Moog Music Forum

Hello there.

To my knowledge, the Hammond XPK-130g is the only *current production* bass pedals that have built-in sounds (please correct me if I am wrong). So I am saving for a set.

Naturally, it won’t scratch my Taurus itch, so I plan to also buy a Minitaur.

A) Anybody here have this particular combo? If so, how happy are you with it?

B) How easy is to control the Minitaur of the fly - change octaves and whatnot? Excuse my complete idiotic question, but in spite of playing music for decades, I never had a synth.

Thanks in advance.

Ivan

A) I used a vintage ELKA PM13 as MIDi bass pedal. Worked perfect.
B) As the Minitaur is a dedicated bass synth with a limited note range, it does no feature an octave switch. There is just one detune knob for VCO 2 ranging from -1 to +1 octave relative to the VCO 1. Its setting are stored of cause with the patch. All in all, the Minitaur it is easy to change sounds on the fly, as there are way more parameters available with a dedicated knob and button than o the original Taurus or the Taurus 3.

I sold my ELKA PM14 because I bought me a Taurus 3. Although it is rather bulky and very heavy to transport, it is sounding bold and is now part of my setup. I just packed it into a flightcase for a gig next Sunday in Solingen (Germany).

Thank you, sir.

I am in Canada. My options are rather limited up here.

As opposed to the Minitaur + Hammond pedals, are there any other “brains+ pedals”combo you’d recommend?

(No, the Taurus III is not an option).

My purposes are playing Police, Rush etc.

Is the “brains” (ie built-in sounds) necessary for your usage? I’d think if you are playing organ, you’re probably playing a clonewheel and can get those sounds from the keyboard, module, or iPad/iPhone app. If you’re okay with just the MIDI pedal and no on-board sounds you may find plenty of pedals for controlling your organ/Minitaur/romper/other sounds you already have …I myself am tempted in grabbing a simple 1-octave, C-to-C set of Studiologic MP117 pedals nearby for sale. No onboard sounds on those ones, but my Hammond SK-1 and Moog Minitaur would have me covered.

$$$, but Hammond does also make the XPK-200(G?GL? No letters?) …whatever version is current (GL I think for 2023) and it has the same built-in sounds. The only one that would come close for doing “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” would probably be the organ sound …yes you can edit them slightly with a knob on the pack, but …I didn’t think they sounded that decent on the YouTube videos I saw (Tony from from Bonners in the UK, not his fault …it just sounds cheesey/Romplery for that amount of dough).

Also, totally consider finding an organ destined for skip/trash/dumpster and saving the foot pedals. Hop on eBay or reverb.com and look for midi kit adapters ….you go probably spend no more than $100 when all is said and done and have a great Setup with your Minitaur MIDI’d up and firing off the low end.