Moog Minitaur Analog Bass Synthesizer MIDI Module

Update 02-02-2026

Features

Vintage Sound?

Pitch Limit

Epilogue

In 2010, Moog Music built a faithful reissue of the famous Moog Taurus I with their Taurus III to great fanfare. It does one thing, and does it well... BASS. While the production of 1500 T3 units had sold out in about a year, customers were asking for a less expensive compact tabletop MIDI version without the pedal clavier and large case. Moog responded with the Minitaur in 2012, and to date they are still being made. That's a testament to the popularity of the module.

I hadn't considered one until I joined a 70s/80s band; they had seen my website and were very enthusiastic about me using my Taurus pedals with the band. I was also in the process of designing my stage rig that is heavily populated with rackmount devices, so I decided the Minitaur was a good addition to have it prewired in the rack and keep the cartage to a minimum. For that purpose I ordered the optional rack ears. Wood end pieces are also available.

I needed MIDI input, USB input, and audio output brought out to the front for convenience. With the Minitaur racked, I did not want to burrow through the rat's nest of cabling with a flashlight from the back of the rack. I built I/O panels for the rack but no space was available on them for more jacks, so I used one of the Minitaur rack ears for an I/O panel. Later I added jacks for headphones and an XLR output for the Radial JDI DI box to the FOH. Now I can plug in the laptop editor over USB without monkeying in the back of the rack. One problem with the rear panel of the tabletop format is that an extra 1U above is needed for clearance of the plugs. I got around this two ways 1) used right angle plugs 2) positioned the Minitaur right below an I/O panel with chassis jacks but no enclosure. Some straight plugs protrude above the module, not a problem as they cleared some gaps in the I/O panel above it. I just left the shell off the MIDI plug, since MIDI is a current loop it isn't vulnerable to EMI so the shielded plug was not vital.

My Moog Taurus II Controller was retrofitted with a MIDI interface so I could play the Minitaur over MIDI from my feet. The Minitaur is powered from a "wallwart" adapter, and I will not use wallwarts for gigging. So I enlisted my rackmount Juice Goose 12PAQ to supply the power, which eliminated the wallwart.

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The Minitaur adds features above the Taurus feature set. It can respond to MIDI commands over MIDI DIN; the USB port can receive/transmit data for the editor software and/or echo MIDI commands received at the DIN port. There is no MIDI out or thru port. On the front panel, Moog added square waveshapes for both VCOs (sadly not variable pulse - so close...), LFO with routing to either/both VCOs and/or VCF. The EG are the traditional ADSR, rather than the period correct but oddball ASR (VCA)/ADS (VCF) configuration of the floor pedal units. Rear panel CV inputs allow you to use CV pedals or other CV controllers for filter, pitch, and volume. There's also an input for gate, so the Minitaur is ready for your external sequencer of CV keyboard controller. There's also an audio input to the filter.

But under the hood are more features accessible with either the Minitaur editor or via MIDI messages. Sadly the Minitaur editor is now abandonware - the last released version was 3.3.2 and may not run on macOS versions above Catalina (10.15). I have no idea if the editor works with current versions of Windows. I have included MIDI commands here (right click to download). Some of the "under the hood" features can be changed with button/knob combinations (refer to the user manual). One problem frequently encountered with the editor is failure to connect with the Minitaur - I found that the editor only works on one certain USB port, so try different ports until you find one that works.

The image at top left shows the main interface of the editor and the extended features "under the hood":

The oscillators add hard sync and note sync - the latter resets the VCO waveshape cycle with each new MIDI note on command
VCO2 adds beat frequency (different than detune, it scales the "beating" of detuned VCOs as the notes progress up and down)
Glide can be legato triggered and slopes can be exponential (default in the Taurus I), LCR (linear constant rate, similar to Minimoog), and LCT (linear constant time)
VCF adds variable keyboard tracking (fixed at 50% on original) and velocity sensing (a way cool effect with resonance)
EG can be configured as shared D/R (linked) or separate (independent) for the full ADSR action
Trigger modes for the EGs can be legato on (IE single trigger), legato off (multiple trigger), or reset (looping while triggered, for use as a modulation source)
LFO waveshapes can be triangle, square, rising ramp, falling ramp, S&H, or VCF EG which can be routed to VCO 2 only - great hard sync trick of the Moog Rogue
LFO can be sync'd to MIDI with clock divider and the waveshape cycle can be reset with each new MIDI note on command
MIDI velocity sensing can be applied to the VCA
Key priority can be low note (default on original), high note, or last note
While the Minitaur does not include a pitch bend wheel, it will respond to MIDI pitch bend and the range of bend is adjustable for both bend up and bend down

This cheat sheet shows the button/knob combinations for accessing the extended features from the front panel.

The image at middle left shows the setup panel for other settings for the Minitaur.

