Moog Music Forum

Hi Taurus people

I was considering buying a Minitaur but now I'm thinking Taurus. Since it would cost another $1400.00 to go Taurus, I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. Another question is, is it true that Moog is only making a thousand of the Taurus pedals? If so, what does the availability look like around October?

I've heard the Taurus once in my life when I went to the Moog store during Moogfest. It was on the floor and when somebody pressed a pedal...Oh my god!!! Talk about the "brown sound." (Yes I know; the Myth Busters broke that one.) One of my questions is, can the Minitaur rival the Taurus sound?

I'm really leaning towards a Taurus system. I hope they will be available in six months.

Well they upped the number to 1500 I believe (I've certainly seen registration numbers in the 1300s). However in another thread it has been stated that Sweetwater have it as discontinued, although in the UK Digital Village have it along with an "As New" model (which oddly is more expensive). I saw one go for £900 second hand on eBay with flight case - I wish I'd had the spare cash, but I already have a Taurus 3 so no real need.

I don't have the Minitaur so I cannot tell you if it compares to the Taurus for the classic sounds. from specs this can be gathhered though:

Taurus 3 pros over Minitaur: patch memory, arpeggiator, extra LFO waves, foot pedals (if required)

Minitaur pros over Taurus 3: extra square waves in VCOs, key tracking (in software), osc Note Sync (in software), ADSR (Minimoog style), audio input to filter, range is one octave higher (C5), a lot smaller, (if size/weight is an issue)

My advise get the Taurus 3 right because once the last stock items are sold -thats it and prices will climb later this year
http://www.moogmusic.com/news/sound-sou ... s-minitaur

Abpve link will give you a good review of the Minitaur
the Minitaur is said to be not the same as the Taurus 3 using the same saw presets---now I can't prove that because my own Taurus 3 has not arrived yet
but Gordon Reid of SOS who owns the Taurus 1 and 3 is saying that ---
In short I think the Minitaur would probably end up been rated somewhere between the Taurus 3 and Phatty
I do like the Minitaur because of the added square wave and the ability to turn one VCO off ----it does really good TB-303 sounds, better than most XOX boxes
Turn VCO1 off and try it


cheers David

I converted about 20 of my favorite Taurus III patches to Minitaur and I can tell you with certainty that it's damn close. So much so, that you'd be challenged to choose which was which. So much of the Taurus III sound depends on the 'beating' of OSCs against each other and I tweaked, via 14 bit Midi each setting, toiling until I was happy with it. Throw the acoustics of the room into the mix, your amp, etc. and you've got wildcards that you won't be able to control (ie. which bowl in the other room shakes) but Minitaur DEFINATELY has the full range.

All of it can be modeled and dialed into the Minitaur and saved as a patch with the exception of the RAMP, etc. LFO shapes.

There certainly differences as outlined above and things that either can do on top the of ther but the biggest difference is whether or not you want a set of 'performance' pedals, whereby choosing a preset will dial up a specifically crafted sound (the precise setting of the LFO from an amount perspective plays a big role in some of the more distinctive patches). If you are a guitar player or a bass player and envision wanting to stomp on a pedal, I think that's your answer. You can always get a set of Roland PKs and Minitaur but now your are carrying even MORE equipment to a gig, worrying about what might go wrong with cables, etc.

buy the T3. they can be purchased (currently) as low as $1275 w/ free shipping as seen here on eBay. you can also find many available in the $1400 - 1695 range. a couple of months back Musicians Friend and Guitar Center blew out a bunch in this range.

as reported by David Bulog, get it now while you can (afford it!).

Taurus 3 also uses through hole like the voyager unlike the Minitaur and Phatty which uses SMD and will be pain to repair in 20 years time
Voyager and Taurus 3 will be easier to service 20-30 years from now

If the initial Taurus offering was for a rack mount version, I would have gone with that.

It really depends on what you are looking for from it. Do you want one that you have to seek a suitable controller for, or do you want a tank that is awkward to protect on the floor but you still get pedals and great looks?

