Moog

Moog Minitaur | Reviews
77
And while it wasn’t ready for us to
try at the time of the review, Moog will
be rolling out a standalone software
editor that will not only give you MIDI
control of your Minitaur from your
computer, thus offering access to
functions not available on the front
panel, but will also provide DAW
integration and the ability to store and
recall your own presets.
The bottom line
It’s hard to imagine what else Moog
could bring to such a straightforward
concept as Minitaur, but the company
have assured us that they have a very
detailed road map sketched out for the
instrument over the coming years.
Apart from the upcoming fi rmware
upgrades, and the mention of a
rack-mount solution, Moog are keeping
the specifi cs of their plans to
themselves. But for those who fancy
the idea of basslines that will shake
the dust from your speaker cones (or
have your fl ared trousers fl apping…),
this bantam-sized unit is ready for your
consideration.
When we fi rst learned of the
existence of Minitaur, we were
a touch surprised that Moog
were rolling out another
product so soon on the heels of
the Animoog iPad project and
the addition of the Cluster Flux
to the MoogerFooger line –
particularly another synth.
“New products are what drive
this industry.” says longtime
Moog Product Development
Specialist Steve Dunnington,
who was the lead engineer on
the project. Dunnington, who
has been with the organization
for 17 years, was in the Moog
fold well before Bob Moog
recovered the rights to his
corporate name in 2002. He
explains why the company felt
this was a good time to add the
Minitaur to their line: “Look at
the tools that most people use
these days. It’s a weird
combination of really old stuff
and really new stuff. They use
the latest digital recording
software but then stick to an
analogue front end. Tools are
tools, but you still build a
house with a hammer and saw,
but you have to stay
imaginative. On the Minitaur
we started with what we
learned from the Taurus 3. We
wanted to do a modular version
of that, but that interface is
really hard to shrink down.
Then we thought ‘What if we
just get rid of the presets, use
knobs, and do some simple
design tweaks to make it more
versatile as a synth engine?’ So
we kept the general sound
character, put it into this little
box and then made sure to add
in some cool MIDI control.”
Moog’s Future
VERDICT
BUILD
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VALUE
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EASE OF USE
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VERSATILITY
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RESULTS
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A powerful, deep bass synth with a
fl exible future. Well priced and
solid Moog build.
VCO 2 allows you to
tune the oscillator
over a full octave
Oscillator
FMU250.rev_moog.indd 77 2/1/12 5:26:34 PM