Moog Music Forum

i used to own a voyager performer that had this particular problem. never found out what caused it but it really annoyed me so i sent it back 2 days after purchase in the uk. it was definitely faulty though i'm not saying yours is. since then i have bought an anniversary model and its like a completely different animal. my first performer sounded weak particularly for bass, my moog source completely outclassed it. now it is the other way round. the anniversary voyager is the best monosynth bar none. the hiss is nowhere to be heard and the bass power and general clarity staggering. is your voyager an early performer or a later model? is the hiss very noticeable? dan g.

thanks for your reply dan,
are talking about my previous post about the noise at the outputs, or the post about the noise only on the notes duration?

Im assuming the latter cuz thats what you replyed to..

So your anniversary doesnt have that noise at all? hmmm... interesting.
was your hiss really loud?
At least its good to know im not the only one thats had to deal with that...

I do have a performer. I dont know if its early or later, I bought brand new online in early october of 2003. Its serial number is 1752. if thats early or late, i dont know. This hiss is faintly noticeable, like almost barely there. But i notice it for sure. Some patches are harder to notice it on than others, but its still there. It was working perfectly before, at least i think it was. I just noticed it at about the same time or before i started noticing that other more obnoxious and annoying noise i described in my other post about my noisey voyager noise. Maybe the 2 are related or not, i have no idea.

This noise is a new thing as of like 4 or 5 days ago. I got the cv expander thingie last year too, maybe its that little board i had to put in or something, i haven't the foggiest.

I dont have any other analog thing to compare to, so i dont know about the bottom end. I could be wrong but I think that the sound character varies from unit to unit. Just like humans, no analog machine sounds exactly the same. you just got a really good one.
I dont know if they are using some different components in the anniversary or what. maybe, who knows?

I already emailed whoever it is at moog, about that other noise, i havent gotten a reply yet, but im gonna contact them about this one.

but what im even more concerned about that noise in my other post. And either way it seems i have a sick voyager

-patrick

Early MMV Performer and Signature models apparently had problem with noise when long low notes where played. This was corrected on later version. My friend has an early Performer and he upgraded it for free under warranty.
My Anniversary does not have a problem with noise.

Regards
Demokid

I just sent my Voyager into Moog to have the output board replaced. It seems that the earlier Voyagers had a faulty output board. The replacement cost $100. This is too fix the noise crackle from the volume pot when you are going from 4 to 5 on th evolume knob. This also is supposed to help get a better S/N ratio?? Will see. Why I had to pay to have this fixed when Moog knew it was a problem is beyond me? Recall the S.O.B! It cost me $50 to ship but they said that return shipping was included in the $100, so I have to pay for the shipping to and fro as well. Oh well that's life..

I had this issue with mine as well. It was fixed - a replacement on the performance board. Test this: put your Main volume knob right on 5. You'll hear a crackle and increase in the noise while sitting on that setting. It was covered in SoS magazine around the time of release of the Vger and Moog acknowledged it has a fix. Discuss with Moog service the best way to have them solve this for you.


K.

unit came back and all seems well!

SirZebrathe9th wrote:Check it...
...Here's something else i noticed about my voyager: When a note is being played i hear a definite hiss/static type noise. Like the kind of noise you get when you sample something like an old record or something off the tv or something. Its in the background as long as the note plays, no note no noise. It almost sounds like the sounds coming from it are samples. Its real faint, but i do notice it. I havent really tried it yet, but im pretty much postively 100% sure this is the same for all patches, all the ones i tried have it. My monitors connected to my mixer and headphones jack on the MMV still pick up the noise. Umm... does anybody know what im talking about? Secondly: what is going on here, and is it normal, or am I just tripping out and hearing something from nothing? My other synths dont make such a noise, at least none that ive heard yet...

I have the same issue with my RME, I guess a pretty early serial but latest os 3.5. I had the same experience when playing a Memorymoog years ago so I guess it is part of the moog sound. It is most noticeble when playing and holding a tone and the highs are swept away with the lpf cutoff filter and you are left with just the subbass and the "analog" noise. The noise is only there when holding a key.Is this part of the Moog sound?

Firechild wrote:... The noise is only there when holding a key.Is this part of the Moog sound?

Definitely not. I have a 37 years old Minimoog D, and when I play a low note and close the cutoff to the point of getting only a dark and muffled sound, there is absolutely no noises, or static of any kind.

Your problem sounds like it could be noises from a ground loop or something. Or your RME could be defective.

Then I can rephrase actually. Is it part of the Lintronics sound ?
I heard exactly the same noise from a Lintronics Memorymoog so it may have something to do with the Lintronics software ?
To hear the noise more specific just set the Envelope Gate to "ON". Now you can hear the static noise, like old TAPE hiss.
The noise is pretty low in volume but still it is there...

Firechild wrote:Then I can rephrase actually. Is it part of the Lintronics sound ?
I heard exactly the same noise from a Lintronics Memorymoog so it may have something to do with the Lintronics software ?
To hear the noise more specific just set the Envelope Gate to "ON". Now you can hear the static noise, like old TAPE hiss.
The noise is pretty low in volume but still it is there...

It sounds like a noisy VCA. It should be near silent.

Note that some residual background noise is unavoidable in any analog synth, but the "noise floor", as it is called, should be about -80 db. Requiring it to be amplified many many times in order to hear it, and not be easily audible as you describe.

The Memorymoog used completely different circuitry (Curtis chips) than the Voyager. So the one you played might have been miscalibrated or defective in the final VCA.

If I were you, I'd email Moog Music support and ask them if there are known issues with early RME...

I have found out that I can Shape the noise with the VCA Envelope...If the SUSTAIN is MAX the noise is there when holding keys and all OSC´s off. When I set the SUSTAIN to MIN and the decay to medium , the noise slowly fades away to complete silence. So what´s wrong or is it just the way it is. I can live with this noise but it is slightly more than I´m used to and I have owned loads of analog synthesizers, but this is my first Moog.

The fact you can shape the noise with the amplifier EG says to me that you have a bad VCA. If I were you I would get that taken care of ASAP.

I have an early Performer (#1255) and it also had the same noise problem; on a trip back to the factory to fix a problem they replaced the op amps (or something like that, it was a long time ago) which improved the problem, but I still get noise with heavily filtered bass tones, just as described above. I am thinking of sending it back in for the Retune/Recalibrate upgrade, it's probably due after nearly ten years, anyway.

Noises of the VCAs are not normal and the user should contact Moogmusic when it is a noise problem of the Voyager or Lintronics if a LAMM VCA produces noises. It has nothing to do with the operating system. I guess it is more a problem of noisy VCA chips in both cases.