Moog Minitaur
Analog Bass Synthesizer (2012)

 

A compact module spinoff from classic pedal synth Moog Taurus 3 (2008) dedicated to analog bass sounds.

NOTE: this review is based on OS 2.0 with new features, you can update your Minitaur freely at Moog website.

SYNTH MODULE Main panel features 17 knobs, 1 master fine tune trimmer ( +/- 1 semitone) and 4 push buttons.

Rear panel terminal connectors:
- main signal out
- Midi input
- USB interface
- external signal input
- CV / gate pitch input (from 0 to +5V range)
- CV VCF control
- CV VCA control.

Power supply is a 12V external PSU DC with positive in center.

 

 

VOICE The minitaur is an analog monophonic synthesizer based on 2 VCO oscillator VCO1 (master) and VCO2. Since it is dedicated to Bass sounds, the Module responds up to C5 (72) Midi note.
TECH: SMD board spotted DSP TMS 320980.

 

	VCO1	VCO2
shapes	square / sawtooth	square / sawtooth
mix gain	yes	yes
detune	no	yes +-1 octave*
pulse width	no	no
sync	yes 1>2**	/

* VCO fine tuning can be controlled only by external software
** accessible only using CC#81

Minitaur oscillator at oscilloscope

 

FILTER classic Moog 4-poles resonant (up to self-oscillation) low pass filter based on transistor ladder (range from 20 to 20000 Hz) and bipolar EG amount contour. External source signal can be filtered - relative input gain can be adjusted using [glide + VCO1 level] or external software.

 

 

LFO 1 triangle modulator and 2 destinations sharing same frequency (range from 0.01Hz to 100Hz)
1- VCF filter
2- VCO pitch.
The LFO amount can be set only by external software or Midi CC#13/12 and can be different for VCF/VCO, in addition it can be synched to Midi clock according to 22 tempo dividers.

ENVELOPE there are 2 EG described as an ADSR , but it is a bit particular: Decay and Release segments are controlled by the Decay knob, while the Release segment is enabled or disabled via Release button - in any cased Decay and Release values are the same.
- EG1 VCA
- EG2 VCF.

 

 

PERFORMANCE some handy functions
- glide time can be set with the dedicated knob, however there are
- 3 glide models: Linear Constant rate, Linear Constant Time and Exponential (original from 1974 Moog Taurus)
- Legato mode can be activated by Midi CC# 83 or external software.
- Poly Chain up to 16 units can be linked
- Octave transpose
- Custom tuning scales
- Relative or absolute knobs
- Gate always on aka drone mode.

 

MIDI the Minitaur is dedicated to Bass, so it works in a Midi range from 0 to 72.
All knobs can be recorded by dedicated Midi CC# or NRPN.

 

MEMORY (only OS 2.0)
- 128 internal patches.

 

 

EDITOR Moog gives away excellent editor for free as well as OS update.

 

RELATED FAMILY:

	Moog TAURUS 3 steroid deluxe version with display, pedal board and extra features VIDEO Taurus I was released in 1974 VIDEO Taurus II in 1981 VIDEO
	Moog Minitaur white edition: different outfit with optional wood kit (picture from MOOG website)

 

VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there is no plugin VST however a lot of free samples set:

	name	price	link	demo
	LIVID	free 3 mb samples .wav or Ableton		n/a
	francispreve.blogspot.com	free 12 mb samples Ableton		n/a
	polynominal.com	FREE KONTAKT 15mb -4 full bass patches		n/a

 

AUDIO DEMO

Bass power Super square Minimoog D Minimoog Voyager Synth formantic Resonance plenty Bass: money! Synth: a farfisa organ! Bassline1 Bassline 2 Synth solo Bass: so 80 Synth: disturbed freq synth seventies glided wet sound it woobles surprise soft cozy classy bass cutoff

random sample and hold retrigger retrigger aggressive modulation Alien giger another LFO another last LFO Spellbound :) Synth: old commodore 64 game Xperimental 1 Xperimental 2 Xperimental 3 Xperimental 4 TEST: waveforms TEST: detune VCO2 TEST: EG TEST: glide TEST: all LFO TEST: 4 poles filter TEST: external loop filtering

Soundcloud Moog Minitaur

VIDEO CLIP SELECTION video1 video2 Moog video