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Moog Taurus III - PIC!


The Real MC

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Maybe someday Moog might even offer a poly synth.... that is, unless they're too busy building a bass guitar, or drum kit or something not related to synthesizers..

 

Probably will, at some point. And I'll bet any amount of money that as soon as there's a new Moog poly, there will be folks lined up to say how it's too expensive, doesn't have the features they wanted, should have been a keytar, needs more cowbell, etc, etc...

 

anyway, for now, there's a new Taurus. It looks good and sounds massive. I reckon some folks will like it pretty well. :)

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what's the architecture like? is this more than just a little phatty with pedals on?

 

 

Same architecture but the circuits are more faithful to the original Taurus.

 

The Taurus voice had a strong fundamental, the bass notes just have this amazing OOMPH that you could FEEL. This has never been duplicated in any other moog product. I've got several vintage Moogs and none of them can deliver the Taurus sound. I had a LP here and while it sounds good, it pales next to the Taurus.

 

Several things contribute to the Taurus sound. The filter is driven harder for mild overdrive that emphasizes the fundamental. The RC product between stages has to be sufficient to deliver a bassy sound. In circuit design, the feedback system of the filter gives it its sonic identity. The feedback topology of the Taurus filter is a unique design that has not been duplicated. The coupling of the filter and VCA has an inherent 20hz corner boost. EQ cannot duplicate the overdrive and the 20hz corner boost. Also the VCA uses the old CA3080 OTA which is not a high fidelity component - it adds some distortion of its own so that contributes to the Taurus sound.

 

Moog has been getting requests for years for a Taurus issue, and the overwhelming trait they were asked to duplicate was not the package but the sound.

 

I had a conversation with Moog president Mike Adams over the Taurus reissue. They wanted to re-use the Voyager voice and re-package it in the reissue. I told him that was not good enough and explained to him the differences in the circuit that define the Taurus voice. They did revert to duplicating the Taurus voice in their ad copy - it remains to be seen how successful they were.

 

I was one of the early customers so when I get a set in my hands I will report back.

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Same architecture but the circuits are more faithful to the original Taurus.


The Taurus voice had a strong fundamental, the bass notes just have this amazing OOMPH that you could FEEL. This has never been duplicated in any other moog product. I've got several vintage Moogs and none of them can deliver the Taurus sound. I had a LP here and while it sounds good, it pales next to the Taurus.


Several things contribute to the Taurus sound. The filter is driven harder for mild overdrive that emphasizes the fundamental. The RC product between stages has to be sufficient to deliver a bassy sound. In circuit design, the feedback system of the filter gives it its sonic identity. The feedback topology of the Taurus filter is a unique design that has not been duplicated. The coupling of the filter and VCA has an inherent 20hz corner boost. EQ cannot duplicate the overdrive and the 20hz corner boost. Also the VCA uses the old CA3080 OTA which is not a high fidelity component - it adds some distortion of its own so that contributes to the Taurus sound.


Moog has been getting requests for years for a Taurus issue, and the overwhelming trait they were asked to duplicate was not the package but the sound.


I had a conversation with Moog president Mike Adams over the Taurus reissue. They wanted to re-use the Voyager voice and re-package it in the reissue. I told him that was not good enough and explained to him the differences in the circuit that define the Taurus voice. They did revert to duplicating the Taurus voice in their ad copy - it remains to be seen how successful they were.


I was one of the early customers so when I get a set in my hands I will report back.

 

Thanks for that answer/explanation

 

Thanks for helping Moog

 

Thanks for offering future product feedback

 

I love the Little Phaty in the GAS sense but always cringe at some sonic examples. Listening to Taurus (1) examples brings back memories of great tracks that subsequent research proves used one. Really looking forward to this, could be the first real Anologue on my want list :)

 

:wave:

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The Taurus actually doesn't use the Little Phatty synth architecture at all, to the best of my knowledge. It has two Taurus oscillators and a Taurus filter, based directly on the Taurus I schematics. The main thing it has in common with the Little Phatty is the industrial designer (Axel Hartmann), and the panel buttons.

 

As for whether or not it sounds like a Taurus I... well, that was certainly the goal. We'll have to run it through MC's PA rig before we'll know for sure. :thu:

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