Moog Taurus 3 Bass Pedals nominated for TEC Award

"Bullish On Bass: Moog Taurus 3 Bass Pedals Receive Mix Foundation TEC Award Nomination

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (November, 2010) – Since their introduction, Moog Taurus 3 Bass Pedals have made a huge impact in the music world. Often described as “a work of art that can knock down a small building”, recognition of their high quality audio, design and construction earned them a nomination for the 2010 Technical Excellence & Creativity Award in the category of Outstanding Technical Achievement, Musical Instrument Technology/Hardware.

Taurus 3 Bass Pedals are currently heard beefing up the bass of top artists like The Black Keys, The Dave Matthews Band and John Paul Jones. In addition to providing modern amenities like USB and a MIDI-synced arpegiator, they faithfully recreate the classic Taurus I sounds favored by bands like Rush, The Police, Genesis, Asia and Weezer.

“There had been a clamor building from our customers to bring back the iconic Taurus I”, said Cyril Lance, Moog Music Chief Engineer. “Our goal was to both capture the magic and power of the original Taurus I and to expand it’s capabilities to fit seamlessly into today’s performance and production environments -- I’m thrilled with the outcome.”

The 26th Annual TEC Awards, presented by the TEC Foundation for Excellence in Audio, will be held on January 14, 2011 at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California. Nominations were made by a panel of approximately 100 audio industry veterans, in a variety of fields and winners will be determined by members of professional audio and sound production organizations. The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held Friday evening, January 14, at the Anaheim Hilton as a special highlight of NAMM, the leading international music products trade show.

For more information, visit www.moogmusic.com/taurus

About Moog Music: Moog Music and its customers carry on the legacy of Bob Moog, the inventor of the synthesizer. Moog designs and manufactures electronic musical instruments, including Little Phatty® and Minimoog® Voyager® synthesizers, Moogerfooger® effects modules, Etherwave® theremins and The Moog Guitar. Founded by Bob Moog, Moog Music designs and manufactures its products in Asheville, N.C."

Oberheim OB-X 8 Voice Analog Synth pt.1

YouTube via retrosound72

"vintage synth demo by RetroSound

Oberheim OB-X 8 Voice Analog Synthesizer from the year 1979. The OB-X was available with 4, 6 or 8 discrete voice cards.

part1: some self-made classic OB-X sounds (pads, brass, bass, sync- and crossmodulation sounds and more)

part2: the features of the OB-X (coming soon)

The Oberheim OB-X is one of the best analog poly-synths ever. A classic! The sound is stunning, organic and very powerful. The sound character (based of the discrete circuits and the SEM design VCF) is different to the later curtis chip based OB-Xa and OB-8.

Used by: Rush (Subdivisions, Tom Sawyer), Nena (99 Luftballons, Nur Geträumt), J.-M. Jarre (Magnetic Fields), Lilling Joke (Love Like Blood), Roxy Music (Avalon), Queen (Flash Gordon), Styx (Too much time on my hands), Japan, Supertramp, Suzanne Ciani, Tangerine Dream (Exit) ..."

MOOG Taurus

Click here for shots pulled via this auction.

Details:
"Here for auction is a fine example of the legendary Moog Taurus bass synthesizer pedal board. It is in pristine condition with no physical blemishes to mention. This synth has had only one owner since its purchase in 1979 and from the look and feel of it was un-played for most of this time. Included in the auction is all the original paperwork including the date of sale slip w/ serial number (2247), a magazine sized glossy advertisement and most importantly an original service manual complete with schematic drawings! The pedal is 100 % functional with just one issue, the LED light to indicate that the variable patch is engaged seems to be burned out. Every other pot, jack, LED, and switch is in perfect working order. This is an easy fix and we’ve chosen to let purchaser decide it they would like to open this synth up for the repair.

Moog Taurus Description:
The Taurus is a specialized monophonic bass synthesizer using two audio oscillators with glide, two contour generators, and a VCA, coupled with the famous 24 db Moog low pass filter. The Taurus has three programmed voices and a voice that you can design from scratch. The Taurus is a variable synthesizer that features two audio oscillators to create phasing effects, parallel intervals, and rich percussion sounds. In addition, functions like glide, decay and pedalboard octave may be switched by foot during performance. And its five octave range makes Taurus more than a bass instrument. Of the 3 models of the Taurus Bass Pedal Synthesizers made by Moog, the Model 1 is considered to be the most desirable. It sounds fatter and has more presence than version 2 and 3. It was nicknamed the Mini-Moog for your feet because it has very similar filters to the prestigious Mini Moog.

MOOG TAURUS 1 Features:
Three pre-programmed synthesizer voices: Bass, Tuba, and Taurus
• One fully programmable voice. You create the sound and pre-set it yourself.
• Five octave range 16' 8' 4' 2' and 1'
• Foot sliders for loudness and tone color variation.
• Ultra stable oscillator design: less than one cent (0.06%) short term drift, less than two cents (0.18%) long term drift.
• Electronic preset selectors. Presets never have to be cancelled.
MOOG TAURUS 1 Presets:
TAURUS - the classic moog taurus sound with pulsating oscillators
BASS - bass sound with fast decay filter sweep
TUBA - simple bass sound, one VCO only
VARIABLE - user-created patch
Polyphony: Monophonic
Oscillators: 2 VCO's
VCF: 24 dB/oct lowpass w/ cutoff, emphasis, A/D envelope;
VCA: Attack, Decay, Sustain;
Keyboard: 13 note pedal-board

Taurus Users:
- Genesis (Squonk, Dance on a Volcano, Los Endos, Mama, Turn it on Again, Abacab, Tonight Tonight Tonight, The Brazilian, Second Home by the Sea, Supper's Ready, Firth of Fifth, The Cinema Show, Afterglow, Dodo)
- Rush (Tom Sawyer, Sub-Divisions)
- Police (Walking on the Moon)
- U2 (Where The Streets Have No Name)
- Asia (Go, Don`t cry, Only time will tell)
- Marillion (Kayleight)
- Steve Hackett (Clocks)
- Saga, 10CC, Yes, J.-M.Jarre, Led Zeppelin, Motley Crue, and many more"