Moog
Reviews | Moog Minitaur
76
the cutoff knob and the filter’s
envelope generator, it can sweep about
80% of the filter. Unlike the Minimoog
Voyager or the Little Phatty (where you
can plug in a footswitch and trigger
notes), the Gate input on the Minitaur
requires an actively driven gate signal.
And while there are no CV outs
(again due to space considerations
inside the box…), the patch savvy
among us (or keen
to explore…) will
have no trouble
coming up with
creative ways of
patching Minitaur
into other modular
gear. A standard
DIN MIDI input
and MIDI over Type B USB connector
round out the connection points.
Bull riding
Despite its size, there’s no denying
Minitaur’s monstrous sound.
Individually, the VCOs hit hard,
especially on the square wave side.
With only a single oscillator going you
can manage a fairly convincing
Acid-like TB-303 sound.
But the real fun to be had here is in
the combinations you can produce by
mixing and matching the oscillator
settings. Speaking of oscillators,
another of Minitaur’s cool little features
is that the separate control lines
employed for the VCAs allow you to
turn the oscillators all the way off while
turning up the filter’s resonance –
giving you a playable sine wave
oscillator that can produce high
pitched R2D2-like bleeps or a sine
wave kick sound on the lower end.
Those who’ve had the luxury of
doing Dance music with true analogue
bass, know what an asset that sound
can be. But a constantly running VCO
means that you won’t always know
where the phase of the oscillator(s) will
be when you trigger a note which can
result in sequenced basslines having a
seemingly random amount of punch.
By adding Note Sync to the Minitaur
(enabled via MIDI CC message), each
note played will reset the oscillator
phase and thus ensuring the maximum
amount of bass punch is delivered.
The quality of the filter is, as you
can expect, unassailable. And while we
weren’t able to A/B the Minitaur’s
sound up against a vintage Taurus I,
the synth easily matches the aural heft
of the Taurus 3 pedals we compared it
to while being 18 odd kgs easier to
tote around.
> Considering how sought after the
sound of the Moog filter is, it’s great
to see the addition of the quarter-
inch audio input jack point, which
offers users the option of running
whatever sound or instrument they like through the
company’s famed four-pole low-pass architecture.
> While we’ve yet to hear Minitaur
run through a true PA system, the
idea of being able to blow back the
feathered locks of your average local
hipster with a device that takes up
less room in the van than the bag that carries all of
our leads is beyond tantalising.
> By adding the square wave to the
dual oscillator mix, Minitaur’s
analogue appeal gets an extra two
marks from us. Especially when you
consider that the next step up in
Moog’s synth line – the Slim Phatty – forces you to
splash out an extra £130.
The Good and Great
Three reasons to be cheerful about
the arrival of Minitaur…
after. And in a further tweak to the
Taurus engine, the Filter Envelope
Generator Amount here can be set to
either positive or negative (centre
position equates to no EG modulation).
When it comes to the Minitaur’s
glide function (called into action by a
fourth amber switch…), the synth
boasts the feature of being able to
select (via MIDI) between the more
modern, linear glide sound that most
of us are used to hearing and that of
the classic Taurus glide, which had the
unique characteristic of rising very
quickly and then slowing down before
it reached the target pitch. Nice to
have the option.
Back side of the Moog
On the rear of the unit, Minitaur
includes a mini headphone jack (the
available real estate inside the chassis
didn’t allow for a full on quarter-inch
plug…) as well as an Audio Out jack,
and a much requested external audio
input, which can be used to overdrive
the filter to great effect. The four CV
inputs that are also on the backside
(Pitch, Filter, Volume, and Gate) are
scaled from 0 to 5V.
The Pitch CV input is set to a volt
per octave, allowing Minitaur to handle
up to five octaves of performance.
Because the Filter CV is additive and
takes in account the position of both
Moog have assured us they have a
detailed road map sketched out for
the Minitaur over the coming years
ALTERNATIVES
Eowave KOMA
£501
Employing four waveforms
(saw, square, sub, noise)
and a 24dB low-pass filter,
the KOMA also tacks on a
16-step sequencer.
www.eowave.com
Boss SYB-5
£100
Bass synthesis packed into
a pedal format at
ultra-modest price. Boasts
11 DSP variations on saw,
square, and pulse
waveforms.
www.bossus.com
Spectrasonics Trilian
£190
Virtual bass module
featuring a dazzling array
of expertly crafted sounds
and a wide range of high
quality effects.
www.spectrasonics.net
FMU250.rev_moog.indd 76 2/1/12 5:26:30 PM