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Average rating:
4.3 out of 5
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Nice old thing. Looks and sounds good, though a bit limited in what you can do. It's not as good as a prophet 5.
Tuning is a pain. Just sooo easy to sell for over the top prices. Big wow factor in your studio. The Voyager has taken over in the coolness department. Their prices are dropping. Might kill off the mini's inflated hype prices.
To be honest, this is no analogue king. The Andromeda sinks it without trace. It is fun, bassy and warm. Better to buy a Voyager. It does more and works.
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Anytime someone discriminates between pro & amateur it looks all the more foolish to make a silly claim like that about software envelopes.
The Voyager & Mini have slightly different sounds in terms of the raw waveforms and in terms of the envelopes. Both are excellent; only by comparing them side by side are the differences discernible; in a mix both are great.
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James, the envelopes on the Voyager are not generated by software. The Voyager's VCAs are all ANALOG! You got to check your facts man! Don't believe me, open it up and take a look...
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OK, now here's the real deal, the straight goods about the ongoing Minimoog debate. (Don't believe them when they say its all subjective, because its only partly; profesionals make the subtle distinctions that make them stand from the crowd.) Having purchased a Voyager a few years ago, I became disillusioned with its lack of sonic density and bass response. I have just purchased an old oscillator board Minimoog and here is my appraisal.( I should add, that I am not a sentimentalist, and do not get dewy eyed over my synths, as I stoop over them and fondle the wood -they are tools to an end, MUSIC and ART, and every synth has particular strenghts and weaknesses, though some pale in comparison to others.- I also do not fall for what psychologists call "cognative dissonance" i.e., people will judge far more favorabily something they spent a lot of money on over something they did not.)
The Mini is indeed bassier and snappier due to more discrete components and hardware envelopes rather than software in the Voyager. (I have always felt somewhat betrayed by the fact that Moog music comprimised the sound by using software envelopes, and integrated chips rather than non-discrete circuitry).The highs are rawer, and sparkle more than the Voyager. That said, I find the tone colour of the Voyager to be better than the Mini, which tends to be bright and 'yellowish' sounding for want of a better term.(I listened to old Jan Hammer solos with the Mauhavishna Orchestra, and the sound was basically identical) The Voyager has a deeper, wider color charactersistic that I hear is characteristic of the early fully discrete minis of which only about 200 were made(good luck finding one of them). And another thing, I tried a newer osc board mini, and the leads were indeed noticably thinner, and more Arpish, though without the "singing",gorgeous and "Golden" colour of my Arp Odyssey which I like the most out of all my synths. Less fat on the bottom too, but still as punchy.(So you see, whenever you talk of synths and their sound characteristics, many qualifications must be made, if one is trully listening).
All said, my auditory experience has made me appreciate the Voyager more for leads, resonance and high end, and realize also that for bass,warmth,and fatness, the Mini, especially the older osc board ones, is still King.
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Picked up a used one at a great price. I used to own one of these in the early 70's. The synth is somewhat limited in configuration, however (no, I'm not gonna talk about the "PHAT" sound) most people do not experiment enough with it. When I was younger I would just set the VCO volumes at 10 and monkey around with a few knobs and walk off bored. Now I understand this instrument better. The name of the game with the Mini is Subtlety. This thing is more of a musical instrument than an experimental device. In that role it shines. For example, using the triangle waveform (hardly anyone does) and varying the frequency and volumes on the VCO's can give one some very warm and unusual tones. The Attack and Decay on the envelope generators may be the fastest in the business (as low as 1.5 milliseconds). This gives some interesting popping attack sounds - hard to describe. Again, the Mini is more of a musician's tool that most people have not explored fully, however if you want to do quite alot of experimenting you should consider a modular (I have both). Used for its intended purpose it still impresses 30 years later.
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