Cherry Audio has introduced Lowdown Bass Synthesizer, a new software synthesizer based on the most renowned dual-oscillator bass pedal synth ever made, the Moog Taurus.
The original analog gear was the first dedicated foot-controlled bass synthesizer outside of a handful of organ-oriented instruments. Its colossal tone was an integral part of top acts of the 70s and 80s, including Rush, Yes, Genesis, U2, and The Police.
It was more than just a standard monosynth with pedals attached. It used Hz/oct oscillator scaling, instead of the more common volts/oct oscillator scaling), which allows the detuning amount to remain constant across the range, minimizing the phase cancellation of two oscillators playing simultaneously.
While the Hz/octave design of the original meant that it was only practical to use within a limited range (like the more recent Minotaur synth), Cherry Audio’s virtual version doesn’t have that physical limitation.
Features:
- Virtual analog emulation of the renowned monophonic bass pedal synth
- Beyond bass: propel Lowdown from the fat deep end and up to soaring leads
- Massive dual oscillators (Saw, Square)
- Throaty 24dB/octave lowpass filter with controls for Cutoff, Emphasis, and Contour
- Single-button access to Bull, Tuba, and Bass three factory presets
- Variable live-panel mode, available with a single click
- Additional one-button controls to activate Glide, Decay, and Octave
- Loudness and Filter master “foot” sliders
- Recessed panel provides access to programmable functions: Tune, Beat, Glide, Octave, Mix, and OSC B Frequency
- Rendered and animated foot pedal keyboard
- Select from 14 under-the-pedals floor surfaces
- Over 40 presets in an extensive preset browsing menu, and unlimited user preset storage
- Full MIDI control
- Full DAW automation for all controls
Pricing and Availability:
Cherry Audio Lowdown is available now, with an intro price of $25 USD. .
I am really happy with the many Cherry Audio products I have purchased. They’re great fun and sound pretty darn authentic.
But this one, while it sounds great and really does appear to replicate the Moog Taurus, is kind of a waste. It’s just another basic, subtractive synthesizer the functions and sound of which could be easily duplicated with either the Cherry Audio modular stuff or their wonderfully skewmorphic replicas of, for example, the MINIMOOG.
Hey, Cherry Audio – let’s make your next virtual synthesizer something more unique. Do something like and EMS VCS-3 (or AKS) or maybe a Buchla Music Easel or a Mellotron or maybe a sampler like an Emulator or a Fairlight.
Yes, you can make the sounds with a Minimoog clone, but the thing about this “Taurus” is that it actually models the real thing. Sometimes it is nice to be able to have a synth provide one simple, but powerful, function. I’ve had the Lowdown since the day it was released and the emulation is very good. I am also lucky enough to have had a real Taurus back in the day. Anybody who remembers what they were actually like, will see that the nostalgia factor alone is enough to justify the cost. Also, that there is a niche for a Taurus app is strongly suggested by the popularity of the Moog Minitaur hardware synth. Using your logic, one might say “Why buy a Minitaur when you can make the same sounds with a Voyager?”.
@ Barney, All synths that you are requesting are already done by Arturia and are part of V Collection 9 or can be purchased individually.
That’s very true but since the VCS3 and Buchla in V collection are RAM eaters that can’t be effectively used in a production with more than 1 or 2 other softsynths, I would welcome Cherry Audio versions of those 2.
An iOS version?
I’m just stopping in on my way to give Cherry Audio my $25. Yeah, it struck me as a somewhat odd choice for emulation – but then it hit me: how many hours or days or weeks of my life have I wasted fumbling around to find just the right bass sound – and surprise, I end up using something like Bull, Tuba, or Bass. Scoff at my unoriginality if you want to. But these are ‘staple’ bass sounds that can be used almost anywhere. Putting them together like this in one package … it just works for me.
And what clinched the deal for me is how one of the 14 ‘floor surfaces’ is the carpet from the Outlook Hotel in Kubrick’s _The Shining_.
I’m with you in liking my own CA synths. They offer great value for the buck. Messing around on the Memorymode is relaxing, like playing Solitaire with Eno rolling in the background.
As to a VCS3 or Buchla, those are pretty esoteric for most players and probably a bit far from home for a smaller software house. The Mellotron, Emulator and Fairlight are essentially samplers that live or die based on their libraries. There could be pricey clearance issues involved. They can already be had elsewhere in different forms, too.
Its hard to suggest anything new that’s not impractical. Dreamsynth would have been hailed as a demigod 20 years ago, but now, every new release is faced with an armload of similar competitors. Its like 9 pups after a mom who only has 8 teats! Half of the synths you can buy are able to sound like half of the others now. What to do? Shut up, I need another synth.
Now do the Moog Source or the Octave Plateau Voyetra 8.
Yes to both, and also the Cheetah.
And the OSCar by Oxford Synthesiser Company
recently upgraded my computers after my faithful 10 year old Dell desktop died and my old MacBook Air could no longer be updated(one of the reasons IMHO Apple sucks).
So I have been getting lots of new plug-ins, side note – Phase Plant is freaking amazing, IMO the best out there right now, but back to Cherry Audio…
I have and use pretty regularly all the CA stuff, they are so affordable, sound pretty damn good and are so easy to install. Do I need a Taurus pedal emulation? Not really but for the $$$ I will support CA, just because IMHO they deserve it and I can easily afford it.
> Now do the Moog Source
There are just one or two aspects to the Source that can’t be had on most other Moogs, IIRC. Not a bad idea, but not much of an addition either.
> or the Octave Plateau Voyetra 8.
Interesting. That’s one of those legendary synths most of us have never really heard. I don’t know if it would be worth the programming time required, for CA or me as a player. Maybe, since “we” are running out of vintage gear to emulate.
> and also the Cheetah.
That thing is legendary in the UK for having a real shite of an OS. Programming from the front panel was worse than that of a Matrix-1000. It had a good voice, too, so it saw mileage as a playback module. Another fringe oddity.
> my old MacBook Air could no longer be updated (one of the reasons IMHO Apple sucks).
My old Macs have kept running for legacy purposes long after the market made ’em obsolete. They’ve been as faithful to the 10-year point as your Dell. You find what works for you. My hardware workstations have made it to 15 years and a bit more, partly because I never got Hot Pockets goo on any of them.
They are weird choices, sure, but we are talking about the guys who cloned the Quadra and the Polymoog, so they have a penchant for making some weird choices.
They’ve been emulating a lot of the old Moogs and working with the Bob Moog Foundation, so maybe we will get a Source or a Sonic Six.
Just the kind of synth we like, among windcontroller players. The most common thing for us to do is to assign breath control to filter cutoff. So, the way the filter reacts is key to whether or not a synth works for us. A smooth legato is also quite important. Tried the demo for a few minutes and the responsiveness is just what we need. No zipping, stepping, or aliasing.
Now that MIDI Learn can work at the patch level on Cherry Audio synths, they’re checking most of our boxes.