How much background hiss should a Voyager make?

adamsimons · Post by **adamsimons** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:01 am

Hi,

I wonder whether any other Voyager owners have a similar problem with the amount of background hiss their Voyager makes when a note is pressed. I was the other day using a 1 oscillator Triangle wave, on the lowest octave setting, the oscillator volumn level at about 5, and I noticed that there was quite a lot of noticable hiss in the background. When I turned off the oscillator, and put the synth on full volumn, the hiss was quite loud, and the equivalent was similar to have the Noise switched on to about level 11. Now is this normal for a modern anologue synth, or do you think my Voyager needs a service?
I am not sure if this problem has always been there or not, since normally I have all 3 oscillators on, using strong saw or square wave sounds, so that the background hiss was not apparent.

Glad for any other Voyager owners responses.

Thanks,

Adam

godzilla · Post by **godzilla** » Fri May 05, 2006 11:12 am

adamsimons wrote:Hi,
When I turned off the oscillator, and put the synth on full volumn, the hiss was quite loud, and the equivalent was similar to have the Noise switched on to about level 11.

not quite sure what you mean here? do you mean that with the volume all the way up the the hiss is the same as if the noise was at level = 11 with the master volume at ??? what ???

Glad for any other Voyager owners responses.

well fine then

nah it's true i can't really help as i don't have a voyager i just thought you should clarify the above to make it easier to understand for people that do have voyagers and could answer your question

analoghaze · Post by **analoghaze** » Fri May 05, 2006 12:55 pm

I have a Performer Voyager, and have NEVER noticed a problem with hiss. I have a fetish for very good quality audio cables. (I am not sure how big of a difference this makes... but I know my cables are not causing interference) My entire rig seems quite quiet.

Lengai · Post by **Lengai** » Fri May 05, 2006 1:52 pm

No hiss from me either. AE version.

Marzzz · Post by **Marzzz** » Fri May 05, 2006 3:58 pm

By any chance are you listening through headphones vs using the main outs and monitors? I have noticed that the headphone outs seem much more "hissy" than the main outs.

Also, are you hearing this noise with a heavily filtered bass sound? I have a relatively early (SN#1255) Performer which made a LOT of noise with this type of sound, but only when the EG was triggered- by itself it didn't make noise. I went to NYC around that time (March '03) and played several Voyagers that seemed to be the same. On the forum, some people noticed it, others didn't, and I learned to accept it though I wasn't thrilled. A few months later my Voyager went back to Moog for some warranty work, and I asked them to check into the noise. At first Steve Dunnington told me they were aware of it but couldn't fix it. Next thing I know they call me back and ask if they can keep it a few extra weeks because "Bob wants to work on it." Of course I said yes, and six weeks later I get my synth back with the problem solved(!), and I have been thrilled ever since.....

adamsimons · Post by **adamsimons** » Sat May 06, 2006 5:32 am

Thanks for all your replies, and apologies if my explaination wasn't very good. It seems from your replies that my Voyager is making a bit too much hiss ( I compared it to a 1970's CS-60, which produced a lot less hiss), and it was interesting that some of the early Voyagers had a known problem, so maybe that is the issue. I don't know whether I can afford to have it serviced at the moment, so I'll just have to go for the Boards of Canada sound - lots of hiss, and a slow oscillation of the pitch.

Cheers,

Adam

goldphinga · Post by **goldphinga** » Sat May 06, 2006 7:17 am

how old is your voyager and what model?

suthnear · Post by **suthnear** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:49 am

All analog circuits produce hiss. It's an inescapable fact of quantum reality

Since hiss is basically white noise the fewer the harmonics in the source signal, the more you will notice it. Hence, it will be most obvious if you use a source wave with few harmonics (like a triangle) or you close the filter. It's also more obvious if you listen on headphones because there is less environmental noise to mask it.

When I first got my voyager (a performer) the hiss was pretty bad but fortunately Dr Bob was in town for some seminars and he fixed it for me. They had to replace some parts AFAIR (it was a while ago). Since then the voyager has been one of the quietest analog synths in my studio from a hiss p.o.v.

