Hi guys,
I’m torn between the Moog Sub 25 and the Minitaur. I’m mainly after big, round bass sounds. I tried the Sub 25 and it sounds awesome, but I’ve also watched quite a few Minitaur demos on YouTube and can’t decide.
Anyone here who’s used both? Any difference in the bass?
Thanks in advance for your feedback!
The subsequent is ultimately going to give you many more sonic options, and the sequencer, although a bit fidly, is not to be under estimated. I have the sub37 and its in my top 5, but also have a sub phatty that i grew tired of quite quickly. The difference that paraphony, 2 lfos and the sequencer make, take the core sound to way more exciting territory.
From my experience with Sub37, which might be similar to Subsequent25 and Minitaur I would say:
If you are more interested in bass sounds, I would recommend to check out the Minitaur, otherwise consider the Subsequent25.
Not quite the same thing, I appreciate, but I’ve had a Minitaur and currently own a Sub Phatty. If bass is what you need, Minitaur is an incredible way to get there and I absolutely love it. I foolishly sold mine to buy a Sirin (and was then offered daft money for the Sirin so intended to buy another Minitaur… but got the Phatty instead).
Unless you need the keys, Minitaur is the bass master.
If space is no issue, I’d be getting the Sub25 over the Minitaur, mainly for the better, more performative, interface. Sounds wise, either would be fine for bass.
I had a Sirin and my friend has a Sub25 — price and size are the only reasons I would ever pick the Minitaur, and even then, I would work pretty hard to fit the Sub25 into my budget.
The Sirin/Minitaur sound very nice, I’ll give them that. But there’s no PWM or even static control over pulse width, no dedicated overdrive (although the mixer does distort nicely), Osc 2 can only be tuned ± an octave, and there are more hidden functions than I could personally tolerate. Sub25 has lots of behind-the-panel features too, but at least you can control LFO shape, hard sync, and filter key tracking without MIDI or memorization.
I also had ground loop issues when using USB MIDI, which isn’t the synth’s fault, but it makes the control plugin a lot less useful IMO. You can send information FROM the plugin on 5-pin to avoid the ground loop, but then any changes you make on the synth panel aren’t captured in your DAW. The Sub25 has MIDI In and Out on 5-pin, which makes it a lot easier to integrate into a DAW workflow.
YMMV — you’ll see my complaints are pretty specific, and the Minitaur will give you great results. But the Sub25 has a lot more flexibility and a lot fewer compromises IMO.
I had the ground loop issue too but discovered that a grounded USB cable sorted it out. Alternatively you can blank out one of the pins on the USB-B connector and it serves the same purpose
Here’s what I did, in case that helps anyone
I have the sub 37 and Minitaur. If it’s for bass I pick the Minitaur every time. They really do sound wonderful together.
Sub 25 is not really a successor to sub 37 (it’s closer to Sub Phatty). As far as I know it’s also the only moog (at least at the time of release) with bass compensation when using resonance while others cut a lot of bass even with moderate resonance. Imo sub 25 is a fantastic bass synth. Minitaur is fantastic as well but really limited comparatively.
Is this true for the Subsequent 25? I thought it had the same filter as the Subsequent 37.
Sub 25 has filter drive that adds bass.
Subsequent 37 has that, too.
Thanks for your feedback, guys!
The sound of the Moog Subsequent 25 is really good. I’ve tried it several times and I know it well from playing at a friend’s place. But when you listen to demos of the Moog Minitaur, it really makes me question my purchase decision.
Despite the greater versatility of the Subsequent 25, I don’t think it quite delivers that same level of care and character you hear in the Minitaur.
First off, as stated before, the Subsequent 25 is not a Subsequent 37 light; it is rather a SubPhatyy ++. Duophony, feedback, higher headroom mixer: here are the main evolutions over the SP.
It does not have any sequencer, it does not have any bass compensation circuit in the filter (unlike the most recent Messenger).
If one has tried out a Sub Phatty, then they know what the Subsequent 25 sounds and feels like.
I’ll skip the form factor and price points here for obvious reasons.
The Minitaur, as a successor/clone of the Taurus bass pedals, has special circuits for this bass sound. While it cannot sing higher than a C5, you can use it for not-too-high leads and pads. On a side note, the Sirin can go over C5 and should sound just as the Minitaur.
Function wise, what does the Subsequent have that Minitaur does not have?
Some differences have been pointed out before:
)Besides all those facts, here is a story. I’ve been playing a Little Phatty (the elder brother) for years now in bands, as a bass in one of my projects. To avoid transporting it every week, I’ve also used my friend’s SubPhatty. It was kind of equivalent. While I have never had the opportunity to play the Minitaur, I can says that the Phatty do make good impressions on stage as far as basses. So at the end of the day, to me, it all comes down to this question: is the sound difference important enough to you to consider giving up the Sub’s features?
If I was in your shoes, I would buy a used Minitaur to try it out. You will be able to resell it if you finally choose the Sub over it.
Hope this helps
PS: if you want more details about the Little/Slim Phatty, feel free to ask.
Interesting! How come?
Well, I sometimes miss only one type of sounds ADS envelopes do not allow but full ADSR envelopes do: those short decay/long release ones that remind all kind of metallophones.
However, in my daily use, I often play without presets and in this context, I find more convenient to have only three knobs and a Release toggle switch. It allows for quicker changes from long, paddy sounds to more fast ones like basses.
EDIT: I’m thinking… this might be biased by the fact my main band/stage synth is the LP, which does not allow to manipulate 4 knobs at once for the envelopes, unlike the synth I use at home.
EDIT 2: I tried out a Prophet 5 a few months ago and I was surprised to see ADS evelopes and a “Release” switch on a polysynth. I loved the way switching on/off the release changed the sound character, it is very “physical”, “acoustic”.
The Minitaur can also sync the 2 wave forms. It’s a hidden function like hard sync. Either of these synths deliver a great bass sound. The portability of the Minitaur helped sway my decision. Also, having heard TD use it at a show, was the icing on the cakes. It sounds massive. Or not. That’s up to you.
Hmm could have sworn that I saw a presentation at release that it was an updated filter but can’t find so might be that I’m just imagining it:)
You are correct and I made a mistake. Please allow me to clarify: