Synth guru Marc Doty, host of the Automatic Gainsay YouTube channel of synth videos, offers his thoughts on the new Minimoog Voyager XL and explores some of the synth’s modular capabilities in this new video from Moog.
If you’ve used the Minimoog Voyager XL, let us know what you think of it!
Who the hell is Marc Doty?
Why, he’s the host of the Automatic Gainsay YouTube channel of synth videos…..
How Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame was that !!!!
What do I think of it? I think five large is an awful lot of $$$ for a monosynth.
I had the opportunity to use one and I loved it! Although the patch was terrible, and I didn’t have much time to use it as I was on my way to see Styx. But I loved using the ribbon controller for volume control/tremolo. I plan on going to the store to get more time in on it though.
For Minnesota folk, it’s at foxtone music on Washington street in Minneapolis. Right around the corner of sex world (not kidding). The store also had another voyager, a couple of DSIs two phattys, and a eurorack that didn’t function. A Hammond b3 w/ Leslie, and other vintage consoles. A Rhodes piano bass. Some pretty cool stuff.
As it lacks the ability to save all the parameter settings, there’s really no reason to buy this over a regular Voyager plus a CP251. The ribbon controller isn’t enough of an additional incentive to seal the deal.
I’ve got to say, I’ve really enjoyed messing with the Voyager XL in the local music store. The front panel is so intuitive to use it almost feels like it reads minds. And the thing looks, sounds and feels amazing.
Then again, of course it’s not worth the 5K price tag. One could build quite an impressive modular setup with 5K. Or save another grand and buy a CS-80. Or a Jupiter-8. There are lots of reasons not to buy one of these mono beasts.
However, I think the review in Sound On Sound put it nicely: “You can’t justify buying one on a price/performance basis, but as an object of desire it’s possibly in a class of its own.”
I agree. Moog stuff always sounds great, but they are really playing the elite/expensive card these days, and I think that’s a dumb move in this economy. It’s only going to limit their user base in a short amount of time. As stated above, the same amount of money buys a heck of a lot of other synth power, and the audience will never know the difference.
$$ synth there and we have to listen to some American telling us what he has and hasn’t done what he does and doesn’t like – honestly I could care less. Maybe, just a thought, we could hear some patches???
bah humbug!
@ Flash Freddy: ‘Some American’? Maybe you’re not aware that Moog is an American company. Doty was trying to show us the various functions this synth has to offer. If you need to hear more patches, perhaps you should watch the dozens of Voyager XL demos on YouTube.
I’ve owned my Voyager XL since July ’11. Marc’s patching examples only slightly represent how cool and flexible all of the patch panel features are and how much they add to the functionality of the stock Voyager. Few reviewers catch on to the fact that the XL features a new and additional MIDI-syncable LFO that offers a much wider range of rates than the stock LFO in addition to the other new enhancements (extended keyboard, ribbon controller, patch panel). It’s an expensive keyboard, but not so much when you consider the cost of a stock voyager and add it up – it’s about $1K more for the extended keyboard, ribbon controller and extra LFO in addition to having the CP modules, keyboard, ribbon and LFO engineered into one killer package. You might not realize how cool the extended keyboard is until you play a bass patch and realize you have another octave lower if you want to go there. It’s like moving from playing a four-string bass to a five-string bass. On a price-performance basis, most classic, great sounding keyboards can’t be justified since they sacrifice lots of extra features for the killer sound, which is either hard to replicate or costs money to manufacture. The first time you grab a knob on the Voyager XL and feel the build quality, you’ll understand. I also like the fact that my Voyager XL is hand-built in America and not spit off of some assembly line in China. If you look at discrete hand-built modules of similar quality (Synthesizers.com, MOTM, etc.) they cost at least $500 each, so to build a comparable modular synth could easily run as much as a Voyager XL. For the true electronic musician, it’s only expensive in the same way a Neve console or Neumann Mic is expensive for the professional studio owner. Not everyone wants the sound of the Neve, but it’s not hard to justify the cost if that’s the sound you want. There is a significant qualitative difference. On the other hand, I’ve made several great-sounding albums on a Mackie 8-bus console too…
Who is he and why does he feel he is so important?
Who is this poser???
You don’t get it man. He’s not a poser, he’s just a natural born hip dude! He’s also one of the only people who takes the time to do informative synth run throughs on his youtube so big time respect!