I just came across a Taurus III for a very good price. I have always needed some pedal like this; I usually play in trios, and my bands do not have keyboards. I need something to play synthesizer/piano/organ notes in pieces like the Beatles’ “Here comes the sun”, Cream’s “Deserted cities of the heart” and the like. An added bonus would be to have percussion (claps, cowbell) that could be played with my feet.
I know the Taurus doesn’t have a library of organ/piano/percussion sounds. I would, therefore, need an external midi source.
My questions are:
a) How easy it is to control external midi sources through the Taurus? Keep in mind that I play bass, and therefore do not have my hands free to change midi configurations mid-songs.
b) Can new sounds be “uploaded” to the Taurus permanently, like its firmware updates?
c) Would I be better off with a Pk-5 or some other similar device? I mean: I love all things Taurus (grew up listening to Yes, Police and Rush), but It has more stuff than what I need (the loops, arpeggiators etc), and it might be an overkill.
I’m confused by your question “Can new sounds be uploaded permanently like a firmware update” The Taurus is 100% analog. The sounds coming from it are not samples, they are programmed from the Envelopes, filter, and oscillators. The Taurus CAN be programmed to do organ sounds. Percussion, not so much due to the nature of the envelopes. You say the Taurus has too many features, but from your post I’m thinking it doesn’t have enough.
a) Very easy. You can program Taurus III to send Program Change and also to trigger notes and there are various levels of step (touch) sensitivity.
b) There are 52 presets, the first four of which are sort of the standard lot. So you can program sounds and store them into those slots and alternatively, keep a library of hundreds on your computer and just load up the ones you are interested in having ‘with’ you prior to a gig. I doubt you will need more than about a dozen or so for a few sets of music across a few hours.
c) If you already have a synth module that you like, or are satisfied with either a software based synth, or a sample library, the PK-5 might be a better choice; You can get a set of roland PK5a pedals for about $500 bucks these days and it’s ALOT more portable. Roland just released the PK-9 which is bigger than the single octave that either the PK5 or Taurus III has but it’s big money (about $1600, which I’m guessing is what you will pay for a set of T3’s used).
One of the issues with the T3s (and I own a set and do not envision selling them ever) is that they are very heavy and bulky and you’ll pay another $400 on a decent roadcase for them.
It’s hard to justify a Taurus III in light of the Minitaur. And there are very cheap foot controllers to be had also. You can save yourself hundreds in the process.
The only advantage to a T3 over an MT is the T3 has a better LFO (tri,square, ramp & saw waveforms). But the MT has full ADSR EG’s and Square Waves at both OSC’s. What I’d like to see is a Moogerfooger LFO/ARP module with a bunch of waveforms for the LFO and to be MIDI Syncable. That would be suhweet! Of course, someone could just get a eurorack case and some modules to at least get a better LFO.
Also, I am not sure if this is the case, but doesn’t the T3 have a wider octave range? The MT can only go to C4.
Yeah, it’s a bummer they discontinued it. They are going for $850 now on evilBay. No way I’m throwing down that kinda change for a couple extra LFO waveforms. That would be ideal though, I forgot about that pedal.
I was really disapointed when I found out it was discontinued too. The mp-201 was next on my moog list until I saw how much they were selling for. Now instead of a midi to cv fooger synth a minitaur is on the way. As for lfo’s with multiple waveforms and syncability, it is possible to feed an mf-107 a negative cv to get it into the lfo range. Also while in the lfo range it can be synced using a click track or another lfo at the audio input. Here is some noise domenstrating the mf-107 as an lfo and sync with another lfo. http://soundcloud.com/questionmark_and_sharp/freqbox-as-an-lfo-test
Does anybody knows if I am limited in terms of octaves when controlling sounds from a midi source? I mean: can I play higher-pitched strings, for instance, with the Taurus III?
Well the incoming MIDI range is C0-C4, not sure about the outgoing, I’ll need to check the manual. But in any case it doesn’t really matter as you could just pitch the strings up and octave on the receiving device.
