Minimoog Voyager / Very Sad Issue...

[Ali Erel]

Dear All, Greetings from Istanbul!

I'm very sorry to see that my minimoog voyager (performer edition) stopped working properly all of a sudden.. There is a very low volume of pops & crackles from the main out, and a higher volume of the same sounds from the headphones out. I can still hear that the oscillators & filters are working, but I can no longer hear them properly When I switch it on, even if I don't press any keys on the keyboard, I hear a constant sound of the oscillators as if the pedal is on. When I play with the knobs, I can barely hear that everything is still working, cutoff, resonance etc. Also the LCD screen looks weird. It's like its scrambled. When I play with the contrast it looks better, but it's not what it used to be.

I've tried updating the firmware & reloading the banks too. Funny part is, when I transmit the banks, that pops&crackles dissapear! But after the loading is over, they restart.

I've sent it to an authorised repair service in Istanbul, it took them almost 6 months just to tell me they couldn't repair my poor minimoog.

Any of these sympoms sound familiar to you? I'd appreciate all help you could advise...

Best,

Ali EREL

[Markyboard]

Could be any number of things. I'm not familiar with this particular problem but I can almost guarantee it's fixable.
Doesn't sound like your "authorized" repair place is all that competent. It makes absolutely no sense that it can't be fixed. What's the diagnosis?
Did you ask them which board or module they found to be faulty?

Sorry but you may have to pay some Lira to ship it to a more reputable repair shop. Still I think it's worth it

[EMwhite]

Unless a small rodent ate one of the wiring harnesses within (and is still in there messing about), the #1 suspect is something on the analog board (to narrow it down) assuming power is stable.

But first, reach out to Moog support to check to see if your serial number is in range for the Ti chip board issue that has plagued so many of us (mine included).

If you are handy, it would be good to verify power supply output before anything.

Does the CPU (digital board) boot and appear to behave (screen functions, buttons work outside of the scramble characters you mentioned)?

How much time between last 'good' use? Anything obvious occur between this time like you moved it, had it stored in a hot attic or a damp basement, moved house? Anything environmental?

Still the same power outlet?

Obvious questions, I know, but good to eliminate all of the obvious (notice I didn't ask of it was plugged in : )

But as somebody else said, it is certainly fixable even if you have to remove and ship a full circuit board to the states. Trick is getting to the point.

[Ali Erel]

Could be any number of things. I'm not familiar with this particular problem but I can almost guarantee it's fixable.
Doesn't sound like your "authorized" repair place is all that competent. It makes absolutely no sense that it can't be fixed. What's the diagnosis?
Did you ask them which board or module they found to be faulty?

Sorry but you may have to pay some Lira to ship it to a more reputable repair shop. Still I think it's worth it

Hi Markyboard, Thank you for your reply, I do hope its fixable but as you can imagine, its going to be really expensive to send it all the way to US for a repair. The "authorised" repair place told me it was perhaps related to the "main board".. I will definitely get it repaired somehow but I'm trying to see if there is an easy way that was missed...

[Ali Erel]

Unless a small rodent ate one of the wiring harnesses within (and is still in there messing about), the #1 suspect is something on the analog board (to narrow it down) assuming power is stable.

But first, reach out to Moog support to check to see if your serial number is in range for the Ti chip board issue that has plagued so many of us (mine included).

If you are handy, it would be good to verify power supply output before anything.

Does the CPU (digital board) boot and appear to behave (screen functions, buttons work outside of the scramble characters you mentioned)?

How much time between last 'good' use? Anything obvious occur between this time like you moved it, had it stored in a hot attic or a damp basement, moved house? Anything environmental?

Still the same power outlet?

Obvious questions, I know, but good to eliminate all of the obvious (notice I didn't ask of it was plugged in : )

What was the deal with the Ti chip board?

Also, sorry for the complete ignorance but, can you tell me what do you mean by verify power supply?

Now that you've asked, I remember I moved my house before this, but it kept working properly for at least 2-3 weeks!



Best regards,

Ali .


But as somebody else said, it is certainly fixable even if you have to remove and ship a full circuit board to the states. Trick is getting to the point.

Hello EMwhite, I really appreciate your response.

I never thought it was possible to send the full circuit board only? Seems like a very logical solution. However as you said, first we need to know that it is actually the problematic part.

Well regarding your question about the CPU, it surely works as it should be. When I turn the moog on, I have everything operating as before on the LCD screen: With the only exception of the actual sound

[EMwhite]

The Voyager has a few boards in it

- power supply
- digital board
- analog board
- control board

(and if I recall correctly there is a small subassembly for the keyboard)

I owned a Voyager Old School prior to owning a 'Select' and inside there was no digital board. The analog board was near identical, if not identical. Both have a control/potentiometer board through I would expect them to be somewhat different since the VOS didn't have the display, pad, etc.

My VOS was perfect, never a problem. My Select died. And I had two choices; mail the entire synth to Asheville, or mail the Analog board only (which is what I opted for). This was two years ago, but if I recall correctly, I gave a deposit and they shipped me the new board; after installing, I shipped back the old board. Mine was replaced under warranty. Your mileage may vary.

It will help to get to the bottom of the problem. Loose ribbon/connectors, verify Power supply voltages, Analog board issue would be the most obvious path to resolve. Mine manifested by having envelopes which would not trigger despite what patch was selected. Everything else worked 100%. Others have had one OSC go out, or crackling, etc. I would be some ICs related to VCA circuit but it's easy to take guesses sitting here in at a kitchen table in New Jersey.