Yep, the Minitaur is a lovely synth. Yep, v2 firmware has 100 presets, accessible by program change messages. There's no doubting the amount the bass out of it! Thunderous! The overall timbre is kinda nasal - wasn't sure about it at first, but I've grown to enjoy its character. It's not very flexible in terms of sound design - no noise source, no PWM, limited modulation possibilities... What that means, for me at least, is that it's quick to set up new patches - bass parts rarely are complex, so I don't miss those modulation features, altho PWM would be nice... The Windows editor is a bit flakey -if you do pick one up and you can't seem to get the editor to work, PM me, I may have a workaround - one that worked for me at least. Midi spec is good, far better than the Lancet next to it. Has the old Minimoog trick for overdriving the filter by sending audio from the headphone jack into the audio input - and with the editor, you have access to the potentiometer that controls the level of the audio in, so you really can get some grunt from it. Having it there on the desk as a Moog filter, it is in effect like a basic Moogerfooger too. If you have any CV/gate possibilities, the three CV inputs and the Gate input can be routed to any synth parameter!! I don't have CV capabilities outside the box (yet - my Presonus Digimax FS isn't DC-coupled, so I'd need to do the rectifier circuit job as per the Silent Way trick..), but if you do have these capabilities, it's surely worth a second, or third, look. Of course, due to the Hz/V control voltages, the note range is from 0 to 72 (octave above middle C). So, this synth is a bass synth for more reasons than sound - it can't be anything but a bass synth!
I suggest you pick one up in a shop that will let you return it, or get it second hand - it's a Moog, so you won't be out of pocket if you decide to sell it on.
As for a patchbay app - sounds like an easy thing to code up - wonder if there's an Excel or OpenOffice template for that? And cable labels - I picked up a set of labels that gardeners would use to label and stake their plants! Basically cable ties, with an attached longish plastic label that's easy to cut and that a normal permanent marker has no problems writing on. Works for me! And cheap as chips..
The Vermona Lancet is also a great little synth - more variety of sound, more oscillator shapes, full note range, and it definitely sounds more Moog'y than the Minitaur! Mine came with horrible tuning problems - I'm no synth fixer, but I've definitely improved the tuning by cracking it open and messing with the internal trimpots... Still it's not perfect, especially when the oscillators are tuned more than an octave apart...
NL2 - who doesn't know the NL2. And of course, my trusty Noah EX.
Oh and my basses and guitars! Can't ignore my oldest friends!
What you don't see in that shot is my Korg EX800. Gorgeous sounding synth! Editing it is a bit of a pain, but I think it is one seriously under-rated poly from the heyday of such synths in the early/mid 80s. There's not much in it that the Nord couldn't do, but it has 'that sound' that I associate more with the 80's than even something like a Juno...
Whomever says that it sounds thin does not know how to program it! Send it into a chunky fuzz pedal (like my Way Huge Swollen Pickle, which I think should adorn every studio), sit back, and listen to aggression!
I probably only use 5 or 6 patches from it, so I really should think about sampling it and moving it on (and put the proceeds towards an Ableton Push), but I still love it!
