I own the Matriarch, the Mother 32, the Subsequent 25 and 37. NONE of these are as smooth as the Minitaur.

The Minitaur is hot butter. It's smooth. You have to hear it to believe it. Like most Moogs, you can overdrive the VCOs in the mixer if you want more growl, but my God, it's smooth and buttery.

The are compromises: no pulse wave modulation, no cross modulation, note limitation and hidden features that require a VST or key presses.

All of those compromises come with gifts.

The square wave is beautiful.

The note limitation comes with the most magnificent bass sound you will hear.

The key presses are necessary because Amos Gaines and his team have added more features to this synth: oscillator sync, numerous LFO shapes, and more preset slots for saving patches.

What this synth does, it does well. Yes, it's limited, but if used well, it does not matter.

I prize it as much as my Subsequent 37, and I will never part with it. If I'm ever homeless, I'll have my dogs in a shopping basket with the Minitaur and the Subsequent 37. It's THAT good.

And it's small. You can take it with you or put it on table without it taking lots of space.

If you need bass, buy it. If you need a baritone synth, buy it. If you need notes over C5, buy the Subsequent 25. The 25 gets angrier far quicker than the Minitaur, but it's a great synth. The 25 is just not as smooth as the Minitaur.

BUY IT BEFORE MOOG QUITS MAKING IT.

My studio was missing a solid bass synth and the Minitaur didn't disappoint. Very versatile, amazing sound. You can really make it thump. It is capped in the high range, but you can still do some nice leads. Well worth the price. It does what it does very well.

My singular complaint is that to take full advantage of its capabilities, you really need to have it hooked up to a computer. Some of the settings aren't available directly. Not a deal breaker for me by any means though. Couple be for some.

Great bass

After fiddling with various software for some years, I decided to try the real thing. The software is great, but to me never fully satisfying no matter what I tried or how much I tweaked. So, sure, why not try the really thing. Maybe those old gremlins on the internet are right?

Yup!

Plug it in, set it up, twist a few knobs…..and thats the sound. Simple as that.

For some people, BASS is medicine. If you are one of those people, you need real analog BASS! And this right here is a hefty dose of it.

I've always wanted a Moog synthesizer, and the Minitaur was the perfect addition to my Korg/Nord/Elektron setup. This Moog allows me to achieve thick & rubbery bass lines with a juicy-warmth I can't achieve anywhere else! Additionally, I purchased a few 3rd Party Patch Expansion sound packs, and created a potent library via the user-friendly Moog editor, and now this bass synth is a Weapon Of Mass Destruction!

Great synth with the amazing moog sound, great functionality and response via midi, and a rugged and durable structure.

I came to write this review to give any future buyers or current owners a head's up; after a year a flawless use, the Minotaur suddenly stopped transmitting sound after a studio move.

MIDI lights were flashing indicating they were receiving signal, the volume pot was scratchy (when it made any noise at all), and everything else worked except the main audio output and the headphone output.

It turned out to be a simple but mildly time consuming fix - while the unit is disconnected from power, gently remove the knobs, screws, and top plate. Ensure the main ribbon connector is securely fastened (mine wasn't!). After this is should be working perfectly again (mine was)!

I still use my Minotaur daily and love it dearly. If it were lost or damaged I'd purchase another in a heartbeat - just wanted to let others know about a fix to a potential issue!

The Taurus III ranks high among my favorite gear, but while it is a sonic beast, it is a travel burden. The Minitaur solves this problem completely.

I use it with the Keith McMillen 12-Step controller. I also got the Gator Frameworks 1500 laptop stand. Having the Minitaur at that height is reminiscent of the Taurus II control configuration.

The Minitaur is not going to 100% sonically match the Taurus III, but it's more than close enough. The presets are not as easy to manually access as the on the Taurus, but it's manageable.

If I had to name a con, it's that it has no power switch. Plug in the power cable and it's on. Want to turn it off? Unplug it.

I could list pros for the Minitaur all day. Bottom line: big beautiful beast of bass in a very small package.

Very, very happy with it.

