Voyager & Factory Tunings

monads · Post by **monads** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 6:59 pm

Hey guys! My first post to this awesome forum and I have a question. I'm considering placing an order for the Voyager Anniversary Edition (hey, I like how it lights up with the lights off, like I'm in space!) when it's released.

What I want to know, since it's true analog, how long will it be before the VCO's drift out of tune and i have to send/have the instrument retuned by an engineer or a Moog technician? I know this depends on how often the instrument is used but just looking for a ballpark figure given average usage.

SirZebrathe9th · Post by **SirZebrathe9th** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 11:58 am

damn im jealous!!! i want the cool spaced out light up panel too.

i dont really know an answer to your question but i know the temperature can make it drift (i could be wrong but i think heat specifically), and sometime its seems that some people like or need to warm their voyagers up for 30 minutes or so, then it comes into tune, then they leave it on for a while. ..

i would like to know the answer to your question too, because im just waiting for mine to go out of tune.also what id like to know is how effective the tuning knob is at putting an out of tune voyager back into tune.

zebra

monads · Post by **monads** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 12:24 pm

Yea, I'm trying to find out. I'm very surprised know one on the boards really know. This is important. I downloaded the manual and I can't seem to find any mention of it or on the website. I emailed tech support and if they send me an anwser I'll post it here.

Letting the Voyager 'warm up' is reminiscent of how it was back in the old days. From what I've been gathering temporary tuning drift is caused by temperature fluctuations. This is why people let the instrument sit for 30 minutes or so to let the oscillators come in tune. I guess if you're using this type of synth and not a DSP based, digitially dontrolled oscillator synth you have no other option as the latter does not require any warming up period.

sir_dss · Post by **sir_dss** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 3:19 pm

30min???

Wow that's wierd. Mine takes 10 seconds...and it's connected to a tuner at all times that I keep an eye on. Set and forget. I've have yet to experience drift.

MC · Post by MC » Mon Feb 02, 2004 4:43 pm

Mine also only takes ten seconds and then it's rock solid.

It has been gigged in cold and in hot weather and I have had no drift problems whatsoever.

To answer the original post... my Voyager SE was delivered in Oct 2002 and I brought it back for a factory tuning in Aug 2003. Only one of the VCOs was off, and off very very slightly. And this is with heavy gigging use, so with studio use and not being carted around it should go much longer.

Compared to my original model D and my Memorymoog, that's really good.

monads · Post by **monads** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 5:06 pm

Ok, I got the answer and prompt reply from Steve with tech support. Thanks again Steve. Below is his answer as well as an additional question I had about the warming up.

Steve: "We have folks who have had Voyagers out there since September 2002 - without needing tuning! We've had some come back for various reasons and they were still in tune. We were estimating somewhere in the realm of 2-4 years or longer. It's remarkably stable as analog synths go."

Robert (aka Monads): Thanks for the reply. I have one more question. Because temporary tuning drift is caused by temperature fluctuations, is is recommended to switch on the Voyager and let it 'warm-up' so the oscillators come in tune?

Steve: "The answer is typically it takes only a few minutes for the Voyager to warm up - The oscillators have a "heated chip design" which makes them almost drift-free once they're at their normal operating temp. The period of warm up varies slightly from instrument to instrument - I believe that nominally it's about 15 minutes. I've heard reports of some people saying it takes a half hour. The warm up time also depends on the temperature of the room and the temperature of the Voyager itself. For instance I left my Voyager inside my car's trunk in the cold for several hours - It took a bit longer for it to warm up in that circumstance!"

Boeing 737-400 · Post by **Boeing 737-400** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 5:24 pm

I got my Voyager a bit late, so I missed the summer heat wave. I have been operating my Voyager in very cold conditions recently, and it did take a while to warm up, more than 10 seconds, but less than a minute.

Purusha · Post by **Purusha** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 6:57 pm

Hmm. Problem is, I don't want to have to ship my machine back to the states to be tuned.

It'd be nice to know how to do it myself...

Chris

Boeing 737-400 · Post by **Boeing 737-400** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:17 pm

I would not like to ship it back either. I know someone who could retune it for me.

SirZebrathe9th · Post by **SirZebrathe9th** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 7:30 am

hey boeing who do you know that can tune it? not that ill ever need him to do it nor do i need it but, maybe he could tell you how to do it? then you could tell all of us?

i think everyone wants to be able to tune it themselves. Alls i know is you gotta have like an oscilliscope or a tuner thingie, and open it up, then adjust some trim pots or something, theres probably lots more though. ive been unsuccessfully trying to find info on the web, all ive found is how to tune a future retro 777, but that doesnt help anybody here. I'll keep looking and if i find anything ill post it. if anybody wants it.

..You'd think moog would help you out with the process with some kind of documentation so money can be saved on both ends with shipping costs and whatnot, it cant be that hard right? i mean they want you to open your voyager up if you get the cv expander, why not home moog tunings?... or maybe it is extravagently complex and all people who are not worthy will make their voyagers explode into a million tiny pieces, making everyone simultaneous cry and poop their pants, then get pissed because they ruined there underwear and didnt send it back to Moog or some smart electronics type person. then everyone asks mommy to buy them a new one

Boeing 737-400 · Post by **Boeing 737-400** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:46 am

Richard Lawson at RL Music should know someone who can retune the Voyager.

I suppose Moog don't want an inexperienced person to retune the Voyager, in case they damaged it. If you open back cover, you'll see how much stuff there really is in there.

SirZebrathe9th · Post by **SirZebrathe9th** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 6:18 pm

i know i seen in side it. when i got that cv expander and its is a bit intricate inside there with the circuits and the chips and the wires and the resistors and the capacitors and the transistors and whatnot. the expander thingie comes with instructions that tell you exactly what to do. i installed the outout adaptor or whatever it was not problemo and i think i could do the same with tuning it if i had the proper supplies and documentation.

dejon · Post by **dejon** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:20 pm

I think some of you are missing something very imprortant about the factory tune up. There's been alot of fixes and updates done to the Voyager since the Signature Edition release and sending your Sig Ed back to Moog will get
everything taken care of. Remember where not talking about the original Minimoog where you'd maybe just have the oscillators tuned.

MC · Post by MC » Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:47 pm

Very true.

When my Voyager SE went back for a factory tune up, they did indeed put in new upgrades by replacing some components.

Don't attempt a tune up by yourself. None of the trimpots are marked. If you adjust them at random you may damage the Vger and you may void the warranty. Techs cringe when unqualified owners attempt their own repair because it means a complete calibration and that means higher repair bills for you. Don't even think about it.

Kevin Bowden · Post by **Kevin Bowden** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 5:28 pm

Being in the UK, with Sig #82, the "free factory tune-ups" has always been an issue with me.

The UK Moog Distributor is Turnkey - not a company that I have any particular faith in (my own personal feelings).

I have been advised however by Moog in NC that Turnkey, as UK distributor, will honour all 'warranty' conditions (including repairs and tunings), regardless of whether you got your Voyager from the US, as I did, or from someone in the UK.

I'm still pretty sceptical on this however.

I just know that Turnkey will have all necessary parts and documented procedures (as supplied by Moog) to effect any remedial work required to my Voyager as part of any tune-up, and that they'll return it to me with all hardware upgrades applied and fully tuned to spec.

Ah - I don't actually feel that happy about it - anyone in the UK been that route ?