A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Tips and techniques for Minimoog Analog Synthesizers
MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Thu May 23, 2013 3:37 am

dr_floyd wrote:Just curious, what was the original opamp that you replaced with the TL074?
Hey Again
And sorry for not answering your quistion a bit faster :?

The original one, is called: this is what is printed on the OP AMP
(M9424DP
LM324N)

Best regards
Morten

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MC
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MC » Thu May 23, 2013 9:13 am

LM324? No wonder the new one sounded better, those LM324s weren't designed for audio!

(Adds Voyager opamp inspection on to-do list for bench)
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MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Thu May 23, 2013 9:36 am

MC wrote:LM324? No wonder the new one sounded better, those LM324s weren't designed for audio!

(Adds Voyager opamp inspection on to-do list for bench)
I cant tell you if it´s the same in all Voyagers..
but if its the same in yours.. change it quick.. and get a grin on your face :mrgreen:

slirak
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by slirak » Thu May 23, 2013 10:34 am

MotneN wrote:
dr_floyd wrote:Just curious, what was the original opamp that you replaced with the TL074?
Hey Again
And sorry for not answering your quistion a bit faster :?

The original one, is called: this is what is printed on the OP AMP
(M9424DP
LM324N)

Best regards
Morten
Cool! But what's the part designation? It should be printed on the board, next to the op amp. Probably something like a "U" + a couple of digits. Like U3 or U27 or U124 etc. And was it mounted in a socket or did your friend have to de-solder the original op amp?

Regards
/Jonas

slirak
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by slirak » Thu May 23, 2013 10:40 am

Oh, and there a few variations of the TL074 op amp, usually designated by additional letters, like TL074A, TL074ACN etc. Do you know which one you have?

MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Fri May 24, 2013 3:28 am

slirak wrote:Oh, and there a few variations of the TL074 op amp, usually designated by additional letters, like TL074A, TL074ACN etc. Do you know which one you have?

No ..i cant remember which one it was.. but i can ask my friend.
he told me that he bought some other ones, that we also could try..
so maybe we haven't found the best one yet....

best regards
Morten

MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Fri May 24, 2013 3:32 am

slirak wrote:
MotneN wrote:
dr_floyd wrote:Just curious, what was the original opamp that you replaced with the TL074?
Hey Again
And sorry for not answering your quistion a bit faster :?

The original one, is called: this is what is printed on the OP AMP
(M9424DP
LM324N)

Best regards
Morten
Cool! But what's the part designation? It should be printed on the board, next to the op amp. Probably something like a "U" + a couple of digits. Like U3 or U27 or U124 etc. And was it mounted in a socket or did your friend have to de-solder the original op amp?

Regards
/Jonas

I think it was mouted in socket..i´'ll ask him :D
best regards
Morten

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GregAE
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by GregAE » Fri May 24, 2013 6:54 am

The TLO74 seems to be the op-amp of choice for at least a few of the modular system makers I'm familiar with. I have a Synthesizers.com system that includes modules from them and from SSL, and both manufacturers use the TLO74CN in a lot of designs.

I may have to open up my Voyager for a peek...

MotneN
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MotneN » Fri May 24, 2013 7:09 am

GregAE wrote:The TLO74 seems to be the op-amp of choice for at least a few of the modular system makers I'm familiar with. I have a Synthesizers.com system that includes modules from them and from SSL, and both manufacturers use the TLO74CN in a lot of designs.

I may have to open up my Voyager for a peek...

It is certainly worth trying..
maybe it because i got use to the way the voyager sounded, before
the new OP amp was put in .. but i really think it made a HUGE difference
on my voyager.. a much more ballanced and mellow sound.. really nice

best reagards
Morten

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MC
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by MC » Fri May 24, 2013 9:17 am

The TL071 is a low noise opamp optimized for audio. The TL074 is the quad version of the 071.
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muksys
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by muksys » Fri May 24, 2013 12:30 pm

So, I just took a peak into my OS and found the headphone jack is driven by an LM837, which is designed for "professional audio applications". It's the same pinout as a TL074, so I wonder if this was something that was caught and corrected with new boards. Mine is from the second run of OS's.

slirak
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by slirak » Fri May 24, 2013 6:29 pm

muksys wrote:So, I just took a peak into my OS and found the headphone jack is driven by an LM837, which is designed for "professional audio applications". It's the same pinout as a TL074, so I wonder if this was something that was caught and corrected with new boards. Mine is from the second run of OS's.
Pretty likely. I've had a short conversation with Moog's support about an issue I have with my early SE, and they said that they "have added a number of stability and noise reduction modifications to the analog board" since my SE was made.

There are several versions of the LM837 too, LM837, LM837M, LM837MX etc. What exactly is your 837 called? What brand? (Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor etc).

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muksys
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by muksys » Fri May 24, 2013 9:02 pm

slirak wrote:There are several versions of the LM837 too, LM837, LM837M, LM837MX etc. What exactly is your 837 called? What brand? (Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor etc).
LM837N National Semiconductor

slirak
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by slirak » Sat May 25, 2013 9:37 am

muksys wrote:
slirak wrote:There are several versions of the LM837 too, LM837, LM837M, LM837MX etc. What exactly is your 837 called? What brand? (Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor etc).
LM837N National Semiconductor
Great, thanks! Now I just gonna have to figure out if it can be used as a drop-in replacement for the LM324N or if some other components will need replacing too. That's out of my league, so if anyone knows already, any hints would be greatly appreciated.

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Voltor07
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Re: A trick to make the Voyager sound better

Post by Voltor07 » Sat May 25, 2013 2:33 pm

It should be an easy switch out. Just remove the LM324N and put the LM837N in its place. :)
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