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Anybody Taurusing?

M

MGR

Inactive
Jan 18, 2015
1,797
1,325
Bronx, NY
#1
Having just gotten back into bass again, I am of course going hog wild looking at gear that I will never buy ;)

But......

I was thinking about a simple Moog Taurus setup since my favorite bassist is Geddy and my favorite period of Rush is 1977-1984 when both Ged and Alex used the Taurus to thicken up the bands sound.

I'm curious to see how many of you are doing something similar, how it's working out, how does the band like it and what equipment you're using? I'm looking for a used Moog minitaur and some cheap midi pedals.
 
#2
MGR said:
Having just gotten back into bass again, I am of course going hog wild looking at gear that I will never buy ;)

But......

I was thinking about a simple Moog Taurus setup since my favorite bassist is Geddy and my favorite period of Rush is 1977-1984 when both Ged and Alex used the Taurus to thicken up the bands sound.

I'm curious to see how many of you are doing something similar, how it's working out, how does the band like it and what equipment you're using? I'm looking for a used Moog minitaur and some cheap midi pedals.
Click to expand...
Wow, I'd never heard of the Taurus before this thread, I used to want the exact same thing for my old drums and bass band. I knew it had to exist but I could never find anything like it, I really appreciate you making this thread.
 
#7
I loved my old 70's Hillwood bass pedals, but gigging with them was a pain because the springs and mechanical linkages,etc were always breaking, or one of the old 1970's solder joints would give up in the middle of a song.
I'm an electronics tech, so I always fixed them myself, but still, the lack of consistent reliability made me leave them at home.
(Not to mention they were heavy and took up a lot of room on small stages)

So, if I get back into it, I'm seriously looking at MIDI controller pedals or anything more modern that are small and heavy duty.
The Taurus pedals are pretty large an unwieldy, they should have made the new releases smaller and lighter in my opinion.

Obviously people think of Rush and other Prog Rock bands when the bass pedals subject comes up, but they work in lots of varieties of music.
I even used them in a mostly acoustic band with banjo, Djembe ,etc. when I was playing acoustic guitar.
 
#8
Cristofre said:
Obviously people think of Rush and other Prog Rock bands when the bass pedals subject comes up, but they work in lots of varieties of music.
I even used them in a mostly acoustic band with banjo, Djembe ,etc. when I was playing acoustic guitar.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Especially since now with MIDI (actually since 1983 with MIDI) one is not limited to only an Analog bass tone, but any sound that is attached to a MIDI note value (loop trigger, drum sounds, samples etc). Me personally, I would just use it for deep bass.
 
#9
The Roland PK-5a (13 note) looks to be about $900 new, but is likely less used. The StudioLogic MP-117 (17 note) is about $600, but I'm really not familiar with either. I would assume the Roland is a better unit though quality wise, but the StudioLogic has more notes...

Any others out there?
 
#10
jim777 said:
The Roland PK-5a looks to be about $900 new, but is likely less used. The StudioLogic MP-117 is about $600, but I'm really not familiar with either. I would assume the Roland is a better unit though.
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Sometimes I see used MIDISTEP's come up pretty cheap. One was recently on nyc craigslist for like 100 bucks or something. I should have snagged it.
 
#12
I have a MIDISTEP, have had it for years. Works like a charm--I typically pair it with a small (1/2 rack) Korg 05/w module, mainly using it for organ chords/pads. I keep the volume low, almost subliminal--it works nicely to flesh out a 3-piece.

Never quite figured out why a bass player would need pedals to produce low frequency notes--I've got strings for that!
 
#14
Rickengeezer said:
I have a MIDISTEP, have had it for years. Works like a charm--I typically pair it with a small (1/2 rack) Korg 05/w module, mainly using it for organ chords/pads. I keep the volume low, almost subliminal--it works nicely to flesh out a 3-piece.

Never quite figured out why a bass player would need pedals to produce low frequency notes--I've got strings for that!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use it for low frequency notes unless I was playing the keys with my hands - but I can't play my 3 synths when I am playing the bass and vice versa.
 
#16
I've never gigged mine, and only really got used to triggering pads for a couple rehearsals before the band fell apart.... But I've got a Digikick 13 note MIDI trigger pedal.

It's basically a wooden box with 13 buttons (smaller than arcade pushbuttons) and a couple others for different settings (like Hold to let your last pressed note sustain til you trigger the next). It was definitely homemade in small numbers and the guy didn't make many or do it for very long.

I used a MIDI-USB cable plugged into my MacBook Air running Mainstage 3 or GarageBand, and then ran my MacBook headphone out into my small combo amp.

A TB user @twocargar sells the Cygnus MIDI adapter which will let you turn any old organ pedals into MIDI triggers, or you could use whatever push buttons you want to build a board from the ground up.

I plan on rebuilding my trigger board with actual arcade buttons and at a shallower angle to make hitting them easier.
 
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#18
I've Played Taurus in one form or another for more than 30 years now.
I've did the PK-5/module thing for years, just for the sake of portability,
but nothing - and I mean nothing - sounds like a genuine set of Moog Taurus pedals.
I pre-ordered my Taurus 3 a year before they went into production, and even though
they are big, heavy, and a general PITA to gig with,
they are worth every grunt, groan, and penny I paid for them.
A Mcmillen/Minitaur setup will get you that sound,
but the control over presets & parameters with the T-3 sets them apart from all other pedal synthesizers.

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#20
MGR said:
Tell that to Geddy Lee Circa 77-84! ; )

To me, the answer is obvious. The tonality of an analog synthesizers bass is very different from a bass string, and the two combined packs a powerful punch.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but Geddy was playing keyboards at the time (mostly). There, I can see the need for bass pedals. In contrast, I've seen Chris Squire use Taurus-like pedals. But, hey Chris, you've got a keyboard player standing over there, I bet he could play those notes better with his fingers than you can with your feet!

Mike Rutherford also used bass pedals, but he was usually playing guitar at the time.
 

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