TAIGA Review // What if Bob Moog & Don Buchla collaborated on a synth in the 70s? // Tutorial

[@AlfonsoMuchacho]

Sounds great, can't wait to sneak this into the house under the cover of darkness

[@thisjustin77]

Has to be under the radar cause my wife gonna drop kick me

[@chrisj5547]

Haha wife bad

[@chriskelvin248]

Thank goodness for headphones

[@supercompooper]

and when you are asked you say: "This? Why it's always been here, I just moved it so now you notice it??"

[@chriskelvin248]

@@supercompooper omg, I JUST pulled this on my wife with the new gaming PC….

[@Genshi]

Fun fact: Bob Moog and Don Buchla actually did collaborate once, on the "Piano Bar" - a MIDI Controller for acoustic pianos.

[@loopop]

yes, not quite what I would have imagined!

[@Genshi]

@@loopop me neither. It would have been pretty amazing if they worked on an actual synth together.

[@beezzarro]

Every time I see buchla, the price always has many more zeroes behind it than I can fathom. So I imagine this piano bar cost about $450,000,000

[@Genshi]

@@beezzarro that's just silly. All manufacturers base their prices on the Build of Materials (BOM) plus a specific formula to get to their wholesale and retail prices that is fairly standard in the industry. In the case of the Piano Bar, it retailed for $1500.

[@beezzarro]

@@Genshi I mean the number I mentioned was, of course, a joke. But Buchla gear is insanely priced. You cannot convince me that you need to be paying $2k for a rhythm generator when there are 10+ alternatives for a quarter of that.

[@sabrosapurr]

That jam at the end was awesome.

[@fsuchs]

Great to see Pittsburgh modular back in innovation! Future purchase!

[@StephanieSante]

Really nice tones. Definitely very interesting.

[@shpongled587]

This is the best looking synth I've seen in a long while. It is very special for sure!

[@BarbieChaite]

you never saw a roland sh-5...

[@re8et355]

West Pest is good cost half the price, very nice lookin also somwht similar but patterns, taiga has seq also but Pest is better seq.

[@IrrationalExuberance]

​@@re8et355 800 / 2 = 250 in your world... okay

[@reecedeyoung6595]

​@@re8et355 bruh west pest is ugly 🪳

[@ktreier]

My Taiga lives in a 5 module rack with a Subharmonicon, Mother-32 and 2 x DFAM all playing nicely with each other. This video, like so many other Loopop videos was instrumental in my purchase decision. I am looking at switching out the Attack pots for logarithmic equivalents to see if it gives finer control over short attack times. Keep up the good work Ziv (and stay safe).

[@ajmccarthy3896]

Got mine today, thanks for this detailed review/walkthrough. Beautifully designed synth.

[@goingmodular]

No connexion with our previous discussion, but since I am around: Let me thank you for the work you do for the community with your channel. Your reviews and demos have been of great help assembling my setup when I decided to give a try at modularity, a few months ago. 👍

[@FernandoAb]

The knobs are so beautiful! Love the colours.

[@jazzjeffjazzjeff]

I’ve always been a huge fan of low pass gates, that organic pluck just can’t be beaten!

[@sideshowbob80]

Awesome outro. The longer I follow your channel, the more I come for the music than the gear🎉

[@loopop]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@dosgos]

That intro sounded incredible.

[@Somewhere_sometime_somehow]

Absolutely stellar effort by Pittsburgh Modular

[@Broodjepom]

The outro was so good.

[@loopop]

Thanks!

[@LarsBjerregaard]

Sounds fantastic, as anything from Pittsburgh does. Finally a suitable heir and upgrade from the SV1. You went all Suzanne Ciani on it a few times there, and there definately is a Buchla'esque character peaking through. Very delightful and the LPG seems to sound great. Thanks for a great review Ziv!

[@wurlinnawurl]

Microvolt might not be a upgrade, but had buckets of character and was atleast as good as sv1. Much better than it seemed and still had a quality that even this is not quite there.. it was very lovable once you actually used it, way more dense then it seemed.

[@loopop]

Thanks! Yes in my imagination if Bob and Don had designed it, Suzanne would play it!

[@daniel_mana]

the final jam was absolutely amazing

[@edwardfletcher7790]

I really like the design, features and layout 👍

[@os_ros]

Me too, Unfortunately I don't like the sound :(

[@leroycarr9]

Great review, as always. Been dragging my feet about stepping into modular/hardware, mainly because of $$. Took a sound design course using Reaktor which gave me a foundation. This Taiga may be just what does it for me. The price seems very reasonable for what you get. Thanks.

