Moog Music Forum

I love you guys!

My Taurus 1s are the Stradivarius of Moogs. Won't you guys consider making those again? A rack version (sound module)? Or maybe a new set of pedals? These things are priceless! And don't use those crappy Fatars. Thanks!

MOOG "must" build more Taurus.!!!!! NEW Taurus!!!!!

If Moog is to make a new version of the Taurus pedals, then I feel they need to be a upgrade in sound over the original version i.e. even fatter sounds. I still have my original set given to me as a wedding present in 1980, and they still sound better than any synth for bass. For setting an ''atmosphere'' or mood, dynamic emphesis or even just holding the very bottom in a song, there is nothing like the original. Midi, an additional osc, and re-thinking the ADSR section, let the Moog gang go crazy. Maybe some type of a building block approach that can be added to as time & $$$ become available would soften the financial blow. I thought a grand was steep in 1980 until the first time I heard mine thru a good sized concert rig at sound check, and then I never though about the cost again, just what could I do to make it even bigger and badder. sorry for the ramble...

i can see it coming -
the little phooty

cant help thinking theres not much point building a set of bass pedals as the market is so limited. i dont reckon moog will build a new set of taurus pedals because of the economics involved in re tooling to make bass pedals. Would be better just to get some midi bass pedals and connect them to a voyager or phatty.

Soz to **** on the fire but im being realistic, its not that i dont want moog to build them its just imo it wont happen due to very real econmics.The demand for such a unit is very small compared to the demand for keyboard based products.

Next will be a polysynth. guaranteed.

A Bass-pedal synthesizer??? Some people here were saying that KNOBS were obsolete! About the only people skilled enough to play pedals with vigor these days are elderly organ players, or the one or two people who can afford a B3. ; )

Seriously though... if they're going to go to the trouble and expense of making a synthesizer that is so demographically limited as to be activated by pedals, why on EARTH would they make it MIDI? Would it still be a Taurus if it didn't have pedals, was MIDI, and was a completely new and modern analog system?

Speaking of Taurus... anyone got any samples of the thing? I have always been curious as to why this thing is so maniacally attractive to some people.

As much as I would love to see a new Taurus synth, I think I'm going to go the Little Phatty/MIDI bass pedals route myself...

I've only heard a few recordings where I could recognize Taurus I pedals in use - near the end of the live version of Chris Squire's "The Fish" bass solo on Yes Songs and on the early Rush stuff where they started using synths, like A Farewell to Kings - I'm thinking specifically of the part near the beginning of the title track when the bells play a little melody before the full band comes in.

Yes, Rush's Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres albums both showcase the raw Taurus pedal sounds. On later albums they mixed them with an Oberheim poly, and it gets a little harder to isolate the Taurus sound.

I have a Taurus at home, but I play MIDI pedals with my band. I have a Nova to supply the sounds, which are either of three basic classes: low sustained bass with a little resonance, high strings (very important), or special effects. The pedals really can make a big difference for a guitar/bass/drum based lineup.

But what I don't like about my "rig" is that I need a bunch of cables and DC adapters, and there is currently no midi bass pedal out there with simple program up/down footswitches to scroll through the patches. Having 18+ midi multifunctions on a Roland PK5 is pretty useless for me - when you are playing live, you've got time to hit one footswitch and then it's time to play the music! And lugging all that stuff around is fine for people with roadies, but I'd suspect most of the music instrument market has to carry its own bags; simplicity rules.

Heck, if Howard Cano can sell his analog MidiPeds on eBay for $99, I'm sure someone out there can figure out a cheap way to build a standalone unit with a decent range of sounds and easy program changes (8 memories would do it for me). If Moog doesn't do it, I hope someone else will.

museslave wrote:Speaking of Taurus... anyone got any samples of the thing? I have always been curious as to why this thing is so maniacally attractive to some people.

I have samples on my page below. Be warned - most PC speakers can't reproduce some of the bass sounds here, use good headphones to hear that deep bass.

http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguedieh ... og_taurus/

Sounds incredible!

I wonder if it's possible to pull those sounds out of a Voyager?

wow really sounds like the source. id be hard pressed to tell the difference. do a little boost on an 3q at 20hz and the sound is nailed.

Yeah the Source gets really close - as does the Voyager. Both need a slight boost at 20hz and you've got that deep beef of Taurus pedals. If you read the service manual carefully, there is indeed an inherent 20hz bass boost in the coupling between the VCF and VCA. I believe the VCF is overdriven too.

Note that those Taurus samples have no EQ or processing, nothing.

I have a Taurus pedal patch for the Voyager on Squarewave.

MC wrote:I have samples on my page below. Be warned - most PC speakers can't reproduce some of the bass sounds here, use good headphones to hear that deep bass.

http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguedieh ... og_taurus/

Thanks, MC!!

Yep, even those samples go a LONG way to explaining all of the interest in Taurus... very attractive tones!

the taurus idea has been spooking about for a while. i guess it is something many musicians would consider buying.

i don't know much about the taurus, but i could imagine a touch sensitive taurus (pedals with assignable parameters such as filter or vibrato or something) could be intriguing.

the sounds posted above sure sound great.

It has been so long since I have been out here, I thought it was interesting to read your posts.

I have owned and used Moogs since the early 80s. I have owned the Mini, Rogue, T1, T2, and a few others I have forgot about. I still keep going back to the T1s (they are the last of my Moog collection.) They are priceless in my opinion; I have not been able to replace them nor the sound. I have even attempted samples and other third-party products on the MAC; there is just something magical about them. They are, yet again, being used to record.

I have seem them used by Rush (my experience was 1977 all the way to 1990), Yes, and Yngvee; there is something magical when a note is dropped live; goose bumps is all I will say.

Anyway, I still believe pedals is unpractical for Moog; I was hoping for a sound module or a way to play them with their new equipment. It would be worth the effort to figure out the pixie dust here; they are the Stradivarius of bass notes. A lost art and science from an age long ago. Long live Moog!