Moog Voyager keyboard and pitch/mod wheel quality

[karnevil78]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to find out if the keyboard and pitch/mod wheel quality of the Voyagers is better than the Little Phattys or not.
I have very bitter experience with Little Phattys.
I always wanted to get a Moog since I first heard the Trilogy album by ELP at the age of 15. 18 years later, a few weeks
ago I bought a brand new Little Phatty Stage II. Right out of the box one of the keys made a distinctive noise and the
overall poor quality feel of the keyboard didn't impress me at all. I thought I could fix the noisy key easily but I didn't want
to lose the warranty so I rather sent it back for a replacement. I got the replacement yesterday, it was one with the black
side panels. The keyboard felt much better, much quieter, only the black keys were harder to hit than the white ones, but
I didn't mind, I can get used to that. But then I realised that the pitch wheel didn't work properly... It worked downwards but
when I pushed it upwards it didn't do anything. Tried to calibrate it but it didn't produce any signal upwards. So I gave it up,
and somehow I don't want to see a LP anymore... I asked for a refund. I know it's probably just my bad luck, but somehow
I can't trust Moogs like I did before. But I still want the SOUND, so I decided to save up for a Voyager (a Performer edition probably)
IF its quality is really worth the extra loads of money.

Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions.

[earsmack]

Sorry to hear of your LP issues.

I use both an LP Stage II and a Voyager Performer Edition so I can speak directly to how they compare.

Regarding keys - Voyager wins by a LONG shot. The keys are night and day and the Voyager keys have a great spring to them. Very easy to play fast lines. One of the best keyboard actions I've ever played. Other keyboard actions I like are the original DX7 and VirusTI Keyboard version. very high-quality IMO.

Regarding mod wheel - they are different - I prefer LP personally because it is more fluid - the Voyager has a pretty tight spring holding the center position but you get used to it.

Regarding overall hardware - I like them both for different reasons. The LP wins for the knobs - the ability to turn a knob and have the parameter change without jumping is a HUGE win during performance. However, the Voyager has the touch panel which is a great controller and the knobs on the Voyager are really super-high quality.

Regarding sound - the LP is very good sounding but the Voyager has that third osc and even without it the Voyager always sounds a little more buttery to me - which I personally find very satisfying.

When I first played the Voyager is was amazed and distinctly remember thinking to myself "this is a TRUE INSTRUMENT" - really the first synthesizer that I EVER thought this about in over 20 years (at the time) of playing. The LP is very good and can get you much of the way there but the Voyager has some extras in the sound and feel department that set it apart for me. The LP is more portable and more something you might feel OK moving around or taking to a gig whereas (for me) the Voyager is less so.

Is the Voyager worth it? Yes. Get an Old School if you want to save some $ and still have the sound. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[karnevil78]

Earsmack,

Thanks for your reply, you helped me a lot!
It's a shame that I was so unlucky with the LP that I don't want it anymore.
Keybed quality and feel is very important to me so I think the Voyager Performer
is the way to go. And I really hope it's going to last a lifetime, as the website says!

PS: I absolutely agree about the DX7 keyboard, I think today's manufacturers should
learn from that.

[earsmack]

Cool - glad it helped - I would be very surprised if you weren't incredibly happy with a Voyager...

Let us know what you end up with!