Voyager making life difficult

Lux_Seeker · Post by **Lux_Seeker** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 4:17 pm

I just wanted to post his from my blog. My blog is much more philosophical in scope that this board so I will post it only as a link for those who want to take a peek. You can find many things about synthesis there.

I realized that perhaps what I like about the Voyager is that its an instrument. Not a collection of parts or circuts but an instrument and with an instrument comes a kind of magic to learning how to play it. On the Voyager, its all there in front of you. A musican does not have to go through five menus to get to a parameter but simply learns to play the instrument. In the same way, the Voyager affords the musician that want to do a little work, the ability to play a Voyager as "instrument" and that is more than worthwhile.

Anyway, here it is:

http://luxsounds.blogspot.com/

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:21 pm

If you want to see a modular used musically and live on stage, check this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioB4cNTF ... re=related

Subtronik · Post by **Subtronik** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 7:03 am

Lux_Seeker wrote:A musican does not have to go through five menus to get to a parameter but simply learns to play the instrument.

That reminds me of when I only had one synth, no other instruments and no computer. I got so familiar with that one synth that I knew exactly where I was at in the paging structure by button presses alone. I could edit blind. Those were fun days.

The Voyager has brought me back to those days in the sense that I've been working with it pretty much exclusively since it arrived. The inspiration is gives me is priceless.

Just Me wrote:If you want to see a modular used musically and live on stage, check this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioB4cNTF ... re=related

Wow, you found footage that's not just bleeps and bloops, nice. I've always loved Tangerine Dream.

Lux_Seeker · Post by **Lux_Seeker** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:26 am

Just Me wrote:If you want to see a modular used musically and live on stage, check this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioB4cNTF ... re=related

Tangerine dream is one of the few. Also, don't forget Keith Emerson who probably was the first to bring a modular to concerts. I guess the issue for me is how to get to that point when you can do this. Not many bands do. Most of the great synth players favor semi modulars.

Lux_Seeker · Post by **Lux_Seeker** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:36 am

Subtronik wrote: That reminds me of when I only had one synth, no other instruments and no computer. I got so familiar with that one synth that I knew exactly where I was at in the paging structure by button presses alone. I could edit blind. Those were fun days.

The Voyager has brought me back to those days in the sense that I've been working with it pretty much exclusively since it arrived. The inspiration is gives me is priceless.

Yes, this is kind of the way I feel. Synthesis at first became one great big intellectual excercise to me. I am reversing some of this now. At one point in my life I was working with information systems programmers. What always amazed me is that they would marvel over how incredible the strucure and design of their programs were without any reference to how it fit into the workflow of the customers. To so many, it did not seem to matter.

Sometimes when I hear modular talk I hear the same thing about how this was hooked up to that ect... OK, if that gets you somewhere fine but in the end, I want to hear about the music.

One example I always go back to is Pink Floyd and Rick Wright who was one of the very few (Tangerine Dream included) who really used a synthesizer musically. I was listening yesterday to "Welcome to the Machine" and how Wright was using a filtered white noise sound but using it to create a rhythm that rose and fell in volume creating this pulsing effect that matches the opening drone (probably a VCS3). All of this can be done with a Voyager.

I guess what I would like to see are some sites that talk about synthesizers as instruments and as such, how they work musically. Rather than talking about what fits into what and at what voltage level, to talk about rhythms and harmony other musical issues.

Lux_Seeker · Post by **Lux_Seeker** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:50 am

I just printed out part of the Moog Voyager manual and realized how flexible the Voyager is. First it has not one, not two but 10 CV and 3 Gate inputs. This create lots of possiblities for joining the Voyager with a modular. It also has an insert between the mixer and the filter. I am not sure if its possible to fully bypass the fiter but settings can be made to add as little color as possiblle and then an external filter from a modular can be added.

What I am thinking here is that a Voyager can form the basis of a larger modular system. If I build a completely modular system what do I get? Something I don't have any presets on. I would have MIDI if I got an interface module. With Voyager, I get a sleek MIDI controlled semi-modular that I can inteface with other modules any time I want.

I can get the Voyager and then in time, add some modules when I have a specific application in mind. Why spend $s getting bread and butter modules when they are all right there in the Voyager?

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 3:24 pm

From notes I've read the drone and pulse on 'Welcome to the machine' was done with an ARP Omni. (I can get the same sound on mine so I tend to believe it. Not that other synths can't do it.)
And LS, I've got the 351 and use it to output gates. triggers and CVs to my modular and from there to a mixer where some get fed back to the Voyager and others to the mains. Use a 351/251 and you have a modular started. Add Ring mod and a delay and you've got an even greater range of amazing sonic possibilities. (Add a DotCom modular and it just goes psycho from there!)

Subtronik · Post by **Subtronik** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 3:47 pm

Lux_Seeker wrote:don't forget Keith Emerson who probably was the first to bring a modular to concerts.

Lux_Seeker · Post by **Lux_Seeker** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 3:52 pm

Looks like a recent picture. Are they still touring (ELP) or Emerson?

Subtronik · Post by **Subtronik** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 4:05 pm

June 25, 2006 Photoset

jon_kull · Post by **jon_kull** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:36 pm

I'll get caught up on posts in a bit. In the meantime in the spirit of getting the most out of the gear you own here's something I did quickly this morning using only an ancient Casio VL-1. This was the first 'synth' I ever owned and was a gift from a musician friend of my father's. I think I was 9 years old at the time.

http://recoilsun.bandcamp.com/track/something-soft

Subtronik · Post by **Subtronik** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:02 pm

I like it. Very bright and dreamy.

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:53 am

jon_kull wrote:I'll get caught up on posts in a bit. In the meantime in the spirit of getting the most out of the gear you own here's something I did quickly this morning using only an ancient Casio VL-1. This was the first 'synth' I ever owned and was a gift from a musician friend of my father's. I think I was 9 years old at the time.

http://recoilsun.bandcamp.com/track/something-soft

That is, indeed a most beautiful sound. On a Casio, no less! Very nice. Never seen or heard one in person, but a great sounding synth from what I can tell.

jon_kull · Post by **jon_kull** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 11:12 am

Voltor07 wrote:
jon_kull wrote:I'll get caught up on posts in a bit. In the meantime in the spirit of getting the most out of the gear you own here's something I did quickly this morning using only an ancient Casio VL-1. This was the first 'synth' I ever owned and was a gift from a musician friend of my father's. I think I was 9 years old at the time.

http://recoilsun.bandcamp.com/track/something-soft
That is, indeed a most beautiful sound. On a Casio, no less! Very nice. Never seen or heard one in person, but a great sounding synth from what I can tell.

That's the power of effects processing.

Normally sounds like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ6OnqMpTiE&fn=8

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 11:34 am

That little thing doesn't sound too bad on its own, actually. And, its a calculator to boot!