Moog Voyager Operating System 3.4 and the Touch Surface

I'm embarrassed to admit I just found out that Moog Music released Version 3.4 of the Minimoog Voyager Operating System quite a while back. The Moog Music site highlights these features of Version 3.4:

- Individual Local ON/OFF assignments for the Keyboard, Pitch and Mod Wheels, Aftertouch, Touch Surface, Pots and Switches.

- Elimination of parameter stepping when multiple pots are adjusted at the same time

- LFO Sample & Hold capability for the Touch Surface, plus four selectable Amounts
(OFF, 25%, 50%, 100%) for the X, Y and A axis.

- Global Reset of selected parameters (Category, Pitch Bend, and Pedal Amount)

The Minimoog Voyager is a direct descendant of the Minimoog synths made famous by the Beatles, rap artists, Keith Emerson, Jan Hammer, Chick Corea etc. - typically for searing leads and bass lines. I actually don't use it that way at all with our band Phonic Riot - for us it's more of a noise machine. I use the Touch Surface a lot for at least Phonic Riot's "Woodsong" . I searched for other Voyager owners' experiences on the V3.4 software update and came across mention a zipper-noise issue with the Touch Surface. So this post is mainly for future reference, in case I encounter the zipper-noise issues with the heavily Touch Surface-dependent patch I use for "Woodsong" after installing the update.

Moog Music Forum Thread on the Voyager OS 3.4 update.

Two reports from users on the forums (excerpt):

Right now these sounds (at least here on my Voyager) default on using the new Touch Surface LFO S&H function on all sounds. So all sounds get now a somewhat zipper noise like sound effect when playing the Touch Surface. I had to reprogram my sounds to set the new Touch Surface LFO S&H to "off" on all four Touch Surface destinations. This also include the factory sounds.

I just installed the new 3.4 OS upgrade and now all my patches have the zippering sound whenever I use the touch pad. I had many patches where the touch pad was used to swell the note as I went left to right, and now it zippers instead of responding smoothly. Have I missed something?