Minimoog Voyager Editor/Librarian User Guide Macintosh Edition V2.0 Moog Music Inc. 2004-E Riverside Dr.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................................................3 1.1 Credits ..................................................................................................................................................................3 1.2 Support.......................................................................................................................................
1 INTRODUCTION Thank you for choosing the Minimoog Voyager Editor/Librarian! The Editor/Librarian is designed to be the ultimate tool for organizing and creating presets for the Minimoog Voyager or RME. Through a MIDI connection, this program can receive single presets or an entire bank of presets from the Voyager or RME - as well as replace individual presets or an entire bank.
1.3 Program Features Features of the Minimoog Voyager Editor/Librarian includes: • Support for seven sound banks of 128 presets • Editing all Voyager parameters from a single interface window • Panel change sensing • Random patch generation - morphing, mixing and mutating from one sound to another • Preset Bank Management and Librarian functions, with support for the Voyager’s ‘Sound Category’ feature.
2 INSTALLATION/REQUIREMENTS No special software installation is required. The Minimoog Voyager Editor Librarian is a standalone program designed to run on Macintosh computers under OSX only (an OS9 version is not available). The software requires a 1024 x 768 minimum screen resolution. The Minimoog Voyager Operating System must be V3.2 or higher (updates available at www.moogmusic.com) A MIDI interface is required for the software to work with the Minimoog Voyager.
3 STARTING UP Double clicking on the Moog Voyager program icon launches the Minimoog Voyager Editor Librarian program. The program will ask for your name and registration number as shown. To register the software, click the Register Online button (you’ll need an active Internet connection for this). Clicking the Register Online button will take you to the Moog Music Online Store, where you can order the program.
4 GETTING CONNECTED - MIDI SETUP In order for the Editor/Librarian program to be fully functional with the Voyager hardware, the software must be registered (not in Demo Mode) and the Voyager must be connected to the MIDI In and MIDI Out connections of your computer's MIDI interface. After making the proper connections between the Voyager and the MIDI interface, launch the Editor/Librarian. In the program’s MIDI menu, select MIDI Setup.
5 PROGRAM ORGANIZATION The Minimoog Voyager Editor Librarian program is organized as shown below. The main window is always displayed when the program is launched and becomes the starting point for all preset modifications and bank operations.
6 PROGRAM WINDOWS - THE VOYAGER EDITOR WINDOW The Voyager Editor is the main program window, and is always displayed when the program is launched. This window contains three program components: the User Bank (1), the Voyager Panel (2), and the Librarian (3). The three program components interact and are always active. A detailed description of each program component follows.
6.1 USER BANK The User Bank is where you load, save, transmit, receive, and edit Voyager presets. Preset banks are loaded into the program either from the Voyager, from a stored bank, or from one of the six preset factory banks built into the program. The Editor/Librarian has seven banks, labeled A-G, corresponding to the seven preset memory banks in an expanded Voyager.
You can change the way the presets in the User Bank are displayed. By default, presets are displayed from 1 to 128, but you can change the order by clicking in the ‘No.’ column in the User Preset Bank list. This will reverse the sorting order, placing preset 128 at the top of the list: A second click in the ‘No.’ column toggles the sort order back to its original state. You can also sort by preset name or preset category.
Note: When sorting by Preset or Category, you’ll see a directional arrow in the column heading. This arrow indicates the sort order (an ‘up’ arrow indicates an alphabetical sort, a ‘down’ arrow indicates a reverse alphabetical sort). Selecting any preset, regardless of the sort order (number, name or category), will always send the displayed Preset to the Voyager. Note: Preset Bank Lists in the Librarian or Preset Genetics windows can also be sorted forward or reverse by clicking in their column headers.
In the figure above we created a folder called Voyager Banks located on the Macintosh Desktop, and used it to store some example bank files. Note that program bank files have the extension ‘.mvr’. When loading a bank file, the Editor Librarian program will allow you to see all file types, but only those files with an ‘.mvr’ extension can be loaded as a bank. All others will be ignored. The Save button allows you to save the current bank.
Clicking the Save button in this window will add the ‘.mvr’ extension to the file name and store the bank into the Voyager Banks folder. To receive a bank from the Voyager, click the Receive button (you can also select "Receive User Bank” from the MIDI menu). The receive bank window appears. Clicking on the Start button will initiate the transfer from the Voyager’s current bank to the Editor’s current bank.