Built like a tank - has the sound that I want and expect from a moog. The knobs are solid, the buttons are solid, the case is solid metal. If you want to hear about all the great sounds, look at the other reviews. It gets used all over the place as a bass synth. OSC limited upper range so not great for leads - but I knew that buying it and am not knocking it for it. Just be aware.

My issue is with the software. I REALLY want to control some of the "under the hood" features via DAW but after multiple tries and multiple versions of Presonus One (4.0 now up to 5.2?) nothing seems to work. I have it connected via MIDI so I can control some things, but I'm really disappointed it didn't plug and play into Presonus as easily as some of the other software editors for hardware gear I have used.

If you don't plan to get under the hood with the editor, this is easily a 5-star sound module.

First time user but I have known about Bob Moog for years. This has a legendary filter and jaw dropping bass. Cool modulation. CV to MIDI converter. Amazing under the hood stuff with the software editor. All in all it's a great piece of gear.

If you want that ‘Moog sound’ this is it. It’s a little snappier than the last couple of Moogs I’ve had (Grandmother, Sub37) and I think I like it more. Very musical, and yes capable of deep bass. The software editor can be a plugin to your DAW session, so it will remember your settings which is really, really useful for an analog synth. Git it!

You can get the huge, slow attack Taurus sweeps and acid, or dub step wobbles out of this machine. I control it with a another synth/sequencer. Sometimes I trigger it with my drum machine. Hours of fun.

I had started my journey into analog synths with an almost-offhand discovery of the Behringer Model D, which seems a very workable clone. But I'd been swayed into adding a minitaur to the mix, by the repeated reports of how SOLID and PHAT the bass sounds. I'm a bass player so it matters ultimately.

I cannot get enough of the sounds of this instrument. The knobs have a feel, it's different and kind of subjective but they are higher quality I think. Programming the minitaur is a delight. Hiding inside the front panel are two other 'panels' of adjustable elements that appear when you install the management software on a computer and hook to it with USB. And the presets are fantastic. But, without presets and without the extra twiddling afforded by computer control, the Minitaur can just be hooked up, a few knobs tweaked, and enormous bass sounds emerge from beneath you. I used a 25-watt Orange bass amp, and I've hooked it to a set of Hammond midi pedals, my Korg Tactile, and my Technics organ. I love how easy it is to switch Midi channels (put it in 'listen' mode and send ANY signal to it from your controller and it's on that channel). I think the only thing I don't like is the lack of an on-off switch. I think you just plug it in and it's on. Minor

I can see using this on stage and supplanting my bass guitar with some mean, fat tones. As I had read, repeatedly, the bass on say the Model D, or many other synths sound great even in the bass range, they tend to lose bottom end as the filter sweeps. This isn't an issue with the very carefully-tuned Minitaur. It's meant to ONLY be played in low ranges, and to sound like a WALL of thud at all times. I hooked it up to the lower keyboard of my Technics organ and it made my left-hand notes sound simply thunderous.

Now that I am kind of into the synth world, and a bass player, I couldn't imagine doing synth without this thing somewhere around. I recorded it along side a Model D, and the difference was immediately noticeable. I have not yet begun to delve into what this instrument can do for me, but I definitely got the right one.

If god spoke down upon the earth, His voice would be mighty and thunderous, and If we could capture His almighty tone in a box, it would be called the Minitaur. Praise to the Moog bass box!

I was looking for a simple, high quality tone generator purely for some low end bass sounds to add to our praise music. We have no bass player, so I use this while leading on acoustic guitar to add some power to choruses and bridges. It did not take more than a few minutes to dial in a HUGE bass sound that works well with all the modern praise and worship music we do. Would have been nice to have some kind of a display for presets, but I pretty much set it and forget it for our purposes. The most tweaking I ever do is with the filter to get it just right. Tiny bit of that nice analog "buzz," but without losing the big, full, round girth of this little monster.

