Some readers in the comment of this post voiced interest in a Minimoog Voyager Matrixsynth edition which would have green instead of the current blue or solar illumination. I'm going to contact Moog and possibly Novamusik to see how to go about doing this. If you are seriously interested in picking one of these up, please post a comment in this post. If you commented in the previous post, please comment again here. This will give me a better idea of how many are seriously interested. Note that I cannot afford to front the bill, so that bit would need to be worked out. If there is enough interest, maybe Novamusik or even Analogue Industries would be willing to move forward with the idea? BTW, if they steal the idea and come out with another name, we will of course have to protest. : )Update: Image via Bee Jay in the comments. WOW! I want it. Thanks Bee Jay!
Update: If you are not interested in one now, but might be at a future date, or if you just think it would be cool to see a green Voyager like this made, feel free to comment as well.
ME IN FOR THIS!!!
ReplyDeleteHere ya go:
ReplyDeletehttp://bj.angeltowns.com/images/matrixmoog.jpg
Wow! :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant to say was you shouldn't have to front the bill. I don't know if Moog still takes direct orders, but it seems to be easiers to let them collect the pre-orders. It probably will be extrememly difficult to get that many orders prepaid, though. At least you'd be getting them at cost.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean we get it at a cheaper price? :P
ReplyDeleteI would think.
ReplyDeleteDayamn! That's nice Bee Jay. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAs for a discount, I have no idea. I'm not sure how this would even work. At this point I'm just trying to get an idea of how much interest there is.
BTW, does anyone know the Pantone value for RGB 00FF00? Moog would need this.
ReplyDeleteMoog? I got a better person for the job- Kevin Lightner my friend... Kevin Lightner.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.synthfool.com/
Something tells me that Kevin Lightner would have a harder time getting a luminescent panel manufactured to align with the Moog Voyager panel graphics, than Moog would... not to mention the fact that he is booked up with repairs for the forseeable future and has never worked on a Voyager in any capacity, to my knowledge... I don't know that he'd want to fool with it.
ReplyDelete> BTW, does anyone know the Pantone value for RGB 00FF00? Moog would need this.
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying that they can be made in any color? Interesting.
BTW, looks like your green is Pantone 802:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/yeny8y
Lightner wouldn't need to manufacture anything- just change the existing LED's in the Voyager. And regardless of whether he has "worked on a Voyager in any capacity"- he knows the insides of Moogs better than anyone on the planet.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, check out the photos of the lighting conversions he's done on several moogs and other synths:
http://www.synthfool.com/lightner/
Something tells me it would be way cheaper to have him do it than Moog itself.
Maybe Moog could take Kevin's multicolor LED idea to heart: make all their LED's bi- or tri-color and give the user a selectable switch.
ReplyDeleteAn even more unlikely possibility would be to implement Kevin's realtime color change in the LED's with mod or pitch wheel motion. Or the local color on every dial could change with that dial's position.
Then they could work on curing world hunger, the perpetual motion machine, and the SMS 2000.
Hey, I can wish, can't I? ;)
I never liked the sound of the Voyager. Can I just put a day-glo green Brother P-Touch label on my old Minimoog that says "Matrixsynth?"
ReplyDeleteKay, I am in for sure. 100%. If we get the right # of orders, I can prepay.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be great if a special feature could 'flicker' the green in sections if a button is depressed. Sort of like ultra-high-tech on the fritz.
is it a luminescent panel, or just a bunch of LED's behind it?
ReplyDeleteIt's an EL panel, not LEDs. It's sandwiched between a factory steel panel and the screened front panel overlay. The EL panel is punched for the front panel pots and sealed on one side. The front panel overlay seals the other. I believe there are five EL panels lighting the Voyager but I don't recall off the top of my head. The other thing Moog fails to mention is that the life of the panel is only a couple thousand hours. Leave it on all the time and you'll have a standard Voyager in no time. (Think Akai sampler or Korg backlight syndrome)
ReplyDeleteif it ends up happening, please see if you can get them in the RME format. if i can get an RME one i'm in for sure.
ReplyDeletedamn that's fine.
"The other thing Moog fails to mention is that the life of the panel is only a couple thousand hours. Leave it on all the time and you'll have a standard Voyager in no time. (Think Akai sampler or Korg backlight syndrome)"
ReplyDeleteYeah, 5000 hours with the brightness at 100%. But you never need the dimmer up that high, I never turn mine past 25%.
If you left your lights on at 100% for 24 hours a day, it would take over 208 days for the lights to burn out. So basically, I wouldn't worry about the lights going out for a very long time.
"The other thing Moog fails to mention is that the life of the panel is only a couple thousand hours. Leave it on all the time and you'll have a standard Voyager in no time. (Think Akai sampler or Korg backlight syndrome)"
ReplyDeleteYeah, 5000 hours with the brightness at 100%. But you never need the dimmer up that high, I never turn mine past 25%.