The transmitted data will be written into the current Voyager bank, overriding the existing presets. Note: Although the Editor supports all seven Voyager banks, only one bank (the current bank) can be transmitted or received at a time. 6.1.3 Other User Bank Functions Now let’s look at the other User Bank button functions that haven’t been covered. The Edit button takes you to the Editor window, where you can edit the currently selected preset.
The Drag and Drop and Multi Select radio buttons control the way the cursor operates: • Drag and Drop mode is conventional cursor operation, allowing you to freely drag and drop presets between the current User Bank and the Librarian. You can add the SHIFT and COMMAND (⌘) modifier keys to make multiple preset selections. These can be groups of presets, non-adjacent selections, or a combination of both. • Multi Select mode locks the cursor into ‘Select’ mode, allowing you to select groups of presets.
6.1.4 The Bank Menu The Bank menu shown below includes the Load User Bank Data and Save User Bank Data As commands that duplicate the functions of the Load and Save buttons. It also includes commands to generate a New Bank (creates a bank of 128 default presets), load one of the Voyager factory banks (Moog Banks) and commands to Copy, Paste, Rename and Initialize selected presets in the User Bank.
Selecting Rename from the menu will display a message drawer as shown: The Rename drawer allows you to change the preset name or the sound category. Clicking in the preset name field allows you to change (or completely replace) the preset name up to a maximum of 24 characters (12 per line). Additional characters beyond 12 per line will be ignored. The TAB key toggles the cursor between the upper and lower text lines.
Select the desired parameter from the Parameter pull-down menu and use the slider control to set the value. The Parameter menu contains more than one hundred different parameters to choose from, including all 24 characters in the preset name: After choosing the desired parameter and value, click on Change to apply the change, OK to quit and close the drawer, or Cancel to cancel the function without changes.
6.1.5 Organizing Presets Voyager presets can be sorted, reorganized and categorized by moving them from the User Bank to the Librarian. There are several ways of moving presets: • By dragging a single preset to any Library category. Here we’ve selected a single preset (B-014 ‘Outer Limits Clav) and are dragging it into the CLAV category: • By selecting a several presets (using the Command key) and dragging the group to any Librarian category.
• By copying the entire User Bank (all 128 presets) using the Load From User Bank Data command in the Librarian menu: When you copy a bank this way, you will be asked if you wish to sort the presets according to category before the bank is copied: If you select OK, the presets will be placed in their corresponding categories in the Librarian. If you select NO, all presets will be placed into the currently selected (i.e. boldface) category. Selecting CANCEL will cancel the command.
6.2 VOYAGER PANEL The Voyager Panel is the second component in the Editor window. The Voyager Panel displays the settings of the Voyager’s knobs and switches for the current preset. This is handy to give a visual reference as to how the selected preset is setup on the Voyager. While most of the knobs on the panel have a red dot to indicate their settings, pointer knobs and switches on the display indicate their actual positions. The yellow LCD displays the name of the selected preset: New in version 2.
6.3 LIBRARIAN The Librarian is the third component in the Editor window. The Librarian lets you store an unlimited number of Voyager presets. You can also have as many library files on your computer as you wish. The Librarian provides 32 sound categories to organize your Voyager sounds and have them available for immediate use. These categories correspond to the 32 sound categories in the Voyager (OS3.2), but any category can be renamed should you need to. A view of the Librarian function is shown below.
You can change to a different category simply by clicking on the desired category name. In the figure below we selected the Piano category, which only contains one preset: 6.3.1 Working with Libraries The Librarian has four buttons dedicated to Library file functions: The Librarian’s Add Current Panel button adds the current preset from the User Bank to the active sound category.
6.3.2 Organizing Presets Presets are loaded into the Library using any of the methods described in Section 6.1.5, Organizing Presets. Note: It’s a good idea to receive all data from the Voyager first before selecting Load From User Bank Data to insure that it corresponds to all the bank data in your Voyager. Presets can be moved from one Librarian category to another by dragging them with your mouse.
6.3.3 Copying Presets to the User Bank To copy presets from the Library to the User Bank, you can either drag the presets using the mouse, or use the left-facing Move arrow. In the example below, clicking on the Move arrow will copy the four selected Bass presets to the current User Bank: When moving presets from the Library to the User Bank, the presets in the User Bank will be replaced by the ones from the Library and will be transmitted to the Voyager bank.
