How long should it take for osc 1 to warm up to exact pitch?

mayidunk · Post by **mayidunk** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:45 pm

Hi All,

Before I turned my Voyager off last time, it had been on for hours. I checked the tuning with a tuner (Korg CA-30) plugged into the headphone jack, using only oscillator one, with no modulation effects, and adjusted the master tuning control so that it was exactly in tune at A. (I first turned it flat, and then tuned it back up to pitch.) It was dead nutz just before I turned it off for the night.

Today, I turned it on and plugged in the tuner just to see how long it would take for oscillator one's pitch to get back to zero on the scale. Same setup as before.

At first it was flat by about 40+ cents, but then came up to about 15 cents flat after being on for about 10 minutes or so. After about 25 minutes, it was 5 cents flat. After 35 minutes, it was between 5 cents and zero.

The accuracy of the tuner is +/- 3 cents, if I'm not mistaken, so it probably can be said that the oscillator came back to pitch within about 35 minutes after a cold start. For any other analog oscillator, this is pretty good. However, for the Voyager, is this considered sub-par performance?

Just so you know, when I put it to bed I don't fold it back into the base, but I cover it with a towel in the back and cover the front with the Moog Voyager dustcover (It fits great!).

Mind you, I'm not fault finding, and am inclined to think that the oscillator might actually be a better freq. standard than the tuner, after it has completely warmed up and stabilized! (Well, perhaps for Chuck Norris' Voyager anyway.

)

(BTW, it has been just about an hour since I turned it on, and the CA-30 shows the pitch to be right back at zero!

)

Thanks,
Bob

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 4:49 pm

Interesting research! I guess the stabilisation time comes down to the ambient temperature and humidity. Mine seems to always be in tune, but here it usually is around 20 Celsius (I'm not converting it for you

) and 70-90% RH.

Once I played a gig in a cold field (close to zero/32F) and my keyboards had a really tough time.

mayidunk · Post by **mayidunk** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 5:01 pm

Well, the ambient temps can fluctuate between 20 and 22C (68-72F), but usually it's pretty steady at around 70F (21C). (Converted for your convenience...

) RH can't be more than 50-60%; it's usually pretty dry this time of year.

Thanks

steve m · Post by **steve m** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:18 pm

That's interesting. My Voyager is always about a half semitone out of tune at power up, and takes 30 minutes to settle in tune. It's summer here is Oz now, and my music room is usually about 22C, it doesn't get colder than about 19 even at night. (an average of 68F in old money! )

If I am just having a half hour practice/playing I don't even switch the Voyager on as by the time it's in tune it's too late. On the whole I really like my Voyager, but I have to say that the long warm-up time is very disapointing.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:42 pm

HOnestly Ive never noticed it. Mine seems to be in tunr within minutes. My room probably stays anywhere from 72-75 degrees and here since the winter has seemed to come and the AC is acting wierd, 68 degrees at the lowest.

Eric

Bryan T · Post by **Bryan T** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:06 pm

EricK wrote:HOnestly Ive never noticed it. Mine seems to be in tunr within minutes. My room probably stays anywhere from 72-75 degrees and here since the winter has seemed to come and the AC is acting wierd, 68 degrees at the lowest.

Eric

My Little Phatty is noticeably out of tune for the first several minutes it is on. You should grab a tuner and check the pitches as your Voyager warms up. I think you'll be surprised.

Incidentally, the issue (according to Amos) is not with the atmospheric temp, but with the temp of the synth.

Bryan

Brian G · Post by **Brian G** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:40 pm

It's normal, they are analog osc's and have to warm up

. Some warm up faster than others, once warmed up they should be fairly stable.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:22 pm

Bryan T wrote:
EricK wrote:HOnestly Ive never noticed it. Mine seems to be in tunr within minutes. My room probably stays anywhere from 72-75 degrees and here since the winter has seemed to come and the AC is acting wierd, 68 degrees at the lowest.

Eric
My Little Phatty is noticeably out of tune for the first several minutes it is on. You should grab a tuner and check the pitches as your Voyager warms up. I think you'll be surprised.

Incidentally, the issue (according to Amos) is not with the atmospheric temp, but with the temp of the synth.

Bryan

Of corse. But the Voyager in a cold field will take longer to tune and may drift more than one stationary in a climate controled studio.

I know that I might as well not even try to play My micro if its raining outside because it drifts so bad, once I thought it was broken lol.

Ill try that tuning thing. Usually I check the tuning with other instruments when I record, but ill notice that the voyager is in tune WITH ITSELF after just a few minutes. I really haven't noticed any problems.

Eric

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:05 pm

Maybe we've just got awesome Voyagers, Eric

mayidunk · Post by **mayidunk** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:21 pm

steve m wrote:That's interesting. My Voyager is always about a half semitone out of tune at power up, and takes 30 minutes to settle in tune. It's summer here is Oz now, and my music room is usually about 22C, it doesn't get colder than about 19 even at night. (an average of 68F in old money! )

If I am just having a half hour practice/playing I don't even switch the Voyager on as by the time it's in tune it's too late. On the whole I really like my Voyager, but I have to say that the long warm-up time is very disapointing.

Steve's Voyager seems to be showing the same warm-up characteristics as mine. It'll be interesting to see what EricK's results are.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:42 am

So whats the procedure...ill have to find a tuner now lol.

I always have to open my mouth and get myself into something.

Latig
I think all Voyagers are awesome lol.

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:22 am

EricK wrote:So whats the procedure...ill have to find a tuner now lol.

I always have to open my mouth and get myself into something.

Latig
I think all Voyagers are awesome lol.

Any chromatic guitar tuner that can also be used with a piano should work...I use a Danelectro Tune-O-Matic, but I don't trust it as far as I can throw it...it's a great guitar tuner, though.

Korg makes one...I bought it for my sister as a Christmas gift the year my parents bought her a Strat. I think it was like $40. I can see your studio now...tuner next to the Voyager, a shelf above the Voyager with a DMM and Oscilloscope on it, along with a 24V adjustable power supply.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:41 am

This guy at school in the electronics department is supposed to be selling these old analogue bench oscillators, Im trying to get one but I woudln't know how to use it lol.

THen the biology department wants one...for what I don't know.

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:35 pm

EricK wrote:This guy at school in the electronics department is supposed to be selling these old analogue bench oscillators, Im trying to get one but I woudln't know how to use it lol.

THen the biology department wants one...for what I don't know.

I am sure Kevin Lightner could help you out when the time comes. I haven't used one in years, but they're pretty self-explanatory. I'm going to get one from surplusshed.com eventually. They have these complete military bench labs for $550 available only to US residents. The nice thing? No matter what you buy, how much it costs, no matter the weight, shipping is only 5 bucks.

mayidunk · Post by **mayidunk** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:45 pm

EricK wrote:So whats the procedure...ill have to find a tuner now lol.

Easy enough. One oscillator, no modulation or effects, plug in a tuner, turn the voyager on for about an hour or two to warm it up, set the pitch to zero on an A note, turn off the synth for the night.

Next time you turn the synth on, check the pitch, then continue checking every 10 minutes or so after that until the pitch either zeros out, or stops moving.

Thanks, EricK!