Adding a little additional commentary, its interesting how, on its own, it has that old school, fat analog bass sound that one might think would not work in the modern Christian praise and worship genre. In the band context however, its perfect. You hear it enough, feel it more, and it just blends so well and augments everything else going on. I suppose its no wonder that I later found this as part of the rig of Hillsong Worship's bass player and I am sure several other houses of worship do/could/should/will use this.

Really impressed with this thick, vintage-sounding bass synth. It you can stomach leads up to C5 it can do really amazing ones too! The square waves are nice too, bonuses onto the already perfect Taurus sounds.

This is my first Moog, and after owning this synth, I just want to get more products from Moog! From the packaging to product, you can tell the level of quality. And the sound from this synth is just as I always expected, I've always wanted a minitaur for a consistent good bass in my music, and ever since I've heard it on YouTube videos it's the fattest bass I've heard. Now in my home studio playing around with it, it's just as fat as I dreamed of. Quality is very top notch compared to some of my other synths, which are all still really good, but there's just something different about moog. The filter is so great, reso is wet and just absolutely mind blowing, and the oscillators are so powerful, even when just using one. You can use this synth from anything to basses, leads, effects and maybe even a thin pad (mostly thinking of a drone note here) if you do it right, but it doesn't have the highest note range (still better than I personally thought would be the limit though and doesn't bother me) the only downside is that compared to other synthesizers even in its price range, it's pretty basic. But the quality overall with sound and build is superb, and it definitely stands out even with its simple design. I am definitely happy about this product and now I can say I finally own one after spending years waiting to buy one, and it's opened my world of synthesis to show just how amazing moog products really are.

This is my first synthesizer. I've always loved the classic Moog Taurus pedals and the floor shaking bottom end they produced. Since I already own a set of Roland PK-5A MIDI pedals, this was a no-brainer. I now have classic Moog bass madness at the touch of my feet. Don't let the smaller price tag or the smaller sized module (compared to the Taurus) fool you - this thing puts out some BASS!!!! With some tinkering, you can dial in the classic Taurus sounds and a whole load of other-worldly synth sounds.I've only had this thing one day and I'm hooked.

As always, I gotta give a shout out to Sweetwater and my sales engineer Dave Brow. Every time I order from Sweetwater, I become that much more of a lifetime customer. I ordered this thing mid-afternoon Wednesday and it arrived on Friday morning. You can't beat that! These guys are amazing.

If you're looking for earth-shaking bass in a compact, affordable module and want it quick? Look no further than the Moog Minitaur from Sweetwater. You won't regret it!

This IS a nice synth; it's very versatile, especially in the latest versions.

Tragically, however, the Minitaur doesn't play above middle of the keyboard, with different firmwares having more or less useful behaviour at this point. Silence (most useful to me) was superceded by highest octave wrap-around in the latest firmware! That pissed me off! Some have argued that 'it's a bass synth, why would it' - but compare the Erebus Dreadbox: in tune for just a few octaves, but they're anywhere you want them.

The biggest downside for me, the biggest of all, is that it does not sound like a Moog filter. It's a good filter, it's musical, but it simply does not go Moog like a Moog filter should. I've owned several Moogs over the years, and, yes, the filter differs somewhat across the various models, but it always has a heavenly Moog sweep.

The Minitaur doesn't. Listen to any demo while sweeping with some resonance. It's nice, but it's not a Moog. Sonicstate, politely, says the resonance doesn't seem to be part of the sweep, but overlayed on it. That's a sophisticated way of saying: it doesn't sound Moog.

I sold mine.

I wanted to like the minitaur but I'm returning it tomorrow and here's why. Between my vst library and my rack romplers, I couldn't find anything sonically in the minitaur that I can't already produce and believe me I put it through the ringer tweaking it. It's a cool unit, maybe for $199 I'd keep it, but at $499 I can't justify it taking three rack spaces for its functionality. I've also noticed some issues with the usb connectivity. When plugged directly into the Mac it produces a high pitch squeal. I had it plugged into a profire 2626 > adat >Scarlett 18i20. I thought it was a clock problem at first, but when I plugged the minitaurs usb into a powered hub, the squeal stopped. That makes me suspect there may be sub par engineering on the usb circuit. The midi setup through the minitaur editor was fairly easy as was registration. I have no doubt that Moog is an excellent company, but the minitaur just isn't for me.

