Moog Music Forum

Not very familiar with minimoog except for a few instances...like some of wendy carlos' music. I've got a dx7 and a nord lead 3, but I love the clockwork orange type sound and the legend of the minimoog. I'm fairly interested in buying the voyager, but I'm completely new to monophonic synths.

Can the voyager make some good clav/harpsichord, clockwork orange type sounds? Also I'm not too impressed with the sound samples on the moog page....Anyone have any links with some good voyager sounds?

Long answer:
Wendy Carlos didn't use a minimoog, she used a big modular moog system.
One thing that makes that old music sound the way it does is the inherant instability of the oscillators and their tendency to drift over time. Also, the tape it was recorded to and the multitude of splices and overdubs done has a big effect on the sound. Switched-On-Bach and Clockwork Orange were all made on monophonic machines and layered in the studio. A pretty amazing feat!
As far as the Voyager doing a clav sound: Yes, it can do it, but it's monophonic (only one note at a time), so you might be better off using the Nord for that role. The Nord needs some outboard effects to pull off a convincing clav sound, though.
The Voyager is monophonic, so think basslines, leads, horns, etc. While you could build up a chord progression in the studio with multitracking it would be a lot of work!
Clockwork Orange was also multitracked and spliced.

Short answer:
The Voyager is definately a moog, but it doesn't sound exactly like an old modular system because the oscillators are stable. Don't expect to be able to play chords or recreate "Timesteps" live, but DO go check one out in person! The samples on this website don't do the V'ger justice! It has INCREDIBLE sonic potential.

hi, thanks for the reply. I guess I'll have to go check one out this weekend. Now for the second part - how come most analogue synths only have triangle and squarewave, but no sine wave? Is a sine wave made up of a different kind of wave. Also can anyone recommend any good books on control voltage and synthesis in general?


On a parting note I don't like the lead3 very much. Most of it sounds like crap unless you process the sound through a lot of effects. I actually tried to return it about 2 weeks after I bought it, but the store wouldn't take it back. It's been mostly sitting in the box the past year.

That's my feeling on the Nord to. I'm an engineer and they just don't sit in the mix nice without a lot of pushing and pulling. I've always amp and mic them. Using a lot of analog compression also. Or a sansamp or something to grind them up. World class sound quality - no.

The moog Voyager sounds SO good just direct and sits in so nice with just about anything. I feel guilty about even thinking about putting some cheap FX on it when the sound source sounds this bloody good already! Sound quality is it's #1 asset for sure.

-solar

I own them both. I will agree that the Voyager direct sounds much better than the lead 3. People say that sound quality is subjective. I guess it is but you could never convince me that a Nord 'sounds' as good as a Voyager. They are completely different synths though. To me, the Nord is much thinner. Still, you can get some really great sounds out of it. Personally I like them both! I don't run either through any effects. Solar can you recommend a decent amp to beef up the Nord? What about effects units?

Wouldn't it be more useful to figure out the strengths of your other (non-Moog) gear and how it can be used accordingly in your music?
All instruments have their own character that sets them apart from others.
Its kind of like buying a Farfisa organ and complaining that it doesn't sound the same as a Hammond. Whatever you may have , it usually has some type of application that it excels in. The thing is to find out what it does best, and know where to apply it when that sound is needed.


regards,


LWG

you might give a listen to the 7 short tracks at:

http://www.twelfthroot.com/moogmuse

all sounds created on the Voyager and layered via an
oberhiem echoplex.

you might give a listen to the 7 short tracks at:

http://www.twelfthroot.com/moogmuse

all sounds created on the Voyager and layered via an
oberhiem echoplex.

pelican wrote: how come most analogue synths only have triangle and squarewave, but no sine wave?

The reason most synths don't have a sine wave has something to do with harmonics. I'm not an electrical engineer, but I think I remember reading that a sine wave doesn't have any harmonics when you filter it? So it doesn't have the rich sound of a sawtooth or square wave. BTW, a sine wave sounds very close to a triangle wave. Also, I believe the resonance created by the filter when it's feeding back is a sine wave.
Anyone?

FreqOut

Ahh, thanks for the info. I was searching around today , and found out moog used to make a sine wave osc. as part of their modules. I suppose he could do it if he wanted?

ticker wrote:Solar can you recommend a decent amp to beef up the Nord? What about effects units?

I recorded an album a few years ago for a Radiohead-esque type band and the synth guy used a Nord. We all agreed the instrument needed a big injection of personality and depth to make it sit right in the mix. We used two techniques.

For a lot of the textural stuff I ran it stereo into two Fender ProJr amps. These things are great little studio amps to have around. All-tube purist signal path and they get pretty loud for little amps. I’d either close mic the amps with an SM57 or space the amps out 6’ and room mic them in spaced-omni setup with a pair of condensers or ribbon mics. The little Fenders are only good for mid-upper frequency stuff, no bass.

For full range sound I used a Roland Jazz Chorus 120. These things are killer for synth stuff, plenty of low end, loud as hell, clean and sparkly, insane stereo chorus, spring reverb. Not tube sounding like the Fenders, very solid state clean. Same thing, I either close micd it with an RE20 or room micd it with a stereo pair in a good sounding room.

Amping really helps in a lot of cases with sub par sources. And amping in a good sounding room w/ room mics can add a real nice organic quality you just can’t get with fake reverbs!

-solar

Solar, thanks much for your advice. Now to just get some more cash

Hello,

sine waves don't contain harmonics. They contain only the fundamental frequency. Most analog synthesizers that incorporate subtractive synthesis have filters and these work on harmonics. So this is why sine is sometimes ommited from the waveforms.

Moreover filters that self-oscillate behave like sinewaves. When Q is set at very high settings the filter itself produces a sine wave at the cutoff frequency. If the filter tracks the keyboard you can use the filter as a VCO. When Fc is set to minimum the sine is very thin but when you raise the Fc you can get a nice thump. With some tweaking you can get some amazing bass drums.

Sine LFOs have a certain "round" quality. Compared to triangle-waves they give more "liquid" modulation in certain sounds.

Ciao