Moog Music Forum

I find the Old School to be far more attractive than the other Voyagers. Not to be a minimalist, but lights - as nice as they are - are only one more unnecessary thing to break and disappoint. The OS has a look of simplicity, directness, and purity to it - pure instrument. I preferred it right away, after seeing the other Voyager models for the first time.

With the OS, the synthesist has to "see" the sound directly from the control panel. It seems to sharpen one's skill. Having memory/program capabilities is necessary for some performance situations, but there also happens to be a science to programming live. For example, in the case of the OS, the synthesist is forced to invent ways of altering sound that are quick and spontaneous. If a particular sound needs to develop during a piece of music, than one option is to start with only one oscillator and gradually switch on the other two oscillators. You can do this with one finger even while you're playing the keyboard with another. For certain, this sort of programming takes skill and practice, but that's my point.

I can appreciate those points like that but any approach to programing that you can do on an OS you can do on a regular voyager.

If you cut your teeth on an Old School or a Voyager, the Old School would force you to learn faster indeed. But if you are seasoned, then this isn't an issue.

Eric

EricK -

I agree. I simply mean to say that, if you have an Old School, it's not as if you're stuck using only one sound per piece of music. The Voyager panel does allow for some quick changes, though not extreme.

The Analog Organist wrote:I agree. I simply mean to say that, if you have an Old School, it's not as if you're stuck using only one sound per piece of music.

How is this any different than with the Voyager?

I'll say it one more time. It's no different. The other Voyagers can do everything the Old School can do. But there are ways of handling the OS panel so that one can make significant changes - even while playing - so that there isn't a one-sound-per-song handicap. That's just my two cents on behalf of the OS. Memory isn't everything. A synthesizer that lacks memory need not be confined to the home or recording studio. It just demands a little more from the musician/programmer.

But there are ways of handling the OS panel so that one can make significant changes - even while playing - so that there isn't a one-sound-per-song handicap.

Man you know, were not splitting hairs here, but this notion of "One sound per song handicap" is in the programmer, not the synth.

Maybe you are implying that the memory lends itself to programming a sound and save it for a song to call it back up every time, but to me thats the whole idea. I can experiment and go apeshite on the panel configurations and then return right back to normal without having to meticulously undo each step. I also don't have to be so anal about who touches my Voyager or changes the panel settings because I haven't documented the patch yet.

But I understand that this thread is Voyager Obsession, and if that is your personal romantisized rationale for your particular model of Voyager, then I totally understand. Thats your connection with the circuitry. I have one of my own (several, actually). This is something that need not be debated. Its part of that magical bond (that to outsiders reeks of-how did a poster here put it- man/machine love taken too far) that these products enable.

Respectfully,
Eric

I love my OS and I have no desire for a LCD.

I'm obsessed with the high quality of Moog products, not the differences between their products.

People downing Moog products for this or that seems a little pretentious.

Were all Moog lovers right?

Ummm, I don't remember splitting hairs or being critical of anything or anyone, except in saying that I liked the appearance of the OS over the other models. That wasn't meant as a "pot shot" at the other Voyagers or Voyager owners; it was just a statement in favor of the instrument I chose.

The Analog Organist wrote:I'll say it one more time.

This statement looked to me like you were getting irritated with us, that is myself and spittingoutteeth, and that WE were the ones splitting the hairs of your particular statement.

I also didn't view that as being a pot shot on other voyager owners.

Eric

Hear ye! Hear ye! The Voyager is amazing in all of its sexy forms!

Merry Christmas!

Analog! wrote:Hear ye! Hear ye! The Voyager is amazing in all of its sexy forms!

Especially the Nova Musik "Nova Edition" in whitewash with indigo lighting - gotta get me one of those soon! Sold my electric blue a year ago, and I'm really missing having a Voyager. I played a Phatty recently & was going to get one, but I realized I won't really be happy until I get another Voyager. Maybe once the Taurus IIIs are paid for....

rodion wrote:when on the touchpadded voyager the focus of your attention is the display rather than the knobs and I found it to be less inspiring when programming patches. with the old school you're forced to focus on the whole front panel and I think this helps you shaping the sound in a more solid way.

It depends on you!
I own the GameBoy-Version (the Voyager with Touchpad) and turned off the parameter display, because the parameter display always seduced me to trust more in my eyes than in my ears, although i'm very shortsighted... Due to the fact that i do not use presets, my front panel always represents the current sound setting. I like the touchpad a lot and the ability to change the keyboard mode or the filter pole settings.

But when I reduce it to the optics, i also like the Voyager OldSchool better. Hm, but this may be also a fashion thing. In several years those green backlighted dot-matrix-LCDs and those poor quadratic menu buttons will eventually appear breathtaking. Who knows...

psicolor wrote:

rodion wrote:when on the touchpadded voyager the focus of your attention is the display rather than the knobs and I found it to be less inspiring when programming patches. with the old school you're forced to focus on the whole front panel and I think this helps you shaping the sound in a more solid way.

It depends on you!
I own the GameBoy-Version (the Voyager with Touchpad) and turned off the parameter display, because the parameter display always seduced me to trust more in my eyes than in my ears...

I, too, have turned off the parameter display on my Voyager Performer, and only opt to display the keyboard transpose screen. My panel always reflects the sound that is being played, and I only use the legends on the panel, and the tick marks on the knobs, to determine my parameter values, just like on the OS.

Recently I checked the voltage display for the limits of the pitch wheel and found that the value at one end was showing a bit lower than the limit at the other end. I listened to see if I could actually hear the difference, and I couldn't. So, I'm not going to get hyper about realigning the pitch wheel because if I can't hear it, I'm not going to worry about it, despite what the display says.