The Minitaur is fully programmable with storage for 128 user patches that can be recalled over MIDI or USB. Some front panel buttons double as preset up/down select, although there's no display showing the present preset (hey, customers requested low cost!). The editor also includes a preset manager to organize your patches and save/recall them on your laptop. The editor is the only tool that can archive your patches.

So does the Minitaur duplicate the deep rich low end roar of Taurus I pedals? Oh yes they do - they possess that elusive oomph^TM that has defied emulations for decades. The sound of the famous "Taurus" preset opens with a throaty growl, then settles to a pleasant distinctive purr as the filter cutoff decays. The filter setting and EG decay was easy to emulate on my other analog synths, but that purr and/or growl wasn't quite the same. Moog also succeeded tonewise with their Taurus III.

The FOH engineer for the 70s/80s band used to tour nationally and was very good at mixing - and he welcomed keyboards unlike some FOH people I have encountered. He especially welcomed bass. He built very good subwoofers for his PA, each constructed of 3/4in thick 13 ply birch plywood and loaded with two 18 inch speakers. When he learned I was using the Taurus pedals, he reserved a channel for them separate from my keyboards (that's why I have the DI output).

Those subwoofers really breathed fire with the deep low end of Taurus pedals - you didn't just hear them you FELT them. There were a couple of venues where the place shook when the Minitaur were played. One occasion we were doing sound check - the FOH engineer had his frequency analyzer set up, and he said when I played the low C note on the Minitaur the analyzer registered all the way down to 20hz. And this was an outdoor show! Not many subwoofers reproduced down as far as 20hz, which is a testament to the FOH engineers skills at cabinet construction!

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Many owners have been disappointed at the limited six octave note range of the Minitaur. While it is excellent at low pitches, it doesn't go high enough for lead sounds. This is also a limit shared by the Taurus I and Taurus III, and is due to circuitry. Moog went to great lengths to replicate the original Taurus pedals; the oscillators were V/hz in contrast to the more common V/oct with the higher range that players expect. V/hz is cheaper to build, lent itself easily to the one octave pedal clavier, and lack of LFO/pitch bend (in the original) did not require v/oct. But V/hz synthesizers have a smaller pitch range because the control voltage doubles for every octave and you quickly reach the power supply voltage - you can't go any higher than that. That's why it has an upper limit.

There's also an inherent limitation of opamp technology that limits how low the pitch control voltage can go. For every descending octave, the voltage halves. An opamp is mandatory to sum the pitch control voltages. Assuming maximum power supply voltage of 12VDC and a design top pitch at a control voltage of 12V, each descending octave goes 12V, 6V, 3V, 1.5V, 0.75V, 0.375V... uh oh. As the control voltage descends in lower voltages you are creeping into the error domain of opamps. Offset error is a necessary evil of opamps and cannot be avoided. The lower you push the V/hz oscillators, the worse the tuning - and it only takes a few tenths of a millivolt of error in the lower ranges to throw off the pitch. And the tuning errors will be different between VCOs. That is why V/hz oscillators have a limited range of useable frequencies.

The limited edition Sirin is the same box and circuitry except the frequency range was shifted up for non-bass duties. It does not extend down to low bass frequencies though.

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The Minitaur has found a home in many MIDI studios and performing rigs. To my ears they have a slighty deeper low end than the T1 and T3. There are plenty of tabletop analog synths with the same basic feature set, but there are subtle circuit designs in the Taurus models (except the weak Taurus II) that gave the Taurus voice its reputation for solid low end and distinctive growl.

A study of the circuit board reveals a LOT of components, all in SMD technology. Now, don't panic over concerns that SMD components don't sound like the original that used through hole components (THT) - with correct design techniques and component substitutions they can sound big and fat. The world is moving away from THT components which are getting harder to find. The Moog Voyager was discontinued because the analog circuit board is 100% THT and would had required a major redesign to upgrade to SMD. Rather than redesign the Voyager, Moog chose new models with advanced circuits using SMD.

There is a 3rd party overlay for the front panel (top middle image) that illustrates the button/knob combinations for extended features so that you don't have to refer to the user manual all the time. The overlay also fits the Sirin, but must be held in placed with adhesive; the overlay was designed to magnetically adhere to the ferrous metal panel of the Minitaur, but the panel of the Sirin is aluminum which is not ferrous.

My Moog Source - although not quite the oomph^TM of a Taurus synth - is a very good bass synthesizer in my studio; I had long wished for a rackmount version for gigging. I hadn't found a rack device that had its beefy girth and excellent filter sonority, until the Minitaur. The Minitaur comes damn close - the only missing features are triangle and variable pulse waveshapes for the VCOs. But the Minitaur is close enough, as its filter has a wonderful resonant quality that can produce timbres other than bass sounds and it has useable features beyond those on the Source.

With the Minitaur firmly planted in my stage system, I have relegated the Taurus pedal units to my studio. I no longer have to extract the pedals from the studio for gigs.

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