Moog Music Forum

David Bulog wrote:Anyone have a pic of the inside so we can see if the Taurus 3 is surface mount or through hole. ...

the analog section (most of it)




parts of the digital controlling section


So it uses SMD and a few through hole components.

Thanks for posting that, Till. I cannot afford another hernia trying to get mine out of where it is let alone take it apart (me back). Check out the writing on the right side of the circuit board in the upper pic. "PURE BULL LEVEL".

Thanks for pics of boards -they look easy enough to service 20-30 years from now--nice to learn that not all surface mount some through hole
Also nice to learn that the BEAT parameter only used in Taurus 1 and 3 is a very significant difference to the Minitaur
Im wondering if that gives the Taurus 1 and 3 that special X factor that just can't be replicated

David Bulog wrote:Thanks for pics of boards -they look easy enough to service 20-30 years from now--nice to learn that not all surface mount some through hole

There's enough SMT in there to be a headache. Luckily, when SMT components go bad, they are relatively easy to troubleshoot. I'm learning how to solder SMT, but it's not easy. Hopefully I'll have it down by the time my Taurus and LP start showing their age.

Looks like they kept nice film capacitors through-hole where it matters I'd suppose. I would think that it would actually be easier to service SMT 20-30 years down the road. I've had to do some servicing to my Rogue. While the through-holes are easier to handle, you run a real good risk of damaging a trace when "prying" parts out that are that old. I had a couple traces die from this. With a good magnifying glass and the proper soldering tools and enough practice, SMT is't all that bad.

Taurus arrived recently I would have to say you need both
Taurus 3 has way more bottom end and volume than Miniatur and I think the saw sounds better side by side.Filter on T3 seems more aggressive too
Minitaur on the other hand has a lovely square wave (very TB-303 like) just like the magazines in the UK are saying--I think you will get closer to the TB-303 with the Minitaur
even compared to an XOXOX box

there are some good deals on Taurus III at the moment
http://www.novamusik.com/search.aspx?ty ... =34&lbs=60
$1299 NAMM special
Get it now -its a classic and is probably going to be discontinued after 1500 are sold

Just to add to this older thread. The Minitaur uses Linear VCO, just like Taurus 1 did! And of course the Minitaur has an under the hood feature for "VCO 2 Beat," so instead of using the detune you can access this feature for a more Taurus 1/3-correct operation.

David Bulog wrote:Taurus arrived recently I would have to say you need both

Minitaur on the other hand has a lovely square wave (very TB-303 like) just like the magazines in the UK are saying--I think you will get closer to the TB-303 with the Minitaur
even compared to an XOXOX box

I have a Minitaur and a x0xb0x. The x0b0x sounds a lot more like a TB-303 than the Minitaur.

synthaxe wrote:The Minitaur uses Linear VCO, just like Taurus 1 did! Taurus 3 uses Exponential.

What makes you say that? The Taurus 3 models the Taurus 1 so uses the same Oscillator system.

synthaxe wrote:Taurus 3 uses Exponential.

Sorry, T3 is linear like the original. The external CV input is expo, converted to linear internally.

MC wrote:

synthaxe wrote:Taurus 3 uses Exponential.

Sorry, T3 is linear like the original. The external CV input is expo, converted to linear internally.

Oh, gotcha. I stand corrected, sorry about that.

Mr Arkadin wrote:

synthaxe wrote:The Minitaur uses Linear VCO, just like Taurus 1 did! Taurus 3 uses Exponential.

What makes you say that? The Taurus 3 models the Taurus 1 so uses the same Oscillator system.

You're right, it is Linear.

I am quite happy with the Minitaur. Once the new firmware was installed and I could save patches to the Minitaur directly I was in business. I have heard both and I think they are quite close. Minitaur CAN do some things that the Taurus III can't.

Also, I there are rack ears available which I now have so my guitar rig and my Minitaur are in the rack system. I use custom external midi bass pedals which allow me to change programs and the Minitaur responds beautifully. Plus, I can run other synths with the same pedals and toggle between midi channels.

You should probably get both. If I had $1200 to throw around, I would. For less than the price the Taurus III was when they came out, you can have both.