A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Tips and techniques for Minimoog Analog Synthesizers
MotneN
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A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Mon May 13, 2013 9:15 am

Hello all moog people

Just want to share a little trick to make your Voyager sound better..
recently i had to change the OP Amps for the Headphone and main
outputs.. I changed the "cheap" one with a better and more expensive one
(i can post the name of the OP amp .. if needed)

this Little change made a "HUGE difference" at least in my own ears"

I always thought that the Voyager sounded a little " how can i explain it .. Hard/edgy..
but now it got a more mellow and varm sound..

this is really worth trying.. :D

best regard
Morten

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GregAE
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by GregAE » Tue May 14, 2013 6:50 am

MotneN wrote: recently i had to change the OP Amps for the Headphone and main
outputs.. I changed the "cheap" one with a better and more expensive one
(i can post the name of the OP amp .. if needed)


HAD to change? Why?

MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Tue May 14, 2013 7:30 am

well ...its a long story ..
but when i bought my Voyager and played on for a while. i noticed that when i turned up the volume to .. lets say
about 12 o' clock.. on the headphones, it would cut the signal.. I then had to re-plug the headphones and turn the
volume down... in the beginning i thought that it had to be this way.... ( so that you dont blow your ears of :)

But as the years went by ...it began to make some strange things.. ( display would start to blink shortly.. and
that kind of stuff.. thougt i could be the software... BUT NO :)

And then one day the headphone output went completly silent..
and just before that ..the display was acting strange again.. Hmmmmm :/

I then took it to my friend, who is a very skilled tech. nerd
he then changed the Headphone jack with a much better one, and
he also changed the OP AMP for the OUTPUTS with a much better one..
AND "VUPTI" the problem was gone ..

there'es really a big change in the sound..
everything sonds much more ballanced now.. with no sharp edges..

the Only thing i had to do afterwards... was to dial thru all my presets, turn up the main volume...
and save them again.. :D

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Fooger_;-)
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by Fooger_;-) » Tue May 14, 2013 11:02 am

That's nice if your Voyager sounds now as you like. My Voyager's in original condition, and what can I say: It doesn't sounds great, it sounds amazing :D
Taste is different I think. But it's interesting what people do to perfect their gear, I always like to read about. Thanks for sharing your modification 8)
kind regards
Fooger ;o)

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GregAE
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by GregAE » Tue May 14, 2013 7:33 pm

MotneN wrote:
I then took it to my friend, who is a very skilled tech. nerd
he then changed the Headphone jack with a much better one, and
he also changed the OP AMP for the OUTPUTS with a much better one..
AND "VUPTI" the problem was gone ..
And so the replacement OpAmp was... what?

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Portamental
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by Portamental » Tue May 14, 2013 8:41 pm

^ Yeah! What is that magical opamp? Inquiring minds want to know.

But besides that, yours must have had a flaky chip. Sound quality on my OS is just as good as can be , both on main output and headphones.

MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Wed May 15, 2013 5:57 am

There is nothing magical about it really..
its just an OP AMP called "TL 074"
... nothing fancy... :)

MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Wed May 15, 2013 7:50 am

Fooger_;-) wrote:That's nice if your Voyager sounds now as you like. My Voyager's in original condition, and what can I say: It doesn't sounds great, it sounds amazing :D
Taste is different I think. But it's interesting what people do to perfect their gear, I always like to read about. Thanks for sharing your modification 8)
Yeah... this is really i nice synth ...
and yes your right.. it sounded allso nice before .. when it was'nt modified..
But there's a bit more "cream" now.. ;)) and i like it ;)))

metron
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by metron » Wed May 15, 2013 1:02 pm

It could be that changing the op amps for the headphone output results in an improvement in the stock sound of the phones but that shouldn't affect the normal outs of the voyager, right?

Also it sounds like your headphone outs may not have worked correctly to begin with. It's entirely possible that fixing the issue simply made the phones sound the way they are suppoosed to. :wink:
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MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Thu May 16, 2013 3:35 am

metron wrote:It could be that changing the op amps for the headphone output results in an improvement in the stock sound of the phones but that shouldn't affect the normal outs of the voyager, right?

Also it sounds like your headphone outs may not have worked correctly to begin with. It's entirely possible that fixing the issue simply made the phones sound the way they are suppoosed to. :wink:

The op amp for the headphones is the same as for the main outputs.. :wink:

The problem with the headphones output ( on my voyager) in combination with the headphones i use, was " WAY TO MUCH OUTPUT" ..
So when we changed the headphone jack.. to a better one.. we also put in a 200 Ohm resistor.. to solve that problem. :D

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MC
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MC » Thu May 16, 2013 1:44 pm

MotneN wrote:There is nothing magical about it really..
its just an OP AMP called "TL 074"
... nothing fancy... :)
You disappoint me. I was expecting a pentode EF86 tube shoehorned into a 16 pin DIP socket :mrgreen:
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dr_floyd
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by dr_floyd » Thu May 16, 2013 7:01 pm

Just curious, what was the original opamp that you replaced with the TL074?

MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Fri May 17, 2013 3:04 am

dr_floyd wrote:Just curious, what was the original opamp that you replaced with the TL074?
I can't remember the name of the original one.. but i will talk to my technician
i think he kept the old one.. i write back to you soon..

best regards
morten

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latigid on
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by latigid on » Fri May 17, 2013 11:35 am

I wonder if harmonic distortion has anything to do with it ;)

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Voltor07
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by Voltor07 » Sat May 18, 2013 10:39 pm

MC wrote:
MotneN wrote:There is nothing magical about it really..
its just an OP AMP called "TL 074"
... nothing fancy... :)
You disappoint me. I was expecting a pentode EF86 tube shoehorned into a 16 pin DIP socket :mrgreen:
That would be interesting, but would an EF 86 be short enough to fit in a Voyager? And I'm sure it would put a drain on the power supply... :lol:
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