I know this is an incredibly late comment, but I stumbled across this video for the first time today. Modulating your filter with an LFO is one grand, but modulating your LFO with your filter is otherworldly. That's the first time I've seen such a feature on a synth.
Hello Tim, thanks for the informative video. The Voyager is deceptively modular. I want to share another trick I found on the Moog Music Forums. You can actually 'unplug' the oscillators from the mixer and send them elsewhere, separately, by using the modulation busses. You will need either the XL or the VX-351 VC expander. To summarize the trick: -Set a mod buss to osc 3 (or PGM to any other osc) -set the dest to LFO rate (minimal effect on the oscillators' sound) -set AMOUNT to MAX -take the pedal or wheel mod buss OUT and run it through an attenuator set to 9 o'clock (This is VERY important because it's a very high level signal) The OUT from the attenuator is now effectively the oscillator that you may run through an effects unit and then a speaker. This also allows you to incorporate oscillators into other modules, even eurorack, hypothetically. Now, you would need to tie up both mod busses to use 2 oscillators. To use the final oscillator, you can plug into the mix out/filter in and use the 'tip' head of the cable.
For me as a non musician (not playing any instrument), but interested in electronics and sounds, your explanation and demo was very interesting to watch. It gave me some good impressions. So thank you very much for this Tim.
Great video! I’ve had my XL since 2012 and have yet to really dig deep into the media assignments! I get stuck in the pure subtractive synthesis and patch ability it offers, especially adding the moogerfooger line fx!! So I appreciate this video reminding me that there is an entire world buried deep inside this beast!
Thanks mate! I've owned one for 10 years...I'm still only scratching the surface. I've mainly used it with MIDI CCs (you can do AMAZING STUFF with CCs). I'm only mow patching it into the modular. You can make a Voyager sound like a Model D, but you CAN NOT make a Model D sound like a Voyager. I love it so much I turned mine into a space ship...yes, yes I did!
Another superb and detailed video from Mr Shoebridge. Even if you don't own a Voyager, you can take inspiration from some of the modulations demonstrated and use them in many other synths. Thanks Tim.
i have the exact same model - bought it new years ago - what a beauty! even after having all theses years i learned some new things from this vid. well done!
Thank you for all of this information about the voyager. I just purchased a Voyager Performer and your videos not only helped me to make the choice to buy it, but gave me insight into some of the deeper possibilities. I can't wait to spend some time with it. Cheers.
Voyager XL owner here, and I'm almost embarrassed by how _little_ I've explored the menus. And it's for all the reasons you've cited; I love the Voyager but really don't like the menu interface. I hate it even for storing/recalling parches! And you _nailed_ it, about the menu system really showing it's age. It's _exactly_ why I refuse to own a car with a screen in the dash. A pre-display car can be "classic" but an aging LCD screen kills everything. Having said that, though, you have motivated me to roll up my sleeves and dive in, starting tonight. Excellent as always, Tim! THANKS!
Great in-depth video on voyager modulation! I love how you demonstrate setting existing encoders to serve both their normal function while also being a modulator to another destination.
Thanks to this video I realized now that there is a misprint/wrong indication on my Minimoog Voyager Anniversary Edition front panel: on the Mod. Wheel bus source it says "on/mod1" and it should say "on/mod2." No wonder every time I plugged an expression pedal in the Mod1 input jack and selected "on/mod1" as a source in the Mod. Wheel bus nothing happened. Now I know that, to me at least, in my way of understanding it, a controller plugged in Mod 1 works as an "amount" control and a controller plugged in Mod2 works as a "source" control. I've had my Voyager since 2006 and I love it since. Amazing videos Tim, very inspiring and didactic, thank you so much.
Thank you for this fantastic video! I just bought a Voyager RME and I've been reading the manual trying to understand everything. I'm going to put mine in a rack along with a Tiptop Happy Ending and build a breakout panel in Eurorack format. When you say the RME has no touch functionality that's not exactly true. With the VX-352 input expander you can feed CV into the Touch X, Y, A, and Gate which you can then route through the menu.
after 10 years of playin around with the beautiful select walnut electric blue, it's been a honor to have had one. and your video just gave me a few more tips to enjoy. i use the touch display all the time and send through a eventide eclipse to add some wild effects. i never knew about the negative reviews, mine has been enjoyed since day one, and is my favorite.
thanks to your video I realised how to send external CV and record automation f.ex. cutoff-movement to my Voyager RME rackversion: Just replace the deisred encoder (f.ex. Cutoff) with any Eurorack CV source encoder, mult its CV Output to a CV recording module (ER-301). External CV Source OUT into Voyager MOD-1 via Pot Map (100%). So all encoder movement from your external CV source is going to replace voyagers cutoff encoder and at the same time will be recorded from your CV recording module. If the CV recording modules output is also patched to Voyager Mod 1 you may pass you recorded CV values on to the voyager while sequencing. All without touching midi. Will give it a try tomorrow. Many thanks!