I'm biased, I love everything Moog, but you gotta hear this thing. Rich frequency sweeps, rubber band bounce, anything you can create! Add a CP-251 and a couple of Moogerfooger pedals and you have quite a sound generator.

Affordable analog synthesis. Some people are put off by the Minitaur's limited programming (no PWM, lack of oscillator sync as examples) and note restriction. They are fair criticisms. However, for the price you get the highest quality monophonic synth capable of covering all the Moog-ish bass sounds. The tone is different from the Sub-Phatty/Sub-37 and Voyager schools, allowing the Minitaur to stand on its own. Great little synth that is a worthy addition to any synth arsenal.

I love my new Minitaur. There's nothing like owning quality hand-crafted gear from Moog. The unit is very solid, all the knobs are very tight and smooth and the buttons have a nice positive feedback click. The sound is unmistakably Moog Taurus. It is a bit dry so it sounds best run through some effects. The greatest feature, however, is it's MIDI functionality(either from 5-pin or from USB MIDI). Every knob parameter can be controlled via MIDI and also some parameters that aren't on the front panel. The unit looks great with the wood side panels and matches my other Moog gear. Get it--you won't be disappointed!

Its amazing. its quick. and it is well made. Unless u plan on getting a Sub phatty or a Sub 37, this is the best bass sound out there. and it dang cheep for what u get.

NOTHING sounds like a MOOG! Sounds fat and gritty. Just what I wanted. And I couldn't ask for a better sales rep than Paul Rowan.

Has your Moog Minitaur stopped making sound after a firmware update? When I tried to update my Minitaur's firmware, it stopped producing sound. I was frustrated but finally found a way to reset it. Hold in all 4 buttons, Oscillators 1, 2, Release, and Glide, then the buttons will start flashing. With buttons flashing hit any note on your MIDI controller and it should immediately start working again. I just played my first gig with my Minitaur and the sound was exactly what I have been looking for. I am very happy with this synthesizer.

This was my first analog synth, and let me tell you, it's a great little setup. Made it very easy to learn to make your own sounds that actually sound good! Had a bit of instruction with it on what each knob does which helped me out a lot as a beginner. Has that classic Moog sound and has the excellent bass tone a lot of people (myself included) are looking for these days. Well worth the money, and for me this has started a chronic case of synth fever.

If you're looking for something that's a good value with a classic sound, or just looking to get your foot in the door when it comes to synthesizers, this is the one for you!

I like how full, warm, and tweak-able this unit is. I use it mainly with my b3 clone (blues jazz) as I don't like the warble of the leslie in the bass. This has exceeded my expectations. Nothing like true analog. Very sturdy and reliable. Nothing negative to say. Would replace it immediately is lost or stolen.

This analog synth generates some of the fattest bass out there! Many VST's out today are capable of creating great analog sounding bass (Sylenth1 for example) but after hearing the Moog Minitaur in person, the difference between digital recreations of analog circuitry and true analog are very clear. If your looking for bass that has warmth, fullness, and can shake the hell out of any monitoring environment, Moog Minitaur is defiantly the answer. Plus with DAW automation control over every parameter, its a no brainier.

Glad I finally jumped the fence on this. The sound is so smooth, and the controls are straight to the point. It's a piece of cake to get exactly what kind of sound I am trying to create.

I play mostly Industrial, Ambient, Synth Pop. I was looking for a bass synth to complement my Virus TI2, Elektron A4, and other hardware and software synths. While those synths offered some decent bass sounds, I was looking for that gritty, dirty bass that I just couldn't manage to get out of my current setup. So, I ordered the Minitaur thinking the Moog sound was probably what I was looking for. This synth delivered more than I expected. It just sounds so good and is very easy to program. On top of that, this little box is a lot of fun to use. I have it connected it to my A4's sequencer via CV and it is absolutely awesome. Additionally, with the current Sweetwater 24 month interest-free promotion, this purchase was a no-brainer for me and is clearly one of the best purchases I've made in a while. Thank you Sweetwater for the great service and speedy delivery.

