The iconic Taurus Mk1 is a monophonic analogue bass synthesizer which was designed by Moog in the mid-seventies. The Moog Taurus is a basic but powerful sounding bass synthesizer with 2 VCO's (sawtooth waveforms), a typical (great sounding) Moog 24db Low pass filter withemphasis (resonance), basic envelope controls, a VCA and 13 large pedals which were intended to be played by the feet.

Although the Taurus is very basic in terms of design and synthesis features, the sound and tonal qualities are very unique, legendary even. The Taurus Mk1 is capable of producing some of the deepest and warmest sub bass I have ever heard on an analogue synthesizer... The way the oscillators beat against each other produces a very vibrant and thick sound. The Taurus filter has a very unique quality that I found extremely hard to replicate with other synths, even Moog's own Minimoog; it has a wonderful overdriven/saturated quality, a sound perhaps best described as a 'growl'

Bass Pedals Concept

Upon researching alternative ways of obtaining the classic 'Moog Taurus sound', we noticed that there was a gap in the market for a high-quality Taurus inspired software re-creation. We wanted to create an instrument that would capture the raw, unique qualities of the original Taurus instrument whilst taking advantage of Kontakt's powerful scripting engine to add our own unique twist to this iconic synthesizer - The idea for Bass Pedals was born!

"Inspired by the sought-after Moog Taurus Mk1 bass synthesizer, Bass Pedals combines powerful analogue source sounds with modern sound shaping capabilities to create a versatile and fully programmable bass synthesizer."

To fully capture the enormous and highly praised 'Taurus sound' we heavily multi-sampled an original Taurus MK1's raw oscillator waveforms as well as 28 heavily multi-sampled preset patches, the latter being carefully designed using the Taurus's on-board synthesis parameters.

All waveforms, source sounds and preset patches were carefully recorded with 3 x round robin sample variations to help capture the imperfections and quirkiness of the original instrument. A total of 3207 samples are used within the Bass Pedals instrument.

The Instrument

Bass Pedals features two main synthesis (editing) pages as well as comprehensive effects page and controls page:

Preset Page

The Bass Pedals preset mode is powered by a collection of 28 multi-sampled preset patches, all recorded with 3 x round robin via a collection of high-end pre-amps and outboard studio hardware.



Once a Taurus preset is loaded it can be modified further using a dedicated amplifier and filter section, LFO and an extensively scripted oscillator drift control. It is useful to think of the preset page as an initial layer of well recorded Taurus presets that can be mixed with the Bass Pedal's 'raw oscillators' (accessed in the raw page) to create interesting 'hybrid' patches.

The multi-sampled presets include a varied collection of wall-shattering subs, filthy bass drones, stabby synth bass and various takes on the legendary 'Taurus' preset, all recorded through a selection of fine outboard studio processors including an Empirical Labs Fatso, Thermionic Culture Vulture, API EQs and Pre-amps to name but a few.

Raw Oscillator Page

Raw mode features 2 analogue oscillators (each with optional/switchable saturated waveforms courtesy of an Empirical Labs Fatso), 1 switchable sub oscillator, noise source, and oscillator unison modes, all of which are individually powered by an extensive set of carefully looped waveforms recorded from a Taurus MK1 analogue bass synthesizer.



As well as the standard sawtooth oscillators we have also included a ?Dual Saw? waveform which features 2 Taurus oscillators recorded in unison to obtain a thick, beating sound. The sub oscillator features 3 waveforms, one of which is a filtered, sine-like sub bass courtesy of the Moog Taurus, the other two (sine and square) have been recorded directly from a vintage Minimoog Model D. An interesting and exciting feature of the oscillator section in Bass Pedals is ?Unison Stack? mode. In this mode it is possible to stack multiple oscillator banks to create thick unison sounds:

Unison Mode Normal - This is the default setting and allows oscillator A and B to be used in standard operating mode, as you would expect from any analogue synthesizer.

Unison Mode Stack A - When selected both SAW and SAW -1 octave waveforms (including saturated waveforms) for Oscillator A are stacked.

Unison Mode Stack B - When selected both SAW and DUAL SAW waveforms for Oscillator B are stacked (including saturated waveforms).

Unison Mode Super - When selected both Stack A and Stack B modes will play simultaneously (7 oscillators) giving a huge beating unison effect.

Another unique feature found on the raw oscillator page is our extensively scripted oscillator drift function. The oscillator drift control applies randomness to the pitch of the raw pages Osc A and Osc B waveforms.



This is used to simulate the wavering and unstable tuning imperfections often found in vintage analogue synthesizers. Each time a number is generated, the pitch of the oscillator randomly wavers up and down, in increments dependant on the speed and depth controls. Sounds created in the raw oscillator page can be modified further using a dedicated amplifier ADSR, switchable filter section and LFO.

Written by Dan Byers of Wave Alchemy