The Minimoog Dilemma pt Early 08: Voyager OS - Model d

[Intervene]

Jup, id had to come. So the last months ive been saving up and looking for a Minimoog Model D on the bay. I did not want to buy a nomal Voyager because i hate the whole preset and the NOT-WYSIWYG-thing. Being in Norway i hardly cared to look for any Model D sellers in my own country, so the bay + shipping was the thing.

Then last week Moog announced (as you know) the new Voyager Oldschool, a voyager without all the things i hated so it made a huge dilemma.

So VSE, i need your help. They both have their pros and cons but in the end what i want is THE BEST MONOSYNTH

Pros and cons
First up the Model D:
+ It is THE vintage, all real, all analog, all fat synth
+ It looks awsome
+ With the new Voyager OS the prices might come down.
- Unless i want to deal with stores stocking used gear i have to deal with sellers overseas, potetional scammers, and I have NO feedback at all on my ebay account
- The synths condition may vary
- The tuning might be trippin
- Right now the prices are a bit high
-

The Voyager OS
+ I can buy it brand new, garanteeing its condition and insides.
+ Brand new, its waaaay cheaper.
+ I can deal with stores overseas, instead of people.
+ It has some new possibillities compeared to Model D
- Its NOT THE vintage, all real, all analog, all fat synth and people have critized the Voyager for not sounding as good as the Model D.
- Its NOT THE vintage, all real, all analog, all fat synth and people have critized the Voyager for not sounding as good as the Model D.

(Double post because the last one counts as two at least

I hope to get some answers on this one, because i belive im not the only one in this situation.

Thanks!

Intervene

[Synthaholic]

First up the Model D:
+ It is THE vintage, all real, all analog, all fat synth
The Voyager OS
- Its NOT THE vintage, all real, all analog, all fat synth and people have critized the Voyager for not sounding as good as the Model D.

Well, I suppose it could boil down to what you expect to do with it.

1. Do you want to make the same fat analog sounds people have been making for 30+ years?
2. Do you want to make all new fat analog sounds?

If your answer is primarily #1, get a model D, or an OS. If your answer is #2, get the OS.

Or I could use the generic VSE cop-out answer: buy both, play them side by side, and then keep the one you like and sell the other (or keep both).

[meatballfulton]

I promised to kill the first person that complained about the OS, now I guess I'll have to actually do it

[xpander]

according to moogmusic.com, it's the same sound engine as the normal Voyager, so you should be able to listen to existing Voyager samples and pretty much make up your mind. it sounds like you can use the new school Voyager in WYSIWYG mode all of the time with the manual mode engaged anyways.

i would be willing to bet most of us prefer the OS look of the Mini over the embedded Kaoss Pad look, but patch memory is pretty nice.

[wiss]

the OS is still not a Model D and you will still crave the D after you buy the OS.

[spookyman]

So VSE, i need your help. They both have their pros and cons but in the end what i want is THE BEST MONOSYNTH

If you really want the best monosynth...i'm not shure if the mini is the best choice...If it's for live playing, for the name and the look, ok ! It's really a great machine.

But what about an ARP 2600 ? AKS ? dotcom modular ? monosynths with a huge amount of possibilities, and great sound too...

[Stab Frenzy]

Get the one that you enjoy playing best and you like the sound of more than the other.

[seamonkey]

I posted this link on the OS minimoog thread during the NAMM show last week, it's from the Moog Forum. Some members performed tests comparing the Model D, Voyager and Minimax.

http://www.moogmusic.com/forum/viewtopi ... 77&start=0

Hope it helps you make a decision..let us know what you decide ok?

[JSRockit]

The Minimoog Model D is the way to go here... buying a Voyager will not make you not want a Model D.

[Solderman]

Get the VOS if you want more modulation options.(The warranty and service aren't bad either) Get the D if you want "that" 70's Moog sound from all the famous records.

I know I was whining about my Voyager RME in an earlier thread, saying it was too clean. Turns out if you feed the return on the "Mix In" a hot enough signal, it overdrives rather nicely. I assume the External In would as well, but the Mix In doesn't have to be externally amped as much. Hopefully the VOS will include this feature, as you could potentially chain a full rack of processing before the return. I can't tell from the Moog website if it's included or not.

Both will get you that great immediacy and spontaneity for performance for sure. The D is going to sound warmer, somewhat bassier(because it has a Variable Q vs. the Voyager's Constant Q) and perhaps brasher on higher cutoff settings, but again with the Mix-In processing, you can recreate this and go beyond.

One of the highlights of the Voyager is how it behaves when you use the Right output as your signal out, and Left output fed back into the External In. You can adjust spacing and External Level to get this squealy erratic filter behavior I've not heard anywhere else. It's a very sharp,aggressive sound that to my ears gets about twice as punchy in the filter. Combine that with an overdriven mix-in and you have a monosynth that shows no mercy.
Or you can get the Model D and deal with the tuning drift, regular maintenance and lesser versatility so you can have a sound that's been used on thousands of records, already heard by millions.

[Reverend Sunrise]

I owned a Voyager for a couple of years, and sold it off to buy a Model D. I ain't never looked back, and the latter has become my favorite all-time synth to play among the 30+ keyboards I've owned. The immediacy and simplicity of the D really makes you forget about the lack of patch memory. A lot of this s**t's been said before, but the Mini has some serious f**k' soul and possesses an organic quality lacking in the Voyager. Also, I ain't gonna lie, the mystique factor is definitely there. It's inspiring in a way to be dabbling around in the historic, and yet present-day sonic territory of Trent Reznor, Bernie Worrell, Stevie Wonder, etc., while formulating your own concept of how a well-worn instrument can be uniquely expressed. Don't get me wrong, the Voyager is a real nice synthesizer, and if I could have both, I'd be cool with that. The main difference is in the low end, and I found it to be quite significant, but h**l, I dunno, perhaps, as mentioned somewhere else, with some eq-ing that could be approximated to a certain degree. I played out with the Voyager and it performed well, but I haven't busted out the Model D yet live, and who knows, it might be all over the placing tuning wise. Seems to be straight in the studio after a good long warm-up.

[Johnny Lenin]

I have one word: WARRANTY.

If you're spending $2000+ on an instrument, that's something to keep in mind.