Are you looking for something that might hold it's value over the years, or are you really looking for maximum bang for your buck.

A cross between the Taurus and Phatty is still pretty darn suitable for just aboue anything you want to do. All of the Moogs will slam out bass, but the Taurus is king. Id like to see what MC has to say about this, because he is the Taurus guru.

Eric

David Bulog wrote:Taurus 3 also uses through hole like the voyager unlike the Minitaur and Phatty which uses SMD and will be pain to repair in 20 years time
Voyager and Taurus 3 will be easier to service 20-30 years from now

Are you sure? I thought all modern Moog stuff uses surface mount devices.

metron wrote:

David Bulog wrote:Taurus 3 also uses through hole like the voyager unlike the Minitaur and Phatty which uses SMD and will be pain to repair in 20 years time
Voyager and Taurus 3 will be easier to service 20-30 years from now

Are you sure? I thought all modern Moog stuff uses surface mount devices.

I know the voyager is through hole as shown on this page. Pretty sure the T3 is also, but I have not seen the inside of one.

In 20 years your iPhone will be able to repair your Taurus or Minitaur.

muksys wrote:

metron wrote:

David Bulog wrote:Taurus 3 also uses through hole like the voyager unlike the Minitaur and Phatty which uses SMD and will be pain to repair in 20 years time
Voyager and Taurus 3 will be easier to service 20-30 years from now

Are you sure? I thought all modern Moog stuff uses surface mount devices.

I know the voyager is through hole as shown on this page. Pretty sure the T3 is also, but I have not seen the inside of one.

I have.

The Taurus 3 is surface mount, not through hole.

EricK wrote:A cross between the Taurus and Phatty is still pretty darn suitable for just aboue anything you want to do. All of the Moogs will slam out bass, but the Taurus is king. Id like to see what MC has to say about this, because he is the Taurus guru.

Have to work on that guru stuff, because I have not yet had a Minitaur in my hands. No plans to purchase one.

Anyone have a pic of the inside so we can see if the Taurus 3 is surface mount or through hole.
Its an interesting question because surface mount is a pain to service outside factory -in most cases main board replacement is required

David Bulog wrote:Anyone have a pic of the inside so we can see if the Taurus 3 is surface mount or through hole.
Its an interesting question because surface mount is a pain to service outside factory -in most cases main board replacement is required

It's definitely surface mount. I have no pics, but I have been inside mine, just to check out what was in there. FWIW, MC was a key part of production of the T3, as in, his Taurus was used as the starting point of what the T3 should sound like, so take his word over mine.

Main difference Taurus I and III to Minitaur:
the Taurus I and III use a parameter called BEAT in favour of the typical detune found on other synths and the Minitaur and the Taurus II.
The beating of two slightly different tuned oscillators on the Taurus I and III has always the same frequency. So playing different notes will not change the beating period (assuming you use a good auto-calibrated Taurus III). This is due to the linear Hz/V type of VCO of the original Taurus I. The BEAT will never produce a music interval that is musically shifting with the notes you play. So no 5th detune oscillators to play with via the keyboard/pedalboard.

The Minitaur, the Taurus II and most other synths got a DETUNE parameter which defines the frequency difference of the oscillators to be a ratio of the actual oscillator frequency. So the offset changes its frequency while using the oscillator pair on different notes and octaves.

Part of the original Moog Taurus I and now Taurus III beauty is the constant beat frequency. You might experiment to change the Minitaur detune to be changed dynamically nearer to zero while playing to get the original Taurus character. This is also the way how the beating is recreated on the Taurus III with its exponential versus linear VCOs. The auto-calibration appears not only to adjust the analog oscillators to the needed musical frequency, it does calibrate the second oscillator detune to be auto-adjusted to constant beating. This recreates the original Taurus I character of the beating very well.

The other Taurus I and III unique features like the special non-zero beating, no interlocking oscillators, the bright oscillators and the filter characteristic are on the Minitaur as well.