Moog Voyager XL

[seamonkey]

http://bigcitymusicblog.blogspot.com/20 ... o-bcm.html
Just came across this today while touring the Big City Music website.
Anyone hear about this before?
Did I miss a topic on this, if so I apologize.
Other than the pic, there's not much info, and the Moog website doesn't even list it.

[Syn303]

Looks like an ordinary Voyager with added CP and VX units plus a ribbon controller, and a 61 note keyboard!

[shaft9000]

this is bizarre.
that's some brazen market-speak audacity to call THIS a 'minimoog'.

the Voyager's simply aren't 'Minimoogs', they're ModernMoogs.
The only true Mini is model a,b,c, and of course D....and certainly NOT this one.

why Moog doesn't contract SE or Ken Macbeth to help them make a new Minimoog PROPERLY is a f**k tragedy.
I LOVE my Moog synths, but Minimoogs they are not.

[kosmasepsilon]

must be poly! then, why else 5 octaves?

[shaft9000]

if that's a polysynth I'm Don Buchla

[b3groover]

Whoa. That is killer!

As for whether or not it's a "minimoog", it's definitely mini compared to the original Moog modular system. It's no different than Sequential Circuits slapping the name "Prophet" on every thing they could.

[Mush]

I like the ribbon!

[Cumulus]

I think it qualifies for the Mini Moog name in the sense that it seems to be a natural progression of what the Mini may look like if it had continued to be produced all these years.

Plus the fact that Bob Moog himself designed the Voyager adds to its credibility as the heir to the Mini Moog line and name.

There is the exact same argument going on among drivers (and detractors) of the new MINI Cooper. The detractors have more of an argument since the Mini is now being made by a totally separate, company, and a German one at that!

In the case of the Mini Moog, while it's not exacty the same company Bob Moog started back in the day, it was certainly still his company when the original Voyager was designed and made.

With the MINI Cooper they did design studies of what the car would have looked like with design revisions in the 70's, 80's, and 90's and came up with the first generation design of the new MINI . I personally think the car woudl have evolved quite a bit more and would have much less of a retro look if there had been a natural progression of vehicles rolling off the assembly lines with feshened up designs every 8 to 10 years but they captured the spirit of the original well enough to acheive the success they have enjoyed thus far.

I believe the Voyager was designed in much the same way, as a modernization of the original design. There are certainly many design elements retained from the Model D. I think someone who was unfamilar with synths would see the similarities if presented with several modern synths and a Model D. If you asked them which one of these new "piano thingies" is most like this old "piano thingy" they would pick the right one every time.

[seamonkey]

So....the mighty synthgods have spoken, and with a wave of a single oscillator, any information regarding this disappeared.
The blog is down, Matrix has taken his info down, and the Men in Black are busy deleting any trail to this obvious leak without authorization.

I hope no one gets in trouble for my posting this, which it seems was not to be announced, but I read it on a legitimate website.

Read quickly before this thread disappears too.

[Yekuku]

Looks great but $4.995 are a lot of money :-/
Hmm, no backlight ?

[meatballfulton]

why else 5 octaves?

Using it as a controller for other synths, probably.

The keyboards for Moog modulars and the current dotcoms have 61 keys.

[redchapterjubilee]

If this is indeed legit...I can't help but marvel at Moog. They are moving in what I believe is the complete opposite path than I would've expected. Obviously I'm just another interwebz prognosticator but...I'm still really surprised they'd go this route rather than skew more affordable. I know comparing Moog and DSI is like comparing apples to oranges and I've made this argument in private to many VSE'ers in the past but I find it remarkable that DSI has four synthesizers (three modules and one keyboard) below $1000 and Moog has zero. Below $2000 and you add two more keyboards and two more modules...Moog adds one keyboard. That is just surprising to me that Moog would skew even more expensive without going polyphonic. Me, I would've hoped that the big new Moog product would have been some sort of rackmount or desktop Little Phatty or, even better, a new Micromoog-esque single oscillator analog monosynth keyboard below $1000 (or right at it).

But what do I know. I never see DSI gear out when I play shows. Lots of Moog though, both vintage and new school.

[Phollop Willing PA]

I like it!

[smoothcriminal]

If this is indeed legit...I can't help but marvel at Moog. They are moving in what I believe is the complete opposite path than I would've expected. Obviously I'm just another interwebz prognosticator but...I'm still really surprised they'd go this route rather than skew more affordable.

Moog has a death-grip on the top shelf analog monosynth niche market and they've been extremely successful at exploiting that. So I don't expect too much variation in their synth line, personally. I got excited when I saw the 61-key keyboard, but have they ever made a polysynth?

[Phollop Willing PA]

.... but have they ever made a polysynth?

Yes



But not lately...