Analog Distortion: Minitaur!

MK7 · 2014-04-13T19:28:18.000Z

I was looking for a nice crunchy overdrive guitar pedal for some dirt in my “cue” send channel. Then I got the idea to route audio through the Minitaur and cranking input gain up via the RNLA comp’s gain stage. The Minitaur’s distortion can go from subtle to heavy, and you also got a nice, creamy analog filter in the box! That’s some serious analog drum support for the Octatrack!

You guys always like to hear a demo. Here it comes:
https://soundcloud.com/marc-und-moritz/gear-demo-analog-distortion

Jomox MBrane -> RNLA (just for gain purposes) --> Minitaur --> Octatrack, where BRR, Reverb and Filter are applied. The MBrane is audio-trigged via Cue out. One cue out goes to the MBrane, the other one back to an audio input, so that the tom gets layered with a hihat, but I plugged the second cable (hihat layer) out so that you can hear what’s going on with the tom/mbrane.

The demo focuses on the distortion, wouldn’t use such a heavy distortion in a live set.

Huck_Farper · 2014-04-14T01:34:19.000Z

nice idea.

how long have you had your mbrane for? I’m thinking about grabbing one next week… I think they sound awesome.

I love my mbase.

subq · 2014-04-14T05:34:29.000Z

Very nice!

I may get flamed for saying it but the minitaur is probably my favorite synth module.

Turn the resonance down and you can get a brutal bass, start to close the filter and turn the the resonance up and the bass turns to liquid and starts oozing out.

MK7 · 2014-04-14T06:45:20.000Z

[quote=““Huck Farper””]
nice idea.

how long have you had your mbrane for? I’m thinking about grabbing one next week… I think they sound awesome.

I love my mbase.

[/quote]

It’s a great little device with some nice analog unpredictability, not like the A4 and probably AR. I wouldn’t base the main beat on it, because it’s difficult to predict what happens when making slight changes to the parameters, but I use it to fill the sound while straight drums (kick, hat, snare) are available from another source and melodies are having a break.
If you like the MBase, buy it! it has a lot of sonic flexibility and can make nice fat toms, snares, percussions.

Deedrah · 2014-04-14T06:47:56.000Z

Cool! Sounds super smooth.

I’m running a similar setup with my TR8 going through Arturia Microbrute. MB’s overdrive (“brute factor”) goes from subtle to Extreme and has a very distinct sound. I personally love it. The filters are also lovely.

Here’s a demo with the TR-505 (not mine). Not enough tweaking but you get the idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0yr5efv7Q4

Anyone using a drum machine should consider a setup similar to these. It really makes a huge difference. Plus you get an analog synth!

Peoplemuver · 2014-04-14T07:21:39.000Z

Cool sounds great!

MK7 · 2014-04-14T11:37:55.000Z

""Deedrah"":

Anyone using a drum machine should consider a setup similar to these. It really makes a huge difference. Plus you get an analog synth!

good point!

LaughingAnimal · 2014-04-14T17:05:56.000Z

[quote=“” subq""]
Very nice!

I may get flamed for saying it but the minitaur is probably my favorite synth module.

Turn the resonance down and you can get a brutal bass, start to close the filter and turn the the resonance up and the bass turns to liquid and starts oozing out.
[/quote]

I got a Minitaur a few weeks ago, having owned about ten other synths (all modern production), and I feel the same about it. I love being able to utilize the under the hood functions with the Octatrack.

I think you can turn up the Minitaur’s input gain to 200% using a certain CC#, which may reduce the need for the RNLA, but I also enjoy the sound of the rnla with the gain cranked.

subq · 2014-04-14T17:36:27.000Z

yep, I’m also using the OT to sequence the minitaur via midi and putting LFOs on some CC# = bass bliss

I actually plan on hooking the A4 to it (CV) as well.