Moog Music • Minimoog Voyager
The highly anticipated Minimoog Voyager synthesizer has arrived! This masterpiece of a synthesizer marks two landmarks in the history of synthesizers: the rebirth of the Minimoog and the return of Moog Music! Dr. Robert Moog himself helped design this modern-day Minimoog along with Big Briar. Big Briar (formed by Dr. Moog in 1978) became popular in the nineties with their moogerfooger analog effect boxes and Etherwave Theremins. In 2002, Moog got the rights back to Moog Music so Big Briar (and all its products) are now Moog Music.
Moog Music is producing the Minimoog Voyager synthesizer in two editions: the Signature Edition (pictured above) and the Performer Edition (below). There are only 600 Signature models and they list for $3,495 each! Their unique features include: Hand-finished cabinet in your choice of genuine solid maple (light), cherry (honey-colored), or walnut (brown), illuminated, clear acrylic Pitch Bend and Modulation wheels, gold-plated nameplate, padded Gig Bag, 4-year warranty with two free factory tunings, and is individually inspected and signed by Bob Moog. The Performer Edition lists for $2,995 and has a solid hardwood cabinet.
The Minimoog Voyager is a true analog monophonic synthesizer (probably the most expensive one of its kind) and is based entirely on the original classic Minimoog Model D, which was produced by Moog Music, Inc. from 1970 to 1982. It introduces many new features, including a three dimensional touch pad, MIDI I/O, extensive patching facilities, patch storage, and more! It's cased in a beautiful, solid hardwood cabinet with a multi-position hinged control panel.
Just like the original, the Voyager has three analog wide-range voltage controlled oscillators, one noise source, as well as one audio preamplifier for externally-applied audio signals. Two resonant Moog-style filters are on-board and function in dual lowpass or lowpass/highpass modes and can be modulated by one of the two ADSR envelopes, the LFO, or external control. All knobs and switches can have their settings stored into one of 128 Program memories. Program Banks as well as the Voyager's Operating System can be uploaded/downloaded via MIDI SysEx. Centered on its front panel is the ominous, black 3-D (XYZ) Touch Surface which provides three continuously-variable control signals which are derived from the up-down and left-right position of the player's finger, and the amount of area with which the player makes contact to the surface.
There's also a 44-note keyboard, this time with velocity and aftertouch sensitivity. Also on-board are Pitch and Mod wheels, Glide/Portamento, and a series of 1/4" CV and/or Pedal jacks lining the top/rear of the front panel. The Mod Wheel can be sent to control all oscillators, or just VCO2, VCO3, the filter cutoff, or LFO rate. The Mod can gets its source from the LFO (triangle/square/sample-n-hold waveforms), VCO3, or the external Mod2 input. A Mixer Module gives you a five-input mixer for combining various audio sources prior to filtering between the oscillators, noise and external audio input signals.
The new Minimoog Voyager is a first class synth; every bit as elegant in look as sound and quality. It is highly streamlined and offers all the functionality of a modern day (mono)synth with the classic, warm, unforgettable Moog sound. It WILL replace your original Minimoog (if you're lucky enough to have one). Signature models will become prized possessions for decades to come, and the Performer models will prove to be major players in future of music to come!! It's being used by Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, the Crystal Method, Electric Skychurch, Duran Duran, Air, Morcheeba, Black Eyed peas, Nine Inch Nails, Blues Traveller, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dido, The Cure, Herbie Hancock, Rick Wakeman, Yes, Nickelback, Dream Theater, Paul Simon, Joy Electric, the Neptunes and more!
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It's a nice synth for sure but it's not perfect. After hearing all the moog hype I was very disappointed to find out that it does not do fast sounds well enough for me. It's a bit sad to see such a religious storm rising up just because I criticized this synth. It's very immature to get angry just because someone begs to differ with your opinion.
Slow envelopes? Isn't good for techno? Overrated sounds?
My Voyagers envelopes are as tight or loose as I want them, and it's great for techno, trance and pretty much any genre that uses electronic sounds. It has some of the fattest bass biting leads you can get from hardware.
I'm betting you don't even own a Voyager and only played with one for ten minutes at your music store, because if you had it for more than a few days you'd realize your statements are just ignorant.