Title link takes you to more shots and opinions of the MOOG Dual VCO rack on Lt. John J. Rambo."These units were not built by Robert Moog but the are basically a rackmounted pair of the Moog 921 VCO modules. I did some direct comparisons between my Voyager and the VCO in the CE, and the CE killed the Voyager at every waveform tested."
"...I did some direct comparisons between my Voyager and the VCO in the CE, and the CE killed the Voyager at every waveform tested."
ReplyDeleteHow so?
Tuning Stability? Playable range?
The Voyager has continuously variable Voltage Controlled waveform shaping, that would make these to unit hard to compare as far a waveshpae are concerned.
TR
It's true that the Voyager does have continuously variable waveforms, so I basically tried to match the waves by ear. The triangle wave was easy because full-counterclockwise on the Voyager's waveshapper produces a triangle wave (or as close as the Voyager gets). The other waves (saw and square) had to be matched by ear. Ironically the Voyager's saw and square waves were way closer to the CE that its triangle waveform. The Voyager's triangle shape had a high end buzz which wasn't found in the CE's triangle. I'm sure that the continuously waveshaper found in the Voyager sacrifices some precision in the triangle shape in order to provided contiuous variability. I could not directly compare the sine shape on the Moog CE, because the Voyager has no sine. I performed all comparisons with the Moog CE Dual VCO directly connected to the external inputs on the Voyager, so all the VCOs tested were run through identical filter settings. All the cv pitch and envelope signals were sent to the Dual VCO through the VX-351 Voyager expander.
ReplyDeleteI never had a problem with tuning drift, even when making 5-note chords. I haven't tried testing the full range of the oscillators, but I'm assuming that they are the same as the 921a Moog modules.
> but I'm assuming that they are the same as the 921a Moog modules.
ReplyDeleteDoubt it. Probably based on the CA3046 not the ua726 for the exponental converter. Probably straight out of the Moog Rogue or something.
I've never owned a Rogue but it seems like it doesn't have the same waveforms as the Dual VCO. I was just reading the data sheet on the Dual VCO, and it never really specifies what osc its based on, so you could be right about the CA3046 vs the UA726. All I know is, to me, it sounded much better than the Voyager. Also the prices on the Modusonic website are not up-to-date at all. The Dual VCO cost well over 1k now, but even by the outdated pricing the a single 921b VCO costs as much as the Dual VCO, which probably means the Dual VCO is not that similar to the actual 921b or 921a.
ReplyDeleteSomeone spoke to Mike Bucki at Modusonics and let me know that the Dual VCO uses the oscillators from the 3rd revision MiniMoog and not the 921 series.
ReplyDeletecan anyone tell the difference between 921s and say Rogue oscs?
ReplyDeleteThe dual vco are 2 minimoog vco's in a rack. I did order one a few weeks a go.
ReplyDelete