Hi all, has anyone tried the voyager with an amp modeler? How’s about any of the Adrenalinn boxes? I was thinking of picking up Adren III… I’d also just like some fuzz, was thinking about Z.Vex’s Wooly mamouth, Wyllie’s Moonrock, but then I thought, whenever I’ve tried the voyager with guitar pedal fuzzes, I’m never quite happy. I feel like synths don’t “grab” the fuzz the same way a guitar does… THen i thought, maybe the Freqbox might give me what I need… Any thoughts on this?..
Absolutely! It’s a very cool way to expand the sound of the Voyager, as well as create new sounds. I’ve tried several amp modelers (POD, Boss VF-1, Korg AX1) and have gotten some very pleasing results. Naturally, it depends to the proper combination of Voyager patch and amp/cabinet sim for the best results, but trying the various combinations is half the fun (the other half is playing once you find a great combo!).
A personal favorite combo is the Pat Metheny guitar synth recreation, which uses the Voyager’s ‘OFFRAMP’ patch and an amp sim from a Boss VF-1. You can read about the details and hear an example here:
https://www.moogmusic.com/members/?section=files&file_section=4&cat_id=31&file_id=322
- Greg
I often use a Vox Tonelab with some very cool results.
I think a lot has to do with the Voyager patch. If the patch already has a lot of harmonics (square waves) or if it’s a multi-oscillator patch, running it through a fuzz box probably won’t do much (a fuzz is a severe type of overdrive that clips the input hard, but if your input is already square what do you gain?)
When it comes to fuzz boxes (OD & distortion, too) I’ve had more success with Voyager patches that are guitar-like to start: one oscillator, and with a good bit of filtering to reduce the harmonics. With these patches as a starting point, overdrives, distortion and fuzz pedals have a better chance at giving you a satisfactory result.
There’s a Voyager patch up on MoogSpace that was posted by psound74 that I’ve had some success with. It’s called “080127 Voyager OS”. You might try that.
The Freqbox probably won’t give you what you’re looking for, IMO, since it’s basically a sync box, and you can already get a somewhat similar type of sound from the Voyager using the 1->2 SYNC function. I’m not saying it’s the same thing as the FB, but it’s the same principle. As an experiment, you might try using the Voyager preset called “T. Wolf’s Guitar” (from the Thomas Wolf bank) and processing it through your pedal(s). This preset relies on oscillator sync to give it a guitar vibe. If you find that this sound just isn’t happening with the fuzz pedal, chances are the FB probably won’t get you closer to the sound you desire either (no disrespect to the FB here - it’s a cool box and achieves some very cool sonics [I own one!]).
One final thought here is where you place the pedal in the signal chain. Basically, you have three options with the Voyager: at the output, in the Mix/Out loop, or in the feedback path (Output → Ext Audio IN). You might try experimenting with placement to see if anything works for you.
Hope this helps.
- G
I’ve also been on an endless search for the best Voyager fuzz solution and have tried a few…for what it’s worth there are samples on my earsmack.com web site of both the fuzz factory (guitar-oriented big brother of the wooly mammoth) and the freqbox in various capacities. I like the fuzz factory but it isn’t as warm as I imagine (because I’ve never tried one) the wooly mammoth would be. I recently tried to sell my fuzz factory in order to get something else but ended up keeping it.
So, besides those two…I’ve discovered a couple other boutique pedals that look promising…would love to have you go buy them and try them for me 
Here is a short list…
Chunk Systems Brown Dog http://www.chunksystems.com/bd.htm
Xray bass http://www.oohlalamanufacturing.com/xray.html or http://www.blackboxmusicfx.com/products.html#xraybass
Anyone else have any other options?
Edit: I already use the trick(s) Greg AE mentions (mix in, etc) and really like that.
Have any of you tried the Electro Harmonix Graphic EQ for creating your own distortion?
heres a demo for it. I don’t own it but im really interested in it. I found this looking for a distortion for my sister who is really really picky about the distortion on her guitar. (searching for scooped sound)
Anyone use an aural exciter live? if so how did it work out and how much did you need to tweak it. I’ve played around with one once at a bud’s house but he had it in the chain from his sub mixer to the main bd. where numerous synths would all be processed through it. I just found that I was always tweaking it to get better sound and careful not to muddy things up. I would imagine just running the Voyager through it would be easier to obtain cool sounds.
GD -
Check it out here: https://www.moogmusic.com/members/?section=files&file_section=3&cat_id=23&file_id=152
thanks Greg, I knew I had seen/heard it on here somewhere - have you used the BBE Sonic Maximizer with the Voyager. I know that they are different but I would love to hear the 2 A/B’d with the Voyager.
I have a BBE 422A Maximizer. It’s in an equipment rack away from my Voyager, but the Maximizer was the reason I got interested in the Sonic Stomp in the first place. A while back, I had tried the Maximizer with the Voyager and was impressed with what I heard, and when the Sonic Stomp was introduced I went for it.
I believe that the Sonic Stomp was derived from the BBE Maximizer product line, so the results should generally be the same.
Also, I haven’t tried an Aphex Exciter. If you get the chance to check one out (or a similar product), let us know what you find.
- G
whoa - thanks everybody for the great answers! I’ve got lots of homework to do!
Is there a general recommendation as far as maximum length for the ‘Mix/Out’ cable? I want to order something on the longer side ‘just in case’ but not at the detriment of the overall sound.
Is the process going on inside the Sonic Stomp digital or analog? I’d love to hear some before/after examples if you get a chance to post any!
None that I’m aware of, but how ‘long’ is ‘long’? I have a six foot insert cable that work just fine. Since the Mix Out is a line-level signal, long cable lengths shouldn’t be an issue.
That said, you should use just the length you need (shorter is always better) and make certain that you get a high quality cable (cheap cable tends to degrade the signal over long distances).
Cool, thanks. 6’ will probably work for me as well but wasn’t sure if that was considered too long or not.
As far as quality, I need to put in an order from redco for some Mogami cables so I’ll just have them build this one as well. I’d do it myself but sadly, I’m not too handy in this department!