New Taurus Bass Questions

[dr_floyd]

Anyone else have questions?

I'd like to know...
- Is the new analog engine a modified Phatty or Voyager engine or completely new?
- Will the lovely Phatty Overdrive circuit be included?
- "Taurus I style" was one octave, Taurus II was 1.5 octave. Is the new Taurus 1 or 1.5 octaves? If 1.5, will it be similar in width to the Taurus II pedalboard?
- Velocity sensitive floor keys? How about aftertouch too for modulation?
- Foot control of volume and filter, similar to Taurus I? Program changing foot controlled?
- Midi i/o? Foot trigger and midi in trigger simultaneously?
- Is there a LFO controlled from aftertouch, velocity and the envelope?
- CV outs for controlling Moogers and Minimoog D?

Thanks Moog. This is great news!

[Amos]

- Is the new analog engine a modified Phatty or Voyager engine or completely new?

None of the above. It's not completely new; it's literally the Taurus I analog engine.

- Will the lovely Phatty Overdrive circuit be included?

See above; the signal path should be identical to a Taurus I.

- "Taurus I style" was one octave, Taurus II was 1.5 octave. Is the new Taurus 1 or 1.5 octaves? If 1.5, will it be similar in width to the Taurus II pedalboard?

Good question; I'll try to clarify. There may be some miscommunication on this point.

- Velocity sensitive floor keys? How about aftertouch too for modulation?

Nice idea but if the Fatar pedal assembly doesn't already have aftertouch, then we are out of luck. I think it has velocity but not AT.

- Foot control of volume and filter, similar to Taurus I? Program changing foot controlled?

Yes on the program changing, "I think so" on the volume and filter. Of course, a Multipedal would give foot control of any parameters you like...

- Midi i/o? Foot trigger and midi in trigger simultaneously?

Yes, the plan is to have DIN and USB MIDI. I'm sure you could combine foot and MIDI triggering (as much as a monosynth lets you do any triggering "simultaneously" of course )

- Is there a LFO controlled from aftertouch, velocity and the envelope?

Hmm... that would be a departure from the Taurus I. So, I dunno.

- CV outs for controlling Moogers and Minimoog D?

CV ins; no word about outs. Would be nice... might cost too much. I'm going to have to go with "I don't know" on this one.

SPECIAL BONUS ANSWER:

nobody asked, but the plan is for this Taurus to have an arpeggiator...

[EricK]

Now there was an expansion box according to retrosynths site.

Perhaps you could fit a connection like the Voyager to a small and inexpensive (or perhaps included) expansion box for cv outs.

But like ive already told you, all of my expectations have been realized with the CV and Midi Inputs.

Duophony, here I come!

(when I get the order in of corse)

Eric

[Voltor07]

What about how it looks? Will it have wood, particle board or rubber side panels? Will the body be plastic, wood, or metal? Will the little plastic door stay on better than the original? These are my main concerns now that the sound engine has been explained. Thanks for that, Amos!

[ColorForm2113]

SPECIAL BONUS ANSWER:

nobody asked, but the plan is for this Taurus to have an arpeggiator...

That is going to be fantastic!!!

I think adding CV outs to the taurus would attract alot more people. even just keyboard/pedal out and a trigger/gate out so that other analog synths can be controlled via the footpedals. imagine being able to play the taurus and voyager with the footpedals while playing the moog guitar
lack of cv outs was what kinda turned me off of the LP (at least as a, i hate to use this term but i cant think of anything else, replacement for my micromoog) i still like the LP ALOT but not having those cv outs seemed limiting.

my vote doesnt really count at the moment though, seeing as i cant afford a new synt right now. i figured id through my two cents in any way

[dr_floyd]

Thanks for the information Amos.
This is very exciting.

By the way, throwing in some fingered upper register fills while playing the monophonic bass pedals is a great technique - gives some unexpected activity - that's why I wondered about midi in and foot control simultaneously.

And the addition of the arpeggiator is brilliant. Any details on how it would work? I would guess you'd have to enter notes one at a time with your foot, so all notes would be latched? Internal and external sync?

Even though the original Taurus had no LFO, I would recommend it as an addition, like the arpeggiator. Modulation can be very effective with bass pedals, and that's also why I recommend Aftertouch too. A foot can provide a lot of pressure and control since it is not busy flying around the keyboard.