Tim, just noticing this today. The graphics on the panel of the Black Tolex XL are those of the classic moog modular systems 10, 15, etc... I am so jealous, that would have been awesome on my Old School. Oh well I still love mine anyway. Keep the great videos coming our way. Cheers!
Hi Tim I have Moog minimoog voyager xl which I purchased from Reverb in the USA it was built in 2010 your video is very helpful thanks for making it stay safe From Richard
Excellent video. I have a Voyager Performer Edition and haven’t really dove into the menus and deeper functions yet. Your video is a big help in getting me to realize some of the potential, particularly the touchpad information.
Hi Tim. Thank you for this truly excellent video. My Performer edition arrived today, and I am now so much looking forward to diving deep into it. I have not come across any YT vids that come anywhere close to yours. It will be interesting to compare it against my Pro-3. I have wanted to own a Voyager for many years because it is a such a beautiful instrument, but now, despite its detractors, I am the proud owner of a very powerful and capable synth thanks to the visionary Dr. Robert Moog. May he rest in peace! Keep up the great work on your excellent channel.
Hi Tim!, Like all your videos this one is also excellently explained and it is also very pedagogical !!! I'm excited about the voyager for its SOUND and the possibilities of its panel. The modulation and knob setup menus are too cumbersome !!!.
I agree that the main attractive is the immediate interface, I own one and I noticed the extended mod matrix within the menu but in the end the two mod busses are so powerful, I never touch the menu system. What I like is to set some pgm shaping for aftertouch, edit the overall system to my liking and have that as my master patch and then just program it on the fly to have some fun. Also something worthy of notice is that there were countless cosmetic variations on the normal Voyager. My favorite on is the Lunar White, it's so beautiful that when I saw one on sale in my local area I just snatched it away.
WOw, nice vid. I've an XL with Emerson's sig (rip) on it from moogfest a few years back. Honestly, the power in all the knobs is so deep that I forget theres a menu. I guess the menu diving didnt entertain me from teh start, so I simply went to the good. Gotta love the patchbay and busses and knobs. Im taking my time as its hopefully going to be a lifetime journey and Im not THAT old yet.
Thank you for this extensive video Tim. I've had my voyager + VX-351 for about 15 years now, and you've reinvigorated my interest in it. I too, puzzled at some of the pot mapping routings. For instance, having Filter Cutoff as source and Mod Wheel as destination does nothing. I didn't get it at first, but you can then use other routings to make that first one come alive.
I have a Voyager XL, my first ever analogue synth, and I absolutely love it. I've been close to selling it, twice, and each time the better part of me prevails and says "WTF are you doing?" I mostly use it for basslines in my music, largely because I lack the imagination needed to do more with the modulation. That said, when I do have a stroke of creativity, it offers a LOT of avenues to explore.
I can't believe I clicked on this (from another video of yours) out of curiousity, and ended up getting an entire lesson on a synth I've owned for 5 years and still didn't know so much about. I thought this would be a video on the regular Voyager, according to the title, but instead, it's a video on the very synth I own (with some variations on panel and wood colours). There is so much useful information in your video, I can't express how grateful I am that you made this. Thank you, and thank you again.
Just a quick note, the Voyager XL has THE nicest aftertouch pressure feeling I've ever felt on a keyboard. My Jupiter 80, which I've now sold (and kind of regret) had the kind of aftertouch where you can hear it, but you can't feel it. There's no extra pressure space that you can feel when you press harder. The Voyager has this secondary area that just feels so great to push into. :D
I honestly didn't know that modulation could be done using the front panel LCD menu section. I thought it was only with the patch cables. :P I really should start reading manuals...
