image courtesy of Kevin Lightner

Originally shown at the 1981 NAMM (as a Prototype named "Voyager Eight"), the Octave-Plateau Voyetra Eight was not in production until 1983. It was an 8-voice polyphonic, rackmountable, MIDI module (One of the first MIDI rack modules). It was sold with the VPK-5 Polyphonic Keyboard Controller, which controlled the Voyetra Eight through through the "keyboard input" interface (via an XLR cable). When hooked up to the VPK-5 there were variable settings for pressure sensitivity, pitch-bend, and keyboard mode. Modes include whole, split, and layer. Unison mode was available in whole and split, but not in layer mode.

Each voice had two VCOs with four available waveforms: sawtooth, triangle, pulse, and a sub-octave square-wave. The waveforms could be selected individually or combined and cross-modulation and syncing of the two VCOs was possible. There was also a white noise generator. The filter was a 24dB (4-pole) VCF with voltage controlled resonance. There were two envelope generators, both ADSR. The ADSRs could track the keyboard, modulating the decay and release times and could be switched to ADR mode for percusive sounds. The Voyetra Eight also featured two LFOs, switchable between sine, sawtooth, and triangle waveforms, or sample-and-hold.