Voyager Operating System update ??

[bhrama]

So the LP gets a very nice and useful update, my question is when do we Voyager owners see some new stuff? Are there not issues that need fixed, requests that need addressed and addition which could/would enhance the Voyager, a.k.a. "Flagship" icon of Moog Music? (*not counting the XL! ). Could we not see an in-house modification for and Overdrive mod, or an ARP mod??

Basically what is the next step for our Voyagers? Granted I'm a long time owner, and extremely satisfied Moog client, can we not improve somewhere, somehow? Thoughts?

[Prime NL]

+1 for this thread....

[tHEbUZZ]

Would love to see a sub-menu for an arpeggio mode with a whole bunch of arp settings

[EMwhite]

I'll wager a wild guess and suggest that Voyagers code is baked and done. I don't know much about the hardware architecture outside of the analog board that my Old School and your Voyager have in common but I think the CPU in the Voyager is not as well suited for realtime control of sequences outside of the normal midi processing, synched clocks and real time encoding and mapping of touch surface. Maybe said another way, Voyager code is much more complex and the amount of effort required is on the high side.

Happy to be wrong and would love to read details of the hw architecture;

[psicolor]

For me the current OS is perfect!
I'd appreciate something like "pot snapping" (moving a pot after loading a preset does not change the value until the pot passes the right angle), but i don't NEED it.

[bunnyman]

I could be wrong, but I think that Rudi mentioned that adding more wonderful things to the OS would possibly add to knob turning zipper noise. After all: the Phatty only has 4 knobs that are being scanned at any time. The Voyager has about 10 X that... Having said that, I *love* my Voyager! Sure, it'd be nice to have a built in arpeggiator, but in the meantime, I just use the arpeggiator and other MIDI FX in Live 8...

[EricK]

I think if anything, the Voyager needs a hardware upgrade...preferably something that can address the zippering like a suped up Midi processor.

[till]

I think if anything, the Voyager needs a hardware upgrade...preferably something that can address the zippering like a suped up Midi processor.

This would maybe need a very different CPU type. And then therefor a new OS to be programmed/compiled. And then there would be two different OS versions for the Voyagers.
Different hardware versions are a pain in the back and would lead us to no new software for the older ones.

In fact, the Voyager's software is working very fine. It is behaving better then most other synths.
You can judge it from the postings here: just requests for new features. Not requests for bug fixes. So I would consider the Voyager bug free.

By the new and always FREE updates, my Voyager has got now more features then advertised then. This is great. You don't see this happening on all synths.

The zipper noise is more or less just the tiny steps of a value being changed. This is done way better then on all other synths with memory I got here. Even brand new synths have sometimes only 128 different values per knob. The Voyager uses more then 7 bits. The 7 bit parameter value limit is due to Midi sending controller data just as 7 bit word. The eight bit tell what kind of message this data is used for.
The voyager uses more bit. So it is better. I think the Alesis A6 was also using more bits.

Of cause, 16 bit parameter scanning of knobs with high read out frequency and intelligent dithering protection would be great. But getting an Old School Voyager would do it as well.

[EMwhite]

I think if anything, the Voyager needs a hardware upgrade...preferably something that can address the zippering like a suped up Midi processor.

(much deleted)
Of cause, 16 bit parameter scanning of knobs with high read out frequency and intelligent dithering protection would be great. But getting an Old School Voyager would do it as well.

I thought that with the exception of a tiny microcontroller for keyboard scanning that pots were wired directly to analog board connectors? Heck, even pitch bend range requires a hard jumper change.

[till]

Of cause, 16 bit parameter scanning of knobs with high read out frequency and intelligent dithering protection would be great. But getting an Old School Voyager would do it as well.

I thought that with the exception of a tiny microcontroller for keyboard scanning that pots were wired directly to analog board connectors? Heck, even pitch bend range requires a hard jumper change.

You are right, if you talk about the Voyager Old School.
The problems of knobs being scanned for values are not happening on the Old School. This is why I ended my posting telling about getting real analog feeling only on a real analog synth. But except for the last sentence, I was talking about the normal Voyager with patch memory. The whole thread is about operating software update. And this is one thing Old School users don't have to think about.

[EMwhite]

Ah yes. I can't read English well... sorry.

So you tell me (very nice web site by the way) what sort of processor or microcontroller is the new school Voyager built around?

Thanks

[till]

... what sort of processor or microcontroller is the new school Voyager built around?

The Voyagers with memory use a ZiLOG Z180 MPU

This is a new version of the famous Z80.