Moog Music Forum

Turning down all the oscillator volumes before switching out seems playing very safe. The oscillators are running free anyway. Only the envelope stop them. Whether the mix knobs are set to 0 or not does not change anything in this case. Anyone, correct me.

On the contrary, I would advice not to switch off by unplugging from the wall, especially for amps and synths with an integrated PSU. Sometimes, the PSU has a "ramp up" system that allows the current to establish progressively (we are talking about 10-100 ms values here). Switching off is ok, but when you plug again, the switch of your Voyager is already letting the current in and the current coming from the wall enters it quicker.

My advice:
- for anything with an embedded PSU, turn on and off yourself; for stomboxes, it's ok to have a switch equiped lead or to unplug
- turn on amps/speakers last
- turn off amps/speaker first

JnGd wrote:I always let the machine heat for at least 15-20 minutes before doing anything.

The 15-20 minute warmup is for the electronics to stabilize to temperature so that the VCOs play in tune, that's all. You won't hurt anything by playing it right away, just that the VCOs may not be in tune.

When I shut it down, I always turn down every knobs on the mixer first, then I switch off all oscillators, noise source...I let it "cooldown" for a while then "off".

Not necessary. All you need to do is make sure the speakers are turned off. Sometimes there's a short period they are still producing sound after you turn them off. So I usually make noise on something until the sound cuts out, then I turn off everything. I have my entire system on a master on/off switch.

Power on: speakers last.

Power off: speakers first.

When gear is powered cycled there are very brief noise transients in the audio, can be loud pops. Only the speakers are vulnerable to damage. This will not damage the mixer, the synth, etc.

Hi,
thanks to MC and Stiiiiiiive for detailed explanations...

JnGd wrote:Hi,
thanks to MC and Stiiiiiiive for detailed explanations...

+1!

Shame on me. Will do right from now on.

Hi together,

I just want to tell you that I have ordered a Voyager Performer Stage Ed. today - and my dream will come true

Thanks again for your information and comments!

Well done! I absolutely adore my Voyager! Many friends and relatives get stuck playing and tweaking it when they visit. Some scroll through presets and some just tweak away. There's something about the tone, the flexibility, directness and mothershipness with it that draws people to it. And I love standing next to them, watching and listening while they play. The more it gets used, the better I feel!

Congrats Nordlicht
I'ms sure you'll love it indeed!

Great news Nordlicht !

I'm convinced you'll love every minute spent on your Voyager !

Only a Minimoog D can be more satisfying... But I'm not going to re-start that debate...

I bring up this topic because of this email that I received today from Moog Music. And just in case some of you Voyager owners out there might not have registered your machine with Moog, here's a copy of that notice about potentially defective Voyagers:

"Dear Registered Owner of the Minimoog Voyager:
Thank you for being a Moog customer and owning our finest hand-built analog synthesizer, the Minimoog Voyager. Moog Music has a reputation for making world class instruments and we expect them to give you a lifetime of musical pleasure. Whenever this experience is compromised, we must take steps to rectify the issue as soon as it is known to us.

It has come to our attention that an isolated number of Minimoog Voyager Analog Boards built between mid-2010 and January 2013 may have been populated with faulty IC’s. The intermittent nature of these faulty IC’s was not captured during our Total Quality Control program at the factory. Please know that the potentially faulty IC’s were replaced in Minimoog Voyager production beginning January 2013, as such we are confident in the reliability of the product we are shipping today.

If you are the original owner of a registered Minimoog Voyager (any model) purchased between mid-2010 and January 2013, and experience any of the following issues, please contact Moog service (andy@moogmusic.com or 828-251-0090 x221) or your international service center and we will service your Minimoog Voyager as soon as possible:

          • All oscillators are subsonic or inaudible

          • An oscillator no longer works

          • One or both filter channels no longer works

          • Envelopes trigger incorrectly

          • Switches no longer trigger audible sonic changes

          • Mod buss no longer functional

          • Source/Destination assignment no longer functional

          • Loss of pitch control

          • Failure to trigger via keyboard or MIDI
          • LFO will no longer sync to keyboard or MIDI

          • Oscillator Wave Shaping section no longer works


Thank you for your continued support of Moog Music.

Sincerely,
Michael Adams
President Moog Music Inc. "

What this email doesn't mention is the fact that many of those Voyagers produced during the period of time mentioned were probably stocked by retailers for a long time in their inventory and not have been sold during that period, but much later on. I think Moog Music should announce the range of serial numbers concerned by this pseudo-recall...

True. I was about to ask how one can determine when exactly one's Voyagers were built.

Moog, can you hear us?...

Ah finally, I'm glad to see this statement from Moog...my Voyager has previously failed twice (in 2 years) due to issues outlined above and I'm always worried it's going to break again...not a great feeling when you break the bank for a luxury item.

At least Moog have held their hands up and they now know what's causing the issues.

Yep - serial numbers should be provided.

I got one of the first hundred made back in 2003, the Signature edition. Zero problems. Had some early ICs replaced as an upgrade when I brought it down. They said the early ones were easier to service because the ICs were socketed.

Think its a little odd asking if anyone has problems. With an expensive synth, surely you're not going to sell it or just never get it fixed? All that speculation does is put doubt in the minds of used Voyager buyers.

B

That's why I called it a "pseudo-recall" in one of my posts earlier.

Moog should have done their homework on this, and announce a full blown recall of all Voyagers of a specific serial number range, and offer to replace the analog board, defective or not.
That's what car manufacturers usually do when some part is known to be substandard and prone to failure in their cars.

If it has an internal power supply, you need to turn it off by its switch.