoke to Moog distributers today and will start with a reinstall of the software tonight but I feel as though its a faulty VCA or similar.. If that’s the case it’s going back to Melbourne to be fixed. Will stay in touch with any progress

15

A re-install of the software is nonsense. The Voyager checks after power on each byte in the OS and would show a message if there’s a wrong byte. The noise has nothing to do with the software.
Have fun,
Rudi

16

Please let me know, I thought it might be how these things are… analog and all, under normal (low level) monitoring levels its not super noticeable but it is there.

Moog support thought it was acceptable, or I might need to calibrate my volume, but the volume works perfectly…

I did not want to ship it all the way to Melbourne to find out its fine lol

Where are you on the Goldy mate? what are you into?

Keep us posted.

Cheers

17

I have encountered this problem, too. The noise wasn´t there when the Voyager first arrived, though. It´s definitely something that has to be fixed.

18

um, how often are we playing our Voyagers with everything turned down, i.e., does this anomaly affect the actual sound of the instrument when played, with an oscillator or 3 up? I don’t think I’d go through the separation anxiety of sending a Voyager off to get fixed for a problem that isn’t noticeable when the instrument is in use… :unamused:

19

FWIW, I have a Korg Mono/Poly that produces a faint hum and some low hiss, when all oscillators are off and the VCA envelope is opened, at full volume. It’s hundreds of times lower than the normal audio levels usually coming from the instrument under normal use, but it’s there nonetheless.

The hum is picked-up by the nearby mains power transformer inside, and the hiss is the normal noise floor level of old op amps used.
But as I said, it’s really faint. If if was ever to accidentally have the filter self-oscillate or any of the oscillators produce a sound at full level while listening to that noise, I’d be deaf by now ! :open_mouth:

20

@filtered: Well, I noticed the noise when playing normal patches… then I dug deeper, saw this thread and checked if I could also shape the noise, which I could. It´s definitely irritating.