Touchpad finish blemish- is this common? Send it back?

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cookaburra
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Touchpad finish blemish- is this common? Send it back?

Post by cookaburra » Sun May 14, 2006 1:00 pm

I just got a new Voyager (EB, v3.2)- I've been pining after one for a while now, and I'm psyched to finally have it in my mits. The only catch is that the finish on my touchpad seems to be slightly blemished. There are a number of faint, diagonal, straight scratchy lines in the finish, and a noticeably deeper, curly looking one in the lower left quarter. The diagonal lines almost look like the imperfections you can sometimes find on electronics' screens when you remove a protective film unevenly (or with frequent pauses).

You can only see them if you angle your POV to see the dull shine of the touchpad's finish. It still works correctly (even on the blem spot), and everything else on this keyboard seems to be PERFECT, both electronically and cosmetically.

Here are my takes on it:

1) Part of me says that it's a TOUCHpad, and as such will get weathered and possibly scratched from normal use anyway. It may be like when you get your first ding or chip on a new car- you stop worrying about it so much, and as a result, start enjoying the car more.

2) The other part of me says that since this thing was so expensive, I shouldn't settle for anything less than perfection incarnate.


I figured I'd check with you guys- how did you find the finish on your touchpads to be? Are a few scratch lines and blemishes on these pads par for the course? Do you think I should return it (and risk getting another with a different, but probably very minor blemish)? Am I being too obsessive?

Returning it shouldn't be a real problem (I ordered it from AMS), except for the fact that I'd have to pay for the return shipping, which could be a good bit...that, and it's kind of a hassle.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
Joel

Cousin Itt
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Post by Cousin Itt » Sun May 14, 2006 5:36 pm

I bought mine from AMS too. My first one had a few "quality control" issues. AMS made it right and I am happy now so if you have to return it, they will take care of you. The one I returned had two knobs that were not secured properly and were dragging on the front panel and the presets were messed up. The worst problem was that the backlit display overlay on one side was not positioned correctly and half of all of the words and symbols on that side did not light up correctly. Imagine the top half of all the words on one side being cut off from the back light. This was totally unacceptable and surprising that it could leave the factory that way. That one went back and I got a "pretty good" (but still not perfect) one. I don't think any of them will be perfect because of the handmade nature of them. I didn't notice any touchpad problems on either one, by the way.
I would probably keep the one you have if everything else is perfect on it, because you may get one with worse issues. Plus, as you said, it is a touch pad and will get touched a lot and possibly marked up. I do agree that for the money, it should be absolutely flawless. On the other hand, it is a little easier to enjoy something that isn't actually "perfect" because sooner or later, you will put the first ding in it and no matter how tiny the ding is, it will be huge in your mind. I would probably keep it for a short time and play it. Use the touchpad a lot and see if it gets any more similar marks from playing. If so I would keep it. See how you feel about it during the trial period. If you just can't live with things the way they are and still feel good about it, I would send it back for an exchange. That's too much money to spend to have to settle. I'm glad I exchanged my first one because I would have been mad everytime I looked at the thing with the backlighting messed up like that. Once again, if yours is absolutely perfect except for that very minor blemish that you have to be in just the right light at just the right angle to see, I would seriously consider keeping that one, because you may get one with a tiny but slightly larger imperfection.

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Post by Boeing 737-400 » Sun May 14, 2006 5:59 pm

Imagine the top half of all the words on one side being cut off from the back light. This was totally unacceptable and surprising that it could leave the factory that way.
I doubt Moog would let a Voyager with that kind of problem leave the factory. It probably got damaged in transit.

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goldphinga
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Post by goldphinga » Sun May 14, 2006 6:12 pm

Yeah no way moog would let a voyager in that state get past quality control inspection. damaged in transit for def.

Regarding the touchpad, id send it back as mine has no sctraches on even after some serious use/abuse!

Ive noticed early voyagers had shiny touchpads and later ones had matt black ones. i prefer the matt finish. the shiny ones show marks much worse
Moog Gear: Voyager AE,LP Stage 2+CV outs (Blue LED's/Wheels, MF104SD, MF101 Filter, MF103 Phaser, Source, Memorymoog+, Minitaur.

Cousin Itt
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Post by Cousin Itt » Sun May 14, 2006 6:26 pm

Boeing 737-400 wrote:
Imagine the top half of all the words on one side being cut off from the back light. This was totally unacceptable and surprising that it could leave the factory that way.
I doubt Moog would let a Voyager with that kind of problem leave the factory. It probably got damaged in transit.
I don't see how the overlay can shift in transit. It seems like it is "glued" to the front panel. It wasn't damaged, it was just not lined up properly. You could clearly see that if the overlay on that one side could be slid or shifted downward, that it would have been fine. I'm sure it was applied in a lighted work area and the backlight was working, but they just didn't look closely enough to see that it wasn't aligned correctly. The clear area of the overlay did not line up with the clear areas on the front panel beneath it that the light shines through. What could possibly happen in transit to make only one overlay that is stuck on the front panel shift upwards? I promise you, it left the factory like that. It was EB0391.

