Moog Music Voyager Old School - Manual (Page 32)

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Voyager OS User’s Manual - Appendices
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Voyager OS User’s Manual - Appendices
Appendix B - VX-351 CV Expander
Flash back to the late 60’s: Back in the day, a synthesizer was a behemoth of panels and patch cords. They
were known as modular synthesizers, because each function of the synthesizer was contained in a single
module. A synthesizer was a collection of modules, and the instrument produced no sound until the proper
connections were made between modules using patch cables. This approach afforded the synthesist serious
creative fl exibility, and the results of creative “what if ?” thinking often yielded amazing results. The approach
was not without its drawbacks, however, which include:
Space – a modular synth can take up a lot of space.
Time – creating sounds from scratch takes a lot of practice, patience, and time.
Repeatability – documenting a sound is a tedious, labor-intensive process, and not
always accurate
Cost - a good modular synth takes serious money to assemble.
Enter the Minimoog; a portable synthesizer where the most musically useful connections are already in place
and permanently wired. Sounds are created quickly and effi ciently using the various knobs and switches
of the well laid out front panel (no patch cords needed!). Also, sounds are easy to document using patch
templates, and, due to its smaller size and weight, the synth can actually be carried to gigs without having to
rely on a road crew. Finally, a serious synthesizer made for the working musician.
Flash forward to today: The Minimoog Voyager Old School is based on the concept of the Minimoog. It is
a portable analog synthesizer with all the basic connections for making great electronic sounds. From its
front panel, the Voyager OS offers even more functions than the original Minimoog, and provides expansion
capabilities through back panel connections that work just like the connections found on a modular
synth. In fact, the Voyager OS can become the foundation of modular system. However, in order to take
full advantage of this capability, you need a way to access all of the Voyager’s control voltage signals, both
incoming and outgoing.
Enter the VX-351...
The VX-351 Voyager CV Expander is an add-on product that expands
your Voyager OS into a semi-modular synth. The VX-351 contains
all of the Voyagers CV and Gate outputs on 1⁄4” jacks (19 CV outputs
and 2 Gate outputs). In addition, there are two active attenuators
for reducing or inverting the strength of a CV signal, and two 4-way
Multiples for sending a single CV signal to multiple control destinations.