expanding the voyager with a modular system

kcabdeef · Post by **kcabdeef** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:38 pm

Is anyone using the voyager with a modular system?

I'm considering taking the jump and start building a modular system around the voyager. From the ones I've been researching the modcan B series seem to be the ones that seem more compatible out of the box with moog gear. However they are a bit expensive compared to stuff like doepfer or .com systems.

Does anyone has experience with such systems and could give me some opinions about the sound quality and interface easiness with moog gear?

thanks!

analoghaze · Post by **analoghaze** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:20 pm

I use my Voyager as a center of a modular set-up.

Besides the Moog items in my siig, I am using:
MacBeth Moroco
Metasonix TM-1
Sherman Filterbaank 2
Future Retro 777

The Mooger pedals are amazing.

The XV-351 is needed in this case. The CP-251 is handy too.

sir_dss · Post by **sir_dss** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:10 am

Yeah...

I use my Voyager with a bunch of Synth Tech(MOTM) and Blacet modules.

It's really great

punkdisco · Post by **punkdisco** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:00 am

Hi - my Voyager is permanently wired up to a MS20 and vice verses. I think they sound great together as one is smooth and classy (can be dirty also) and the other is a wild violent beast. And despite the popular misconception, the MS20 is total compatible with Volt synths like the Voyager - its only the keyboard tracking that is in Hz/Oct, everything else is standard Volts..

Good luck dude..

godzilla · Post by **godzilla** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:21 pm

wow analoghaze

you didn't mess about two 104Zs

i get another 104 (of any kind) if i could afford it.

[/code]

tunedLow · Post by **tunedLow** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:13 am

I'm using my Voyager with a Dot Com setup, they work great together. Be sure and get the 351.

analoghaze · Post by **analoghaze** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 3:07 pm

wow analoghaze

you didn't mess about two 104Zs

Yea, I love having those. They are fantastic. I actually sold an Elektron MonoMachine on ebay to fund the two delays and my second MuRF. Have not regretted it at all. The effects loop is a feature that must be used.

I like just making feedback, noise, alien insect noises, weird stuff.

I'm using my Voyager with a Dot Com setup, they work great together.

I have heavily considered adding a somewhat simple .com modulation set-up for what I have here.

corkyburger · Post by **corkyburger** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:47 pm

I'm building the entry level month by month dot com and it works great with the Voyager. So far I've got the oscillator, Env generator and amplifier module and even these few modules have really expanded my sound design capabilities.

It is great patching an extra modulation source into the Voyager or running the dot com oscillator through the Moog filter.

My dot com filter is just being built now and I should have it in just over a month (I live in the UK and it takes forever!).

I have to say that after having looked around there are some other more experimental modular companies about like EAR. Check out all the varieties and see what suits you. I think once I have filled my dot com cabinet I will look at the options - I'd still kill for a Wiard Wogglebug!

CB

Sweep · Post by **Sweep** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:36 pm

I'm continuing to explore the `semi-soft' approach - yes, I know it sounds like something that needs sugar babies, and I'm not sure if everyone would necessarily put it in the modular category.

At the moment it's mostly just Voyager and Arturia softsynth (usually Moog Modular V), either layered or with the Arturia output fed back through the Voyager, so it's modular as far as the Arturia itsef is concerned and also in terms of the triggering and routing options back through the Voyager - but I'm thinking about connecting two computers via MIDI and running both from the Voyager, as well as adding a second and maybe a third hardware synth - a rack-mount Voyager and possibly a Micron.

I also have an MS20 to add into the system sometime, but I haven't done that yet, and I tried my V-Synth but didn't get really satisfying results with it as part of this set-up (though I love it as a synth in its own right.)

I have a growing collection of odd-sounding patches on the Voyager and the Arturia that are weird because they're only half a sound. Add the other elements and they start to make sense, and they have the richness and tonal complexity that a smaller synth can't achieve.

It seems to me that MIDI is potentially what voltage control was to the original modular systems. It allows individual synths and even computers to become components in a larger system, and synchronises the treatment of one sound source by the elements of another.

The fact that the Voyager keyboard will play polyphonically over MIDI and the Voyager will handle external signals as well as having its other connections with other synths makes it the perfect centrepiece of a system like this.

tunedLow · Post by **tunedLow** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:57 pm

You guys might find this interesting. I did an A/B comparison with the Dot Com and the Voyager for another forum. I ran them both with the same sequence, first as a saw (at about the 4 mark on the Voyager, and straight out of the saw jack on the Arrick), then as a square (which as harder to match, I don't have an osciliscope.

The filters were wide open on both, the resonance turned all the way down, evnelope attacks at 0, decay and sustain and release turned up a bit and about equal on both.

One thing I got wrong was that I ran the Moog out of the left jack thinking I was getting only one of the filters. Amos straighten me out that I was in fact getting the sum of the filters, where running out of the right jack will give only one. But I've since tried that using this same patch and really couldn't tell a difference.

So far what it's worth, here you go:
http://www.eng.utah.edu/~trahan/Arrick_vs_Moog/

MarkM · Post by **MarkM** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:23 pm

Did you adjust the spacing?

Marzzz · Post by **Marzzz** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:56 pm

Future-Retro is coming out with an expander module this summer that looks like it will work very well with the Voyager....I had a chance to play the prototype, it sounded great! (disclaimer- I am not associated with them in any way)

tunedLow · Post by **tunedLow** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:33 am

MarkM, I tried it both with the spacing all the way to the right, as well as centered, and I can't tell a difference. Try it and tell me if you can. I mean, I use the spacing alot when I'm running both sides out to good effect, but in this case just can't hear what the second filter is doing.

analoghaze · Post by **analoghaze** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:17 pm

Just noticed .com modules had a pretty big price jump.

corkyburger · Post by **corkyburger** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 2:33 pm

analoghaze wrote:Just noticed .com modules had a pretty big price jump.

Yes! Just as I'm about half way through the entry level plan. My monthly payments remain the same which I am pretty happy about but once the plan is complete I get the new prices.

The dot com is a great system, it sounds great and looks amazing, but I have to say that once I have added shipping and import tax the cost really starts to get high. I have also had real problems with Parcel Force (also known as Parcel Farce) who deliver in the UK. I've had the cabinet, power supply, midi/cv, osc 1, Amp and env delivered in two shipments and both times I had to go and collect them from the depot myself which is about an hours drive (bear in mind I have paid for this delivery!). One time they told me to come and collect it only for me to turn up and be told it had been sent out!

I know this isn't dot coms fault but it is frustrating. I have let them know but apparently the shipping charge would be too high using UPS etc.

Through all this I'd still recomend the system as it is amazing and works really well with the Voyager.

CB