Moog Music Forum

Have you tried the old mini Moog trick of running the headphone out to the audio in? Always works nice with my voyager. I believe it was that old school trick that inspired the multi drive circuit on the subs. There is a really cool video on Youtube demoing this technique. All for the cost of a patch cable!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nf69tLpTIlw

Summa_Riot_Music wrote:Have you tried the old mini Moog trick of running the headphone out to the audio in? Always works nice with my voyager. I believe it was that old school trick that inspired the multi drive circuit on the subs. There is a really cool video on Youtube demoing this technique. All for the cost of a patch cable!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nf69tLpTIlw

The video shows plugging a standard 1/4" jack into the Headphone output. This is a bad idea, because it shorts one of the headphone channels to ground, and will probably kill the HP output at some point. A better and safer way to do this is to use an insert cable (TRS-type) to split the HP Output into two individual channels, and then plug one of those channels back into the Voyager to create a feedback loop (leaving the other channel unplugged, or available as a second feedback source to feed another Voyager input).

- Greg

GregAE wrote:This is a bad idea, because it shorts one of the headphone channels to ground, and will probably kill the HP output at some point.

Alternately, just plug the TRS cable halfway into the Voyager headphone out. That way you'll get the ground and one of the channels with no damage.

Stephen




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Vsyevolod wrote:

GregAE wrote:This is a bad idea, because it shorts one of the headphone channels to ground, and will probably kill the HP output at some point.

Alternately, just plug the TRS cable halfway into the Voyager headphone out. That way you'll get the ground and one of the channels with no damage.

Stephen

Was scratching my head trying to figure how that would work, until I realized that you probably meant to say "TS", not "TRS".

A TS cable plugged in halfway should be okay, as the Tip of the plug will connect to the Ring contact of the socket, and the plug ground (Sleeve) will mate with the socket ground contact. This way you're tapping off of one side of the headphone output without shorting out the other.

That said, I'm sticking with an insert cable for that job.

Greg

GregAE wrote:

Vsyevolod wrote:

GregAE wrote:This is a bad idea, because it shorts one of the headphone channels to ground, and will probably kill the HP output at some point.

Alternately, just plug the TRS cable halfway into the Voyager headphone out. That way you'll get the ground and one of the channels with no damage.

Stephen

Was scratching my head trying to figure how that would work, until I realized that you probably meant to say "TS", not "TRS".

A TS cable plugged in halfway should be okay, as the Tip of the plug will connect to the Ring contact of the socket, and the plug ground (Sleeve) will mate with the socket ground contact. This way you're tapping off of one side of the headphone output without shorting out the other.

That said, I'm sticking with an insert cable for that job.

Greg

I understand the stereo and insert, -both TRS cables- are different. Can you use either here?

I have heard of people using a trs cable for this but maybe Greg
Can answer if there is a danger to plugging a trs cable into the ts ext input Jack?

bichuelo wrote: I understand the stereo and insert, -both TRS cables- are different. Can you use either here?

Nope.

An insert cable has a TRS (Tip, Ring, Sleeve) jack on one end that breaks out into two individual output plugs. When an insert cable is plugged into the HP jack, one output plug carries the left channel, the other carries the right channel. Here's an insert cable made by Hosa:
This is obviously different from a 1/4" stereo cable, which has a TRS jack on both ends.

Although the Voyager's Headphone output is stereo, any destination on the Voyager back panel that you might want to plug into (a Control Input or Ext Audio In) is mono, meaning it's wired for a TS jack, not a TRS type. This is why an insert cable is preferable for the application - because it effectively splits the stereo signal from the Headphone out into two mono signals.

Hope this helps.

I highly recommend the insert cable. And I highly recommend anything but Hosa. Good gravy their cables are garbage.

GregAE wrote:Was scratching my head trying to figure how that would work, until I realized that you probably meant to say "TS", not "TRS".

Doh! Yes, that's what I was trying to say.

Stephen




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I´m gonna try some RIGHT OUT to EXT IN today and see what happens. On the Sub Phatty / Sub 37 I did not like the sound of overloading the mixer too much but the Voyager might sound different?

I think I´m gonna get a MF-Boost and put it in the MIXER OUT - FILTER in loop once a pedal pops up cheap.

And I might get a TRS - TSx2 cable and try the HEADPHONE OUT trick too.

I regularily play on a Little Phatty, a SubPhatty and a Voyager as well as with a MF Drive.

The Little Phatty's Overload is gorgeous: warm and meaty, with a nice little mid boost, in one word (or three), rock 'n' roll.
The Sub Phatty's MultiDrive id more modern, more V-shaped. I don't like it as much as the LP's Overload. The demos that were published when the Sub went out often feature this modern sound.
The Voyager has connections that allow a number of feedback techniques, one of which sounds quite good to me. For that, I recomend visiting to Knobtweak. Maybe GregAE will chime in and remind us the name of the article.
The MF Drive sounds quite modern, but the parameters allows for more shaping than the simple feedback/overdrive availalbe on the synths.

The Sub37 features the Sub Phatty Multidrive and the feedback of the Voyager. I haven't had the chance to try it fully so I cannot talk about it.

XAXAU wrote:I´m gonna try some RIGHT OUT to EXT IN today and see what happens. On the Sub Phatty / Sub 37 I did not like the sound of overloading the mixer too much but the Voyager might sound different?

I think I´m gonna get a MF-Boost and put it in the MIXER OUT - FILTER in loop once a pedal pops up cheap.

And I might get a TRS - TSx2 cable and try the HEADPHONE OUT trick too.

You might want to take a look at these two articles on KnobTweak:

"Mix Out Insert Cable.pdf" - An custom adapter cable for the Voyager's Mix Out/Filter In jack

"Kicking It Up.zip" - Overdrive techniques on the Voyager with sound examples

Both articles can be found in Files > Voyager

Tried the RIGHT OUT to EXT IN and it beefed up the sound in the same way as the Sub 37 feedback. Very nice. Will get a cable for trying the HEADPHONE OUT to MIX IN next...

Another option for an overdrive combo is the electro-harmonix Bass Soul Food overdrive. I recommend this one in particular because it's subtle (for an overdrive) and has a "blend" knob. It's also only like $85

This is my official recommendation, since I have both a voyager and a sub37. THE best way to get that sound is using the Electro-harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi Deluxe pedal. Normally, the Muff circuitry would be WAY to muddy for getting that natural overdrive. But the bass deluxe version offers a few special features.

1. it has a blend knob. When using this pedal in the mixer out/filter in FX loop, this pedal really shines.

2. It has a buffered dry output jack. This means you can send the dry signal back into the audio input, regardless of whether the pedal is in bypass mode or not. This will safely overdrive the filter without occupying or harming your headphone output.

3. The wet signal has an optional crossover. If you want it to, it will push your dry signal through a low pass filter, and the fuzz through a high pass filter, both with independent cutoff controls. This cross over can be turned on and off through its own switch, and manipulated through the tone and sustain controls knobs. But none of this effects that dry signal going back into your audio input.

Since this is pre-filter and pre-envelope, there is zero noise or hum in the signal when you aren't playing, like there would be if you were running it after the output of the synth.

I love this pedal so much, and consider it to be an essential part of the synth, I'm going to convert the pedal I to a 5u module for my dotcom add-ons for my voyager XL, so the controls are always at my fingertips.

This is a must-buy, in my opinions. I'll make a demo video for YouTube.