6.3.4 The Librarian Menu The Librarian menu (shown on the left) includes commands that duplicate the functions of the New, Load and Save buttons mentioned above.
7 PROGRAM WINDOWS - THE EDITOR WINDOW Clicking the Edit button on the main screen brings up the Editor window as shown below. Here you have access to every Voyager programming parameter, including those parameters that can only be accessed through the Voyager’s menus (Filter Poles, Pot Mapping, Touch Surface control assignments, Keyboard and Trigger Modes, and Pitch Bend Amount). The Editor’s real-time controls allow you to tweak and audition the sound of your presets right from your Macintosh.
7.1 Parameter Resolution in the Editor The Editor window can display the Voyager’s parameters in either 8-bit or 16-bit resolution. You select the bit value from the Editor’s Options menu: When 8 BIT is selected, the Editor will display all parameters values in 8-bit resolution (value range 0 – 255). When 16 BIT is selected, the Editor will display all parameter values in 16-bit resolution (value range 0 – 65535). 7.
Presets can be auditioned in the Editor window by clicking on the piano keyboard at the bottom of the window. To the right of the right of the piano keyboard are the Pitch and Mod wheels. You’ll find that the Editor’s on-screen Pitch Bend and Mod wheels work just like the real thing; the Pitch Bend wheel springs back to its center position when released, but the Mod wheel stays put when you adjust it.
7.3 Writing Presets to the Voyager The Editor’s Write command allows you to save an edited preset to the Voyager. The command is located under the Edit menu: Selecting Write brings up a dialog box as shown: Choose a destination (bank and location) and click OK to store the preset. Click Cancel to cancel the operation. 7.4 Other Edit Menu Commands The Editor’s Edit menu also contains commands to Copy, Paste, Rename and Initialize the current preset.
The Rename command allows you to change or rename the current preset. When Rename is selected, you will be presented with a message dialog window as shown: Clicking in the name field allows you to change the preset name up to a maximum of 24 characters (12 per line). Additional characters will be ignored. Clicking OK will store the change and close the dialog box. Clicking Cancel will close the dialog box without changes.
When Show Moog is selected, the Voyager Panel is displayed as a moveable window. The panel automatically updates to show all of the Editor settings. As you make changes in the Editor window, you will see these changes reflected on the Voyager Panel. To close the Voyager panel window, click on the button in the upper left corner of the panel. The panel will also close automatically when you leave the Editor. 7.
8 PROGRAM WINDOWS - THE NANOM WINDOW The NanoM window is selected from the Generator menu in the Editor window. NanoM allows you to adjust the amounts of selected parameter groups using random values. There is also a function that allows you to morph the current sound into the selected Editor preset. The selected parameter groups are LFO, Modulation Busses, Oscillators, Mixer, Filter and Envelopes. Adjusting the slider for any of these parameter groups generates random values for those parameters.
then use the pulldown menu to select a preset from that bank: With a preset selected, the Morpher slider will allow you to morph between the selected preset and the current preset in the Editor, and audition the sound at any point. The current Editor preset is positioned at 0% (slider at far left) and the selected preset at 100% (slider at far right). The ‘smoothness’ of the transition from 0% to 100% is highly dependant on the choice of presets.
9 PROGRAM WINDOWS - THE PRESET GENETICS WINDOW The Preset Genetics window is selected from the Options menu of the main page, or from the Editor window under the Generator menu. Preset Genetics allows you to quickly build new sounds from two existing ones in a similar fashion to breeding. Parameters of each of the two sources (parents) are combined using four different functions to generate a new bank of presets (kids). A view of the Preset Genetics window is shown below.
Morph: The value of each parameter is linearly interpolated from one parent to the other. The first child is identical to the mother; the last child is identical to the father. All others are weighted towards each parent depending on their placement within the list. The middle child preset is exactly 1⁄2 mother and 1⁄2 father. Mutate: The parameter values of each child preset are randomly chosen from within the range between each parent’s parameter.
