Moog Minimoog Voyager

Life isn’t fair, we know. While some people have to tirelessly work their way up to nobility or even marry into it, others are born into privilege.

The birth of this crown prince had been expected for decades. Admittedly, it’s not even a true “von” but a “mono-phone.” When it finally made its first sounds in 2002, it was enchanting, and justifiably so. Looking at this photo, there can be no doubt that blue blood really flows through the Minimoog Voyager Anniversary Edition. And if it hadn’t passed away …

Passed away? No way—this fantastic synthesizer still lives on today. Gert Prix states:

“Let’s get one thing clear first: I’d buy a Minimoog Voyager again in a heartbeat and can only recommend it highly. It’s simply a superb lead synthesizer. But it has a few bugs I just can’t comprehend, or at least the early editions do. You started out full of passion just to make some painful compromises at the last minute … In particular, you can’t directly select a program through numerical input. Also, the VCF is permanently sensitive to velocity. These are features that drive you mad during a live performance. And it doesn’t harmonize with the brilliant blue of the Voyager’s lit-up screen at all … :-)

In fairness, however, I should also mention that Rudi Linhard, part of the Moog team, is bringing out more and more updates to the operating system which I still haven’t implemented. I just haven’t had the time—the Voyager keeps wanting to be played!”