The Toro by Behringer is a compact clone of the famous pedal synthesizer Moog Taurus 1, which was produced from 1975 to 1981. In favour of the compact, rackable housing, Behringer in the reissue does without the large foot pedals for note input, which were designed for organ and keyboard players at the time. In one fell swoop, the bulky cabinet was slimmed down considerably and the two-foot sliders were replaced by large, easy-grip knobs. Primarily designed as a bass synthesizer, Toro respectively Taurus 1 blends in between fat, bone-crunched and abyssal into the sonic scene and knows how to convince with its oppressive sound.
The stuff basses are made of
Like the original, the Toro's analogue tone generation focuses on the essentials. The two oscillators with sawtooth waveform have a range of about five octaves and deliver a growl and impact that is unparalleled, especially in the lower registers. Oscillator 1 is only switchable in three-octave positions, the second tone generator can be tuned coarse and fine, furthermore, the volume ratio between the two oscillators is adjustable. To process the massive basic sound, a 24dB Lowpass filter is used, which has already been heard in the big Moog modular system. It grabs powerfully and colours the sound very strongly. As far as modulation is concerned, the Toro gets by with two envelopes. One attack/sustain/decay envelope is dedicated to the VCA, a shortened attack/decay envelope modulates the filter.
What else?
The bottom edge of the Toro is adorned with seven buttons. The first four switch between the original presets Toro (Taurus!), Tuba and Bass and give access to the sound-shaping sliders in Variable mode. The presets have become popular across all styles of music and have even been immortalized as sample presets in some digital synths! The other three buttons have a switching function; with Glide the set glide value is switched on or off, Decay affects the envelope phases and Octave changes the octave position. Due to the omission of note pedals, the Toro is equipped with a MIDI input and also receives notes via the USB port. Those who wish to operate the Toro in a modular context can remove it from its case and install it in an Eurorack enclosure, where it will take up 80TE of space. Control voltage inputs for pitch, filter and gate make the Toro fully analogue controllable.
Features:
Manufacturer:
Behringer
Construction / Number of Keys:
Desktop without keyboard
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