9.1 Single Parameter Adjustment This function allows you to change one of the preset parameters for an entire Voyager bank. It works similar to the Single Parameter Adjustment in the User Bank. Simply select the desired parameter from the pull-down menu: and use the slider control to set the desired value: When you click OK, a new Kids bank is generated from the Mommy bank. Every preset in the Kids bank now contains the newly modified parameter.
9.2 Moving Genetics Presets Presets created in the Genetics window can be moved in several ways: • Selected presets can be dragged from either the Top Offspring or Kids bank directly into any Librarian category. • Selected presets can be dragged from either the Top Offspring or Kids bank directly into the User Bank.
9.3 The Preset Genetics Menus The File menu contains commands to manipulate the banks and files in the Preset Genetics window: Save Top Offspring As Library File permits saving the complete Top Offspring bank as a separate library file, regardless of the number of presets in the bank. Paste Top Offspring To Library will copy the contents of the Top Offspring bank to the Librarian, pasting the presets into the end of the Library (unassigned) category.
10 OTHER PROGRAM FUNCTIONS 10.1 Updating the Voyager Operating System First make certain that MIDI connections are established and the correct MIDI Out port is selected (See MIDI Setup, page 6). To update the Voyager’s OS, you use the update function located in the Moog Voyager menu: The file dialog will prompt you to open a System Exclusive file (.syx) containing the software update. You will need to locate and select the update file.
Back in the Editor, click the onscreen Start button, and wait while the data is being transferred. Do not turn off the power and do not use any other Editor controls while sending the update. The Voyager OS update usually contains three SysEx bank files. After the first file is transferred, repeat the procedure for the remaining files. Refer to the OS update documentation for full details on the update procedure. 10.
Two keys are programmed to adjust note velocity (increment/decrement): “u” – Note velocity decrease (-5) “i” – Note velocity increases (+5) Note velocities can be set from 0 to 125 in increments of 5. A note velocity of 0 is the equivalent of no note played. When the velocity switching keys are pressed, a pop-up window briefly appears showing the change: Note: Changing the velocity values using the computer keyboard is the same as changing the ‘Piano Note Velocity’ in MIDI Setup Window.
11 SHORTCUTS & KEY COMMANDS Most of the menus in the Minimoog Voyager Editor Librarian have key command shortcuts for certain items on the menus. A key command shortcut is a combination of one or more modifier keys and an alphanumeric key. Modifier keys used in this program are the OPTION key (⌥) and COMMAND key (⌘). Note: The COMMAND key is also known as the Cloverleaf key, or Apple key.
APPENDIX A – OSX AUDIO MIDI SETUP PROCEDURE Steps 1 through 4 should only be necessary if you are setting up a MIDI interface for the first time, or if you are connecting to a new MIDI interface. Some MIDI interfaces may require additional connection setup. Refer to the manufacturers instructions for details. The OSX Audio MIDI setup can also be used to connect external keyboard controller to route and play notes on your Voyager/RME. Step by step OSX MIDI setup: 1.
4. Click on the ‘Show Info’ icon to reveal the Properties window for the new interface. In the Properties window, click on the ‘More Information’ arrow to expand the window. Enter the desired Name, Port and MIDI information in the proper fields (this will depend on your setup) and click the APPLY button. 5.
6. Click on the ‘Show Info’ button to rename the new external device. Here we are entering the Minimoog Voyager information into the name fields. In this window you can also select a new display icon, change the icon color, and specify MIDI transmit and receive channels and MIDI clock options. When finished, click the APPLY button and close the Properties window by clicking on the red close button in the upper right corner: 7.
8.
APPENDIX B – VOYAGER CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS Here are the official Voyager sound category descriptions from Moog Music: 1. Not assigned Category not assigned. 2. Piano A sound like a piano (acoustic or electric), generally percussive in nature 3. Organs A sustained tone with an organ-like timbre 4. Strings A sustained tone with a string-like timbre 5. Clav A decaying tone with a timbre like a clavinet or harpsichord 6. Pads A sustained tone with a mellow timbre 7.
Voyager Sound Categories (con’t) 25. Harmonics Sounds with a strong resonant character 26. Ring A sound with a strong ring modulation character 27. Noise An un-pitched sound (like white noise), or an extremely distorted or clangorous sound 28. Soft Bass A mellow bass sound 29. Bright Bass A bright bass sound 30. Res Bass A bass sound with a strong resonant character 31. Sub Bass A very low bass 32.
