Moog Taurus III
By Rob Sandall
| Posted in Music Technology
The Moog Taurus III bass synthesiser’s previous incarnation was released in 1981, and this new model is only being made in a run of 1000, so you might wonder why we here at the DV247 blog care so much about its appearance at the NAMM show last week. But assuming you have eyes and common sense, you’ll be warming your hands on the image opposite of what appears to be a series of pipe organ pedals rammed into a wood-panel analogue synth. Even writing that sentence has doubled the sheer brilliance of this little gem.
Seriously though – there are many who will tell you that the Taurus was one of the best bass synths ever. Those people include members of Rush, The Police, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Phil Collins’ band, Asia and Weezer. Apart from Asia, that might well be the best roster of endorsees an oscillator can hope for.
What you effectively have here are 13 velocity-sensitive pedals, two control wheels, and nine switches. These can all be operated by your feet – although not every band mentioned above used them in this way – and despite any initial reservations that you might have, actually feels pretty ‘right’ surprisingly quickly.
In terms of the engine itself, the Taurus III is running two sawtooth VCOs, through a VCF 24dB/Octave Lowpass Filter and a VCA. You can then modify what is already a classic Moog union with a VCA envelope, VCF envelope, LFO (for editable triangle, sawtooth, square and ramp oscillations) and a latched arpeggiator. The latter two are MIDI clock syncable or tap tempo’d, too.
Those who know their acronyms will already have an idea of what is therefore a pretty comprehensive synth sound – and very definitely a Moog one. What’s more, they will also be happy and unsurprised to know that the LFO, oscillators and arpeggiator are all heavily tweakable by way of numerous disco-light buttons, which can be assigned to up to 12 user presets. There are also 53 factory presets to cycle through, and to be honest most will find their dream bass sound within the first 10 or so, editing as they need.
It’s arguable that only a certain type of player is going to see the value in this, and possibly more likely that they’ll see the potential for fun in it first. But as a bass synth it’s an absolute corker of an instrument, and I know some who have resorted to playing it like a ‘normal’ keyboard just to get that sound.
As a fun bonus fact, the reason for this odd creation was that it was originally supposed to be the lower part of the Constellation. That, however, never saw the light of day, and the upper parts of this almost-behemoth went on to become the Polymoog and Multimoog. What a company, eh? All hail the Moog Taurus III!
Tags: moog, Moog Taurus bass pedal, Multimoog