Overdriving the Moog Voyager

FAT MOOG: How to make your Moog Voyager sound FAT, overloaded, unstable, about to lose it...etc

Published on Oct 10, 2012 by timtsang3

"This is a simple "overload" trick that's been posted on the Moog Music Forum for some time now (http://forum.moogmusic.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14154), and I found it to be real helpful. you totally dont need a distortion pedal if you have a Moog Voyager. The whole thing IS a distortion pedal."

Note there are different ways to overdrive the filter. Via MBlom in the thread: "But at least in theory there are two different ways you can overload the filter/VCA. If you send one of the outputs back into the mixer you get a feedback loop where the resonance might self oscillate. But if you use an insert jack and put it in the Mix Out/Audio Filter In you can boost the signal from the oscillators prior to the filter. This creates an overload as well but no feedback. So if I'm not misunderstanding something, you actually have two different types of overdrive in the Voyager. Right?"

The audio levels are also different between the line outs on the back the headphone out on front.

And via Sound on Sound on the Old School: "Mildly exasperated, I turned to the rear (or upper) panel, which is largely the same as the Voyager's. This means lots of quarter-inch voltage inputs (11 in total) for interfacing with expression pedals, or modular gear such as Moog's own Moogerfoogers. An effects loop insert point is provided too, ideal for plumbing in external effects after the mixer section and before the filters. This is one of those simple additions that prove to be genuinely worthwhile in practice and had me digging out a wide collection of old effects processors. Adjacent to the insert point, the external audio input is on hand to process any source you fancy — including the Old School's own headphone output. This version of the Minimoog trick sounds a trifle different in this incarnation; indeed, with the levels cranked up it threw up some of the most extreme (and occasionally scary) noises in the Old School's repertoire."