Ive had mine for years. I'm similar to you. I use it for basslines most of the time. When I go diving to try and dig in, I get lost and mindlessly noodle for hours. Sadly, I hardly recall wtf I was doing, so I havent gotten far yet. Its hard to not think of selling it from time to time, but it is so nice and mines walnut from Moogfest. I love it dearly tho, so everytime I think ima have to sell it, I try remind myself that its a piece of history and I could likely enjoy it for many more decades. RIP Bob!
Would love to here more of your wonderful soundscapes. How about a follow up video? 12month with the Voyager? I own a tolex XL like you, so always curious about modulation and sounddesign hacks..
Great video Tim. I’ve had my Voyager select for many years and love it. About a year ago, I bought a voyager XL, simply for the extra modulation capabilities and extended sound possibilities. I think you and I are one of the few people in the UK to own the XL and I absolutely love having the pair of them. I’ve always been a fan of the voyager and never quite understood why they (initially) were not as popular over here in the UK? I’m sure in years to come they will also become classics and very sought-after, particularly the XL…
I have both a 1973 Model D (bought in 1989) and a Voyager. The Voyager's modulation possibilities, sync & FM alone renders it as a more-than-capable replacement of the Model D. Yes, the Voyager may sound darker, but really, 99% of the time it can clone the sounds of the Model D. People may have complained about the build quality, but mine has survived the last 11 years without problems, save a small tuning calibration needed on OSC 2.
Thanks for going into this much detail on this topic, Tim. I already have a Subsequent 37 and, though it is a very deep mono synth, this made it apparent how much of a stripped back market compromise that synth is in comparison to the Voyager. It really is unfortunate just how much negative feedback Bob Moog got on the Voyager, considering it should have been hailed as a tour de force!
Another great video! Really enjoyed watching, and picked up some pointers too! Also guilty of underutilizing the modulation on the voyager. The good news is you can get a lifetime of great sounds using only the front panel, like a traditional synth. Thank god you can save presets though: I've stumbled onto complicated routings & sounds that would be difficult to remember/recreate. Plus it's stereo outputs are very cool: beyond panning, modulating the spacing with different pole settings for each filter gets some nice effects. You have 1,2,3, and 4 pole options for each.
Did you peel the clear cellophane protectives circles off each each knob's silver cap? I bought Tolex XL 2nd hand and the original owner didn't even notice them :) scratch at one and see if yours are still on. It takes an eternity to get them all! Informative video for sure - my fav part was the bumper music in between each chapter! Great tones. Nice closed filter timbres.
Warmth depends on who you ask? IMO the Voyager has better low end than Model D. I'm not a fan of the Super buzzer sound of the D. I sold my Voyager and got a Moog One. Well I'm selling the Moog One to go back to the Voyager! two different beast but for me the Voyager all day yeah only one note at a time but one BEAUTIFUL note at a time :) Thanks Time GREAT VIDEO AS ALWAYS!!
Thanks Tim very much for this. Great video and beautifully explained. I too have the Voyager and yes I discovered the same thing after I got it as well. It is rather mind blowing in the modulation department. Not sure I use all these features either although your video certainly inspired me to go into a bit deeper now. I am tempted to buy the VX351 as well. Personally I feel its the best of all the Moog old school sounding monophonic synths. Did you know there is an editor/librarian for this from Soundtower. This could make light work of setting up some very complex modulation routings.
I just made the following discovery: The filter cutoff slope can be modified (parameters FIL. A POLE SEL. And FIL. B POLE SEL.). How the filter is enriched with cutoff slopes of 6 db / Oct !!!
Im kinda shocked, how freakin deep this thing is. Also how much performace oriented with all the possible controllers. Amazing! And one more thing... There are worse displays and menu divings even in nowdays made synths. I think Voyager's one still seems just fine.
Tim, wonderful insight and production values as usual so thank you very much. I'm looking at this piece now and thinking that the voyager is the synth Ive been looking for. I wonder, when compared to the ASM offerings how the voyager compares. Of course they are very different but, at least in my experience, one can get pretty close to the sound of another synth with deft programming. The voyager seems to be unbeatable to me right now.. The inherent sound coupled with the flexibility inside its architecture. But I wonder, with any given Voyager patch, if a very similar sound could be achieved with units like the ASM offerings. I suppose interface and architecture leads you (sometimes beautifully by the hand) down certain avenues and culminates in familiar endpoints. With synth becoming ever more capable and synthesis becoming ever more self referential, maybe the might be one synth to rule them all?
