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Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 3:03 pm
by Dr_Raven
Hi, I am considering buying a Minitaur for my Rush tribute band, but I am wondering if the Minitaur has the same note range as the original Taurus I pedals that Rush used in the 70's and 80's? There are several older Rush songs (Xanadu, Hemispheres, La Villa Strangiato) that have higher notes using the Taurus's Variable sound and I am hoping that the Minitaur can "hit" those same notes.

Thanks!

Dr Raven

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 6:25 pm
by TheDigitalMan
According the manual.

"Since the Minitaur is a Bass Synthesizer; it operates exclusively in the lower note range (MIDI notes 0 - 72). This means that the Minitaur will respond to your playing from ā€˜C4ā€™ (an octave above middle ā€˜Cā€™) downward."

Big Rush fan BTW!

Oh and born in LDN Ont.

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 5:07 pm
by Dr_Raven
Hi DigitalMan,

Thanks for the reply! I read some of your posts here about Rush sounds before I posted. Very informative, so thank-you for posting that info!

I know the Minitaur is more for bass pedal use, so I looked at the Sirin which has a much wider note range, but the price and the rarity of them pushed me back towards the Minitaur. The original Taurus pedals were designed more for bass of course, but that didn't stop Rush from using the Taurus pedals for those higher notes! :) So I guess my question is, how close to the Taurus is the Minitaur sound-wise?

My Juno-G can do some nice Moog-like bass sounds, but it just can't replicate that Taurus "Variable" sound that Rush used for Xanadu and Hemispheres etc and I'm leery about forking out the $ if it can't hit the same high notes as the Taurus. And so far, I have yet to see a video showing the Minitaur reproducing the 4 classic presets of the original Taurus pedals. I guess I'll just have to get my hands on one to know for sure :)

Born in London eh? I was transplanted here back in 1979 when my Dad's job brought us here, and I've been here ever since. The live music scene was pretty thin before COVID. Now we've lost just about all of the rock bars that we could play at. Hopefully the scene will bounce back next year.

Dr Raven

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:26 am
by TheDigitalMan
I have one (love it) and think you will get pretty close to where you want to be with it for the old Rush sounds. It has a beautiful velvety sounds in its upper range and I've sometimes used it for lead sounds in my recording.

The lead in the 2nd 1/2 of this piece is Minitaur. https://soundcloud.com/user-165688397/b ... ynthy-post

this one uses Minitaur for the base lick throughout. https://soundcloud.com/user-165688397/z ... r-addition

Re London - ya I was born here. spend my time between London and Ipperwash Beach these days. Work in London but prefer it by the lake. I played the bar scene a little back in the late 80s early 90s and my brother and I do a 2 man accounting thing for fun sometimes. But now spend most of my musical energy recording and playing with synths.

Good luck man!

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:56 pm
by Dr_Raven
Wow, thanks for sharing the audio samples. The tunes are great! That lead in the 1st tune is amazing, very velvety as you put it :)

I think I'm sold, just shopping around now, so thanks for your insight.

I saw a lot of bar bands in the 80's and 90's in London, what was the name of your band(s)?

I played in bar bands down Chatham way in the 90's, but I didn't get to play gigs here in London until 2009 with my cover band Blackwing. That band is done though, so I'm working on an album with another band, but COVID has put the damper on things! :P

Thanks again for your help and for the Minitaur samples. The tunes are great and I love the sounds!

Dr_Raven

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:49 pm
by MC
Rush fan for years.
Own Taurus 1 pedals.
Own Minitaur.
I gig the Minitaur playing Rush and other songs. It can deliver Rush style deep bass pedal sounds. Our soundman loves to pump the bass pedals through his subwoofers. Same note range as Taurus.

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:03 pm
by Dr_Raven
Hi MC,

Thanks for confirming that they have the same note range :)

Last night I played along with Hemispheres with one of my synths, and the highest note that I heard Geddy's Taurus pedals hit was an (EDITED) B3 just before they go into the slower middle part at around 11:28. I checked out Xanadu and La Villa as well and they are all below the C4 limit too, so I think we can definitely conclude the Minitaur will do the job! Looking forward to using it for all the classic Taurus sounds :)

Dr_Raven

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 6:42 pm
by Dr_Raven
Well I'm happy to say that I found a Minitaur and picked it up yesterday!

Once I got it connected to my Korg MPK-130 midi pedals and set the midi channel, I was able to start creating some patches and I can confirm myself, that C4 is as high as it goes. I was also also able to confirm that, with the Minitaur set to default settings, and the octave switch on my Korg pedals set to the highest octave, it can only play a C3. This is a limitation of the Korg MPK-130 pedals though, not the Minitaur.

However, after installing the Minitaur editor, I found it has a Midi Note Transpose function that can shift whatever note is coming in up to 24 notes above or below. I set it to +12 and sure enough, my Korg pedals could now hit the highest note that Rush ever uses with the Taurus pedals, the B3 which occurs in Hemispheres right before the slow part in the middle around the 11:30 mark. That created a new problem though. With the +12 transposition, it also changes the lowest note that my Korg pedals can do and there are several songs that require those lower bass sounds. I'm certainly not going to drag around my laptop to mess with the Minitaur's transposing function during a live set, I've already got enough going on in Geddy Land ;) And really, Hemispheres is the only song that uses that high B3 note, and if we're brave enough to play that song live then I might as well get a set of real Taurus pedals and do it right! ;)

Dr Raven

Re: Minitaur Note Range vs Taurus I

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:08 am
by Acid Mitch
There is no standard for naming midi notes. It makes more sense to talk about note numbers, which are part of the MIDI spec and remain constant.
Like c4 on some devices can be anything from c2 to c6 on others depending on which note number the manufacturer starts counting from.