I keep going back and forth on these two. Anyone owned both of these? Either one have any glaring advantages/disadvantages? Thoughts? Thank you for your time! xJen
I haven’t used one of them - But the Moog has patch-memory’s if that’s important for you.
Depends what you are looking to get out of it.
The DE has PWM, multimode filter, 2 LFO’s, semi modular patchability - but it’s only single oscillator and only has 1 ADSR envelope.
Minitaur is dual oscillator and has the huge Moog low pass filter, only 1 LFO, no PWM, but has separate envelopes for VCA and VCF - very limited pitch range(highest it can go is C4 I believe)
DE would be the better choice for an all around synth due to the full pitch range, multimode filter and patching options, but the Minitaur probably wins out if you are just looking for huge bass or need a dual oscillator setup
Form factor aside, they are very different features wise. Pick which one best suits your needs and go for it.
Minitaur also has a pretty decent software librarian and extra features app to go with it. This also allows you to control Minitaur knobs from your DAW if you wish.
Not having PWM isn’t that big a deal since you can get a similar effect (that chorus-like sound) by having one osc be slightly detuned from the other.
Minitaur can also act like a standalone filter for external sources if you want to sweeten another synth with the Moog filter.
Dark Energy seems to have more CV control options (Minitaur has 4 cv control points). If you prefer CV over midi DE may be a better choice.
Mostly I just use the Minitaur when I want a fifth A4 track with a bit more bottom than the A4 can produce.
That said, if you have an Octatrack or Analog Rytm you could get many similar sounds with single cycle wave samples and not have the hassle of one more machine.
Detuned oscillators and PWM sound nothing alike, nor does PWM sound like chorus.
I would say not having PWM in the Minitaur is it’s biggest drawback, and I can’t for the life of me think of why they omitted it, especially on a synth with only saw or pulse waveforms, and considering all of their modern synths have continuously variable waveforms. Seems a very odd feature to leave out
The one really brings out the best in the other. I found the Minitaur a bit dull sounding as far as the Moog range went.
But it really came to life once I started modulating it with the Dark Energy LFO’s. Of the two, the Dark Energy rocks the most. Its like 5 Eurorack modules in a self-contained synth which still allow access to the module parts.
I find the Werkstatt more interesting than the Minitaur. Fast LFO, plenty of mod points, the distinct Moog sound, audio input and the possibility to get into the really special sounds you’d get from the bigger synths.
Control it from the A4 and you got a minitaur basically. Maybe not with total patch recall, but that is like half the fun.
I suppose it really boils down to the sounds you want to get out of it and how easily you want to recall that sound.
Detuned oscillators and PWM sound nothing alike, nor does PWM sound like chorus.
I think they do, wanna fight about it?
Chorus: variant of delay effect where one or more copies of the original sound are played at slightly different speeds (aka detuned) to create a lush sound.
A full chorus effect tends to sound more lush than basic detuning because it uses four or eight copies instead of the one.
Detuning: With two similar oscs you can create a simple chorus effect by detuning one against the other.
PWM: Effect of modulating the pitch width over time. You can simulate this feature with two osc and a LFO as demonstrated in:
To my ears there are sonic similarities between all three techniques.
As far as a full-featured PWM feature, maybe I overstated it by “not that big a deal” but it can be simulated somewhat on the Minitaur. One of the default patches by Moog is named “PWM-ish”.
shout out for the original DE, may not be simple to pick up and price differential may not be so favourable, but it has a few tricks up its sleeve and has a more musical filter than the svf de2 (imo) - the fun is at the extremities of the DE if you’re into pushing the envelope - a real (albeit modest) true VCO does sound rather special - they’re also very hackable
Those are the two mono synths I use. 
DE is great, lots of strange timbres available. It was my first analog synth so I used to use it for bass but it doesn’t even compare to the Minitaur for that. It’s great for leads and sfx. The auto rate lfo’s are where it’s at, and great for modulating other synths with cv. I think the pwm is one of the best i’ve heard.
The Minitaur is just awesome for bass. Leads are nice too before you reach the note limit, but it is limited overall. I’d say it’s most satisfying synth purchase, the super stable oscillators are great too (DE’s vco is also very stable- comparing to the temperature-sensitive oscillators in my Slim Phatty, ugh).
The two together is a great combo, but if you primarily want bass, Minitaur wins imo.
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