If you left your lights on at 100% for 24 hours a day, it would take over 208 days for the lights to burn out. So basically, I wouldn't worry about the lights going out for a very long time.
oooh, the wood on the side panels should be Lignum Vitae (hardest wood there is).
ReplyDeleteA variety with the greenish tinge.
Wow, they're EL? That's cool.
ReplyDeleteI've had EL panels on for a few years now. They just diminish in brightness.
We'll need to get a few spares. Luckily, EL comes in greenish tones.
OK guys, I'm hearing the number of units is 50, not 15. : ) I sent an email to Novamusik to see if they would be interested in pursuing a green Matrixsynth version. If you are seriously intersted, please ping them and tell them you want one. You can get their email off of the top of http://www.novamusik.com
ReplyDeleteI would be into a green Matrixsynth edition Voyager. That would be a good excuse for me to finally get the ultimate monosynth. I love this site, it's like the synth newspaper headlines every morning for me.
ReplyDeleteBut there are some conditions for me wanting one. First of all is has to be an official Minimoong Voyager - Matrixsynth edition. From the Moog factory, not modified by somebody else. Second, I am with Synthbaron's ideas about the wholesale price. I don't want anybody else taking a cut of our bulk order.
Also, it should be possible to contact Moog directly and not have to deal with Novamusik. I don't think Novamusik would do it for free. I don't like adding extra middle men if you know what I mean. I know there are Moog employees who frequent this site, why don't they help us out with this? Moog isn't that massive of a corporation, is it?
I'm sure somebody at Moog can communicate with a site that gets over one million hits and generates more hype and interest than any advertisement campaign possibly could. (That's you, Matrix!)
Green would be nice, definately.
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout green Clavia gear?
What would be cool is if the user
could select what colour lights are displayed via a selector, so we could have blue, green, red etc.
Just some further thoughts:
ReplyDeleteIf Novmusik were willing to do it for free then that's fine. It's just seems unlikely they would. Maybe they would do it in exchange for a banner on this site?
(looking at the ads, I'm actually suprised there's a zzounds link but no Novamusik, Analog Heaven, etc. links.)
I'm just saying that if Novamusik only takes $100 profit for each one than that's a pre-ordered $5000 in their pocket.
Wholesale price sounds good to me :P
ReplyDeleteYeah let's hope Moog does it for us directly... I doubt Novamusik will buy into doing it for free even with a million hit website... hey this website should be featured!!! In Future Music or Sound on Sound (has it been?)...
I believe if this goes through there will be another heated discussion: Black or Walnut? LOL
I am in for black...
Good idea Phloem. I actually contacted Novamusik about doing it and am waiting to hear back. My guess is they would sell it at their normal price for the Solar, unless for some bizarre reason the cost from Moog went up. I wouldn't share the profits, as I think it would just be cool to see and have one. I'd put up an ad for it linking to Novamusik for free if they did it. So, we'll see. The Zzounds link is an affiliate link and it's about to go down. I couldn't find an affiliate link for Novamusik or Analog Haven back when I put it up.
ReplyDeleteI bought a Blue Voyager used for $2300 or so a few months after they came out, and sold it for about the same price about 4-5 months ago due to lack of use.
ReplyDeleteI would be inclined to get another one, strictly as a collector's item, perhaps in the coming year since my future income potential is actually looking pretty solid (for a change). The green Matrixsynth Edition would be on the top of my list, of course!
Is this the Peoples' Front of Judeah or the Judean Peoples' Front ?
ReplyDeleteOK this looks great on paper but i hope it turns out better than the matrixsynth T-shirt
ReplyDeletesee http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/03/matrixsynth-on-cafepress.html
8-)
lol
Hah! Good one brian. : ) You are one of only two others out there that actually got one aside from me. Cafepress supposedly upped the quality of their color on black Ts. I think it's still in beta, but I haven't checked in a while. I need to order another and see how it looks. BTW, don't forget to take a picture of it at the AH Bay gathering. ; )
ReplyDeletegreen is now the thing
ReplyDeleteEddie Jobson - Zinc
With all due respect, people have been lighting things with LEDs before KL was even born. A monkey can almost do it. It is not advanced electrical engineering. If KL can do it better than Moog, then why didn't he? Maybe he should have just invented the moog to begin with? I guess that is because Bob did it, not him. I did not see Bob hiring him to design the Moog Voyager. Gee, Bobs loss.
ReplyDeleteThere is actually a green backlit voyager called the jade in the new select series if you guys would be interested in that. It might not be the exact green youse are looking for, but it is pretty nice.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.moogmusic.com/select.php?sub_id=21009&product_id=21043§ion=description