The minitaur is a little beast! I am extremely happy with this piece! Thank so much for it! I have problems with the side panels... The don't fit... The screws can't go all the way in i wanted to put that beautiful vintage moog look on it but that didn't work out however that is not important brcause the sound of it is pure gold! An amazing piece of equipment!
Thank you!
Ivan Manov

It's been a few weeks to get the art of playing bass with my feet as well as with my hands but now that I'm getting a little proficient, I can say it was well worth the effort and the purchase of the Minitaur. I'm getting compliments on the fat sound it produces. It's now a part of the overall band sound and it's been expressed that we can't go back to being without that fat Moog sound. My pastor of my church wants it on every song, seems like. Haha. This was a great buy.

Up to this point the one thing I always felt I was missing was an analog synth. The release of this product, plus the Sweetwater 3 payment plan has finally made it possible for me to have exactly that. It doesn't play anything above C4, but for now I'm totally happy to stick with Massive and Zeta 2 for my leads, and use the Minitaur for all synth bass projects. It totally lives up to all expectations. It IS the sound I was looking for!

I have been playing VST's, Virtual Analog Synths, Programming Midi (not on computer, but with rack modules and samplers) going on 10 years and I wanted something I could add character to my songs, preferably a bass synth. I ordered up this unit after speaking with my rep, Aaron Smith, and recieved it within 3 days of the order. After hooking up the unit to my favorite midi controller, I read the instructions carefully, and went to work creating a very nice hard bass line. It took about a half hour to get the hang of the buttons and knobs, but once you have it dialed in to how you want it to sound, this will produce that bass line other synths can't. Would I reccomend it to anyone? No, only novice synth users who can understand and appreciate synthesizers. A kid who is looking to create dubstep wobble sh!t from this should know better and spend their money on a good set of monitors. For the price, I think its about right. The build quality is 10 out of 10, Solid sturdy metal case that can handle alot of use. Made in America by Moog, I support that very much, as not many synths are made in Germany (Waldorf) or England (Novation) They are all manufactured in China. Try this before you buy this, I bought it on a whim and was happy with my decision. If you like knob turning, analog synth experience, this is the one for you. If your looking to make dubstep, go buy a copy of Ableton Live Suite and make crooked unamusing garbage music like Skrillex.

Well, I wish it did more, but it wasn't designed for that, was it? For a bass machine, it can't be beat. This is my first analog synth, and I won't be going back. I'm tired of menu diving, and I want to play my synths like a real instrument, and this allows me to do just that. No regrets. If you're tired of grainy, crappy digital basses, pick one up. There are a few kinks with the firmware, such as hanging notes, etc., but I'm confident these will be sorted out.

So I own a set of Moog Taurus 3 Pedals... but since I fly and play most of the time it's not realistic to bring them since they weigh 85lbs in their case. The way Airlines destroy gear it was too expensive an instrument to subject to such horror. I needed an easy solution to have the same sound in a rig that travels easier. So when I heard about the Minitaur I jumped on it immediately. I got this unit from Sweetwater. Once it arrived I set it up in my touring rig and then I got out my Taurus 3 Pedals and put them side by side. I found the Minitaur to be very easy and intuitive to dial in. So I dialed up the Taurus sound and compared them in my studio. Using the real thing to guide me I was able to program the sound. But alas the real Taurus 3 has some serious Mojo that the Minitaur just doesn't quite have. But the difference is negligable and as amazing as the Minitaur sounds it's well worth it! As a touring musician I rely on being able to save presets and not have to worry about my sounds changing night to night. But the Minitaur has no programability to save presets and I will have to make sure everything is set each time. This will include tuning as well since by band tunes down a half step live. (This makes the vocalist happy). Anyhow if you want a nice alternative to the Taurus pedals the Minitaur certainly is that. However when in my home town for a show I will be using my Taurus pedals.