Ace...thanks Tim, I'm using my EB with the expander and Eurorack gear to, I found the tracking of the v/oct to be not so great and have bought an ALH Synths V-Scale to see if that will sort out my tracking issues but haven't had chance to try it all out just yet
Dear Tim, thanks a lot for posting this video! Great Video as usual! I have a Voyager XL since a few years, but with your video I am realizing that I was only scratching the surface of this instrument. Diving into the menus and submenus without getting lost within the small screen is difficult, and that's probably one of the main reason. What helps a lot is to use the Voyager editor, but I was a little reluctant to use a computer to help programming the Voyager! It was probably a mistake, because in the Expert Edit mode all those information can be visualized together on one LARGE computer screen. Now seeing all what is possible to do in your video, I think that I will try to exploit more efficiently all those modulation capabilities, and using the editor to make things easier. Have you ever considered using the Editor?
Do Moog have their own editor or are you referring to the one made by SoundTower? I've used SoundTower editors before on other synths with mixed success.
I might be wrong, but I preassume there is a review on the Behringer MonoPoly coming soon? Or is that an original one? Cheers, Tim, Great video as always!!
Great video Tim. Sounds so gorgeous in your capable hands. It appears on first viewing that the voyager has more modulation options than the Matriarch Do you think that’s true? What a pity they made so few of these as I can see a lot of synthesists today would like one as a half point between the Matriarch, and the electronically complicated and expensive Moog one.
Let’s see… the Matriarch has 22 sources and 52 destinations. The Voyager XL has 45 sources and 17 destinations. I think destinations are more important than sources so it looks like the Matriarch wins. I love the design of the XL a lot more though. Also those numbers came from counting the input and output jacks alone. There are normalled mods on both synths that I didn’t consider. Edit: about halfway through the video now and it looks like the Voyager has a ton more mod options because of the pot mapping and busses.
I have had a Signature Edition since new and I’m ashamed to say that I wasn’t fully aware of these capabilities. I absolutely love the patch that you play out with. Are you able to supply this patch at all? I have the VX351 also. Great video thank you Tim 🙂
Dear Tim, are you still planning to publish a video about Voyager integration into a Eurorack system as part of this Voyager series... or was this unfortunately cancelled? Due to the variety of controls offering CV outputs (touch screen, pedals, wheels, busses, ...) the Voyager is also a fantastic performance instrument. I would be totally interested in your ideas for patches. Will follow up your channel anyway :-)
What do I think so far…? I think I wish my sub37 had the ability to double-up controls in each of its two mod busses! And after hearing your play-out, I wish it had three independent oscillators too… That was a lovely harmonic play-out.
Thank you for this video and the great ideas you generated to test out :-) So far I just have used Pot-Mapping to control vibrato (LFO->pitch) by aftertouch. This way, both mod busses are still free, e.g. for cutoff control by mod 1 and LFO by pedal. One idea which came up watching your video is to use touchpad gate midi to control a Midi Sequencer (switch on/off) or Logic Pro Live Loops (change to next scene). Trying to rebuild and program your patch (25:00) using my VX-351, I just encountered a difference: In your patch it seems like OSC3 is switching pitch in a 4th interval (doesn't sound like an 8th to me). In my Voyager it sounds like a tritone... which is harmonically critical... Seems like I have to recalibrate it...
Hello Tim, It's a good lecture. I just wonder when I tried having Cutoff Frequency as LFO Speed like you demonstrated on 14:00, mine works inverse. What sould I do when I turn dial up and speed up at same time?
Yes all modulation settings are saved with the patch. There are some parameters affecting the XY pad which are global, and of course if you use patch cables then those connections need to be recreated manually.
They are of course two very different synthesisers in so many respects. In terms of sound, I can make the One sound close to the Voyager for simple patches but it takes a lot of effort and they will never sound exact. But of course, in terms of what the One can do well, the Voyager can not match. My advice is, if money allows and you want a mono synth then best to buy a mono synth :)
Great News, Tim!! Tested some of these tricks out with my RME today. Even with out a touchscreen, I can program X/Y to interact with midi CC. I am playing 3 note chords now :) how did you know what CC value to use to measure the note drift from the original note?
Great to hear you got it to work on your RME. I just adjust the CC in my DAW by dragging with a mouse and tune each note by ear. I guess you could use a tuner if you prefer and also could do that exercise one time to figure out useful semitone values rather than figure out from scratch every time.