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Post by EricK » Mon May 15, 2006 7:21 am

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markorbit
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Post by markorbit » Mon May 15, 2006 4:53 pm

Upon receiving my Voyager I noticed my scratchpad had faint scratches too. After spending quite a bit of money I felt compelled to call the store and seek a replacement. I was 'convinced' that it had been on demo or something.

The second one arrived and it was very similar. I kept it. If you use the touchpad it's gonna get some faint scratches, it's just that type of surface. In retrospect I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Annoying thing for me is I very rarely use the touchpad so it's doubly worse.

I'm a lot more bothered about the lack of proper aftertouch and the filter glide that I learn will require hardware modification (and further cost). Being in the UK, it's also annoying that I cannot have a real MOOG logo on the product!

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Post by Boeing 737-400 » Mon May 15, 2006 7:51 pm

You should have imported one with the Moog logo.

I can understand how devastating it must be to have cosmetic blemishes when you have spent that kind of money for an instrument.

That touchpad is a funny surface. I find it nearly impossible to remove smudges from it. Mine somehow doesn't have visible scratches on it even though I've used it a lot.

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Post by EricK » Tue May 16, 2006 9:29 pm

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Post by goldphinga » Wed May 17, 2006 3:28 am

Eric, i said this over on the other forum page but show us some proof that it was all moogs fault. Otherwise it just seems like trolling. :wink:
Moog Gear: Voyager AE,LP Stage 2+CV outs (Blue LED's/Wheels, MF104SD, MF101 Filter, MF103 Phaser, Source, Memorymoog+, Minitaur.

nigeynige
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Touchpads

Post by nigeynige » Wed May 17, 2006 7:37 am

As for the touchpad, scratches are common on anything that's rubber.
It's par for the course. I watched mine being built and saw the routines and checks these instruments go through and I would be really surprised if the machine left the showroom with wood filler or any kind of damage.
Once they are assembled and tested, they are put into Boxes and then stored for shipment.
That's it. Nothing more to report on it.
I sometimes suspect the dealers with damaging though.
As most UK customers know, the Turnkey group have dealership over Moog products. Let's not go there too much, but I do know that they still have a signature model for sale in the window which I think has been there for 3 years or so.
Anyway, I think if you are looking at the touchpad and wanting a lovely shiny, unmarked one...
Best thing to do is not get a Voyager because once you draw your fingers across the pad, then you start a process of scratches that is irreversable...
Scratches are nothing..Does the voyager sound great?.
YES.....then I'd settle for that anyday over a lovely looking shiny new Korg Karma......
Sorry for ranting. :wink:
Nige

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Post by Cousin Itt » Wed May 17, 2006 7:37 am

The best thing to do to avoid problems like that is to buy from a music store that has a good return policy with a satisfaction guarantee. That way if you're unhappy for any reason, you can just return it for an exchange or a refund with no questions asked and you never have to deal with the manufacturer.

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Post by gd » Wed May 17, 2006 10:26 am

if you're not happy send it back as it will always play on your mind, with me I just term all scratches etc. character marks. I try to keep my gear in pristine condition but sometimes things do happen. I didn't notice any marks on my touchpad but after over 1 year of daily usage I would image that there would be some now. I have the AE and the stain wears off on the front bottom corners, no dings but I can always put some more stain on it again. Damn I just luv this gear moreso than my various miniD's that I have owned since '72.
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Post by cheveux.boucles » Wed May 17, 2006 5:56 pm

i agree with nige...i, too have seen the inside of the moog factory (if you can call such a homey place a factory :) ) and i would be in a completely vegetative state if a voyager or any other instrument came out of there not being in pristine condition. They really seem to take pride in having good quality products. I may be wrong, but come on, give them a chance!
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cookaburra
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Post by cookaburra » Wed May 17, 2006 11:36 pm

Thanks for the input, everyone.

Yeah, I gave myself some time with it and concluded that the scratches really aren't that big a deal. This thing's just too awesome to send back, plus I'll be a little less "clinical" with the touchpad and probably have more fun with it in the long run. I was always willing to accept a scratched touchpad, but I was considering sending it back if this was never the case with anyone else (either from the factory or from use). It seems to be about 50/50, so I'm not too worried about it. Periodically, I have to check myself to make sure I'm not getting too demanding about stuff like that.

Having decided to not worry about it anymore, I sat down to mess around with it tonight and noticed a background ringing on my amp that matched the LFO LED's throb. It sounded like a very faint note constantly being held, and its pitch corresponded to the last note played. I didn't notice it when I first got it because I always used headphones (the interference doesn't happen at all on the headphone jack), but lately I've been using the speaker outs. I planned on running this thing through a mixer for some clean recording, so this is kind of a concern/bummer. The manual doesn't seem to mention this as typical, though admittedly I haven't been through it cover to cover.

I'm going to research this on the boards as I'm sure someone else has run into it... Again, I'll live with it if it's just a characteristic of the product. I really do want to keep it :)

I'm just trying to make sure everything's cool with it while I'm still still in the refund grace period.

thanks again everyone,
Joel

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