Pat.

[willi]

I'd like to see CV out too; lack of it is something that dissuades me from the LP. That said, isn't it possible to use MIDI out -> MIDI-CV converter to get the equivalent functionality? If the Taurus does not have CV out directly, I'd like to see MIDI out as a possible solution to this issue.

And, add another request for LFO, 1.5 octaves, and aftertouch. I also think some kind of cabled, dockable, or rackmount arrangement would make it easier to adjust Taurus settings. Having to reach to the floor doesn't seem ideal even if you are a guitar player; having to reach under a piano to get to the fine adjustments of the synth seems unnecessarily difficult.

Making the Taurus into a box that can be detached from the pedals would allow the offering of different size (1, 1.5 octave) or cost (aftertouch) pedal sets, and could increase sales of the synth engine to studios and other users who want the bass synth without the pedalboard.

Thanks!

[Argyle]

Aftertouch on a bass pedal? Not sure how that would work given the variety of floors and rugs I end up on. I tried velocity on PK5's, and ended up disabling it. I wouldn't mind having the synth engine respond to those controllers, but in terms of the actual pedals, I am simply not good enough to get much out of my feet besides "note on" ... tough enough to play my primary instrument!

What I really look forward to is pushbutton access to direct program changes! One button hit, new program. I don't know why the MIDI manufacturers make you step through these awful button-sequences to get a prog change. When I'm playing live, I got time for one button hit.

I tried the 1.5 octave Taurus II's for a while. It's cool having the ability to hit an octave E - E to match the guitar tunings. In fact, It seemed the sweet spot was always in that range anyway. But then again, 1.5 octaves makes the pedalboard quite large and tough to reach without hopping around.

For me, the charm of the original Taurus was the simple foot access and great sound. You start adding too much more, and then your gonna end up wishing it was a keyboard.

[latigid on]

What I really look forward to is pushbutton access to direct program changes! One button hit, new program. I don't know why the MIDI manufacturers make you step through these awful button-sequences to get a prog change. When I'm playing live, I got time for one button hit.

I think this is covered by the patch/bank structure:

PRESETS: 16 Banks x 4 presets = 48 Total Programmable Bass Sounds

[judas jedermann]

PRESETS: 16 Banks x 4 presets = 48 Total Programmable Bass Sounds

This Bothers me. 16 X 4 = 64 not 48. Have I misunderstood something

[nicholas d. kent]

PRESETS: 16 Banks x 4 presets = 48 Total Programmable Bass Sounds

This Bothers me. 16 X 4 = 64 not 48. Have I misunderstood something

makes sense if the first bank is ROM presets.

[judas jedermann]

makes sense if the first bank is ROM presets.

OK, It makes sense but may I ask what is ROM preset? Sorry, I am bass player...

[Elhardt]

CV ins; no word about outs. Would be nice... might cost too much.

CV ins but maybe no CV outs? That's just opposite of what it should have. It makes more sense that the pedals can be used to play other more powerful synths than to want to play the limited Taurus synth from a keyboard. Taurus II's have CV/Gate outs.

[Voltor07]

CV ins; no word about outs. Would be nice... might cost too much.

CV ins but maybe no CV outs? That's just opposite of what it should have. It makes more sense that the pedals can be used to play other more powerful synths than to want to play the limited Taurus synth from a keyboard. Taurus II's have CV/Gate outs.

I agree completely, Elhardt. The LP is quite powerful without CV outs. The Taurus is not. I wouldn't mind if the CV ins were replaced by CV outs. The paying people have spoken!

[EricK]

Wait...Taurus Limited? Well its a Bass SYnth by nature so yeah its pretty limited. 2 oscs limited, but its increadible fat sound is unsurpassed as of yet.

I woudl prefer CV ins because of the possibillities.

THeres sequencing it, using it for Duophony via Midi. Destinations are better than sources in my opinion (because I have more sources)

I think the Taurus would be limited with CV outs only because youd have to play everything with your feet. I woudn't want to control a huge synth with my feet alone. I would want to suppliment my lead synth with the bass expansion.

Remember this was 1/3 or a major system.

I think that either way we go, we will be able to use it as a mater/slave via midi anyway. Id like to be able to have CV inputs for filter modulation, etc.

Eric