Boeing 737-400 · Post by **Boeing 737-400** » Tue May 09, 2006 7:19 am

I wonder if it is something to do with the volume knob on early Voyagers? Mine has that problem half way across its travel.

dr_floyd · Post by **dr_floyd** » Tue May 09, 2006 12:12 pm

Boeing 737-400
You should get that fixed. My Voyager was unusable for my applications with the original background hiss (and volume knob noise) and sat unused for the first year, but once they fixed noise problem the Voyager is my dream analog synthesizer. When you get the noise fix, you should also have them fix the filter-tracking-glide circuit. You will find new levels of happiness.

adamsimons · Post by **adamsimons** » Wed May 10, 2006 5:56 am

Hi again,

Yes it was when using a low bass sound that I noticed the hiss. I also found that using headphones, at full volumn, with all the oscillators off, that when a key was pressed it made quite a bit of background hiss. As I said earlier, the volumn is about equivalent to have the Noise source button switched on, and set to level 010. My Voyager is a fairly new one, serial number 2255 (or something like that from the top of my head). I have only noticed this problem once it had come back from a service (the osillators had gone out of tune) and I think a board inside needed to be replaced. Since getting it back I thought it seemed to be a lot more noisy than before, but I wanted to check on this forum first with other owners, that I wasn't being paranoid. I understand that analogue gear will make some noise, but this seemed to be a bit excessive. I can live with it, but obviously I want to get my Voyager to be perfect, and also this hiss is noticeable when doing filter sweeps that go through the low frequency range.

Thanks for all your feedback,

Adam

Boeing 737-400 · Post by **Boeing 737-400** » Sun May 14, 2006 6:02 pm

dr_floyd wrote:Boeing 737-400
You should get that fixed. My Voyager was unusable for my applications with the original background hiss (and volume knob noise) and sat unused for the first year, but once they fixed noise problem the Voyager is my dream analog synthesizer. When you get the noise fix, you should also have them fix the filter-tracking-glide circuit. You will find new levels of happiness.

I really should, but I am scared of sending it 3000 miles back to Moog.

And also I have another priority, a Polymoog that is behaving wildly. Too many problems to sort out and I get confused.

fragmentalist · Post by **fragmentalist** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:31 am

i get a hiss sound when i turn the backlight up or down on my 3.0 extremely noticeable...but does not happen upon keys or knob playing.....

labdan · Post by **labdan** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:22 pm

hello there
finally this question is talked about
i thought maybe nobody would ever be bothered by this problem as i want to call it even the moog people find it more important to put more lights into the instrument instead of perfectioning the sound anyway
that is my experience
i worked like crazy to be able to by a voyager when it came out first and very quickly discovered that disturbing noise because i like sine bass sounds with the cutoff at a low setting
but the noise was even there when all oscilators were switched off
the old minimoog doesnt have this noise problem
i was annoyed and talked to famous rudi linnhart (programmer of the OS)
all he knew was that it must be a problem of the envelope chips and the midification of those
only little can be done to it and unless other chips were used there will always be a hiss
and most shoking the moog people dont even show an interest to fix the problem ( i guess they thought too much about gold plates )
-why should they- in consideration of all the famous owners of the yoyager
well end of story: i gave the voyager back but i still wait for the fix
if anybody can assure the solution of this hiss issue
i will be pacified and will join the communtiy of happy -i dont have a problem- voyager owners

RL · Post by RL » Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:20 pm

all he knew was that it must be a problem of the envelope chips

I think you talking about the VCAs. Sorry, one of the best noiseless VCAs - the CEM3360 - is too expensive. It's not possible to build a programmable synthesizer with those VCAs in these days. It would increase the costs dramatically. I think the Voyager is a very good compromise, I like the sounds and I think the noises are very low for a synth with these great modulations possibilities and functions.
Have fun,
Rudi

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How much background hiss should a Voyager make?

How much background hiss should a Voyager make?

Re: How much background hiss should a Voyager make?

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