[@bobfamiliarmusic]

Beautiful in both looks and sound

[@hoagy_ytfc]

You make these instruments sound so mucn more musical than most reviewers. I always checkout sonicstate too, but this channel is thedaddy. Only a few seconds into this video I'm thinking "want". That sweep of the third oscillator at about 0:53 turned it from want to buy.

[@timdanyo898]

Beautiful looking synth!

[@yvesbajulaz]

Super cool, so much goodies packed into one box! High on my wish list

[@DawlessHouseMusic]

This is looking like my first semi-modular purchase ever.

[@gregkrukemeier2003]

Great review as always. Sold. Huge fan of their modules.

[@trepke2849]

Perfect add on for Moog Studio Bundle!

[@jeejeeBlaps]

Just got through this one and it helped me out a ton. Thanks again for always covering every detail.

[@CRLFNKL]

Home run. Hole in one. Top class. Flying colours Aces high. Oh my.

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

Looks and sounds amazing!

[@avetisk]

Price seems reasonable for the quality and explorative aspect. I would probably have bought it if I wasn’t anti-modular (well, my bank account is at least 😅).

[@PaulBoos]

Great review… this is a fantastic instrument. I always wondered if Pittsburgh Modular would have follow-up act to the excellent Microvolt 3900. I started getting worried they weren’t going to do any more. This would be awesome if this could fit in the Moog tier system (along with the Subharmonicon, DFAM, & Mother-32).

[@coco805]

I just love it. I love the colors, the layout, the design and the sound. It's a home run, way to go Pittsburgh Modular. Hand's-on function per knob with minimal buttons, this is really a great design.

[@laylahassomethingtosay]

I think this looks like a pretty cool instrument! I don't understand why some people in the synth community feel the need to criticize every new piece of gear that isn't made to precisely their taste. If it's not for you, don't waste your time criticizing it-- just focus on the gear that you do like! We're in a wonderful time in which the synth market's diversity has something for everyone😃

[@dirtyduchamp]

I respectfully disagree. I think it is much more useful to be critical of what companies are producing, and what “reviewers” are doing with them. It is so easy to say “ omg I love it, omg I want one” but how is that going to push things forward? Fanboying goes both ways; saying everything is great is the same as saying nothing is.

[@mikeh892]

While it had nothing to do with the sound (which is superb), I found the reflections of the LEDs on the knobs most pleasing, especially when you hit the modwheel.

[@akuro2685]

GAS LEVELS UNSUSTAINABLE

[@DoctorRevers]

Wow that is a great looking and sounding synth. Pittsburgh do amazing things.

[@rhas3859]

Great synth - happy to test soon! Colors match to my Matriach in a perfect way.

[@alexlinegar3429]

Thanks for the comprehensive review, largely informed my choice to purchase a Taiga (and I'm very glad I did!) Such a great sounding synth, my only changes would be 5-pin or usb midi at the back, and I could live without the 'echos' module (...so far. A spring reverb would make a good alternative). Otherwise the oscillators and their shapers sound exceptionally good, as does the filter (always appreciate having a Bandpass) and the LPG makes for very dynamic, vibrant, and useable sounds. My hat goes off to Pittsburgh Modular for innovating while keeping the price sane, the Taiga might not be for everyone but those who love it are going to REALLY love it

[@TwinCitiesOxygen]

Self tuning?

[@OIP_1]

i thought my GAS was cured but this is a fantastic synth, well done pittsburgh modular

[@wicky4473]

This looks like it’s falling right into my way of thinking (today). I’ve been eyeing up the OP-1 Field. Too cool for me/too expensive. Been wanting to go modular but my brain gets frazzled. This has the right amount of contemporary bits and bobs but with old school feel. I like it.

[@userfriendlysounds]

DOB MUCHLA

[@ian84]

Would be awesome to see you review the physical Easel Command; loved your vst Easel overview

[@wurlinnawurl]

Makes you wonder.. how is a less capable synth costs three times as much..

[@os_ros]

@@wurlinnawurl Because it sounds 10X better.

[@wurlinnawurl]

@@os_ros lol.. maybe.. I'm not quite sold on that but fair point.

[@jppaglia1285]

First off, much gratitude to you for your in-depth knowledge and ability to communicate so clearly. I am curious how one might go about learning whether or not Pittsburgh Modular listened to your cons and implemented some changes before officially releasing this? I owned one of their Microvolts, which had the capacity for much beauty but had some very serious issues. Taiga seems very alluring to me but oscillator 1 not being able to produce a square wave and occasionally stuttering causes me some hesitation.

[@loopop]

Thanks and my pleasure. Re the faulty osc 1 square wave/stuttering - I've not seen anyone else complain about that in the comments yet. After this video was published they replaced my synth and it seems to be working fine as far as the square wave. I've not been able to replicate the stuttering yet, but I didn't spend too much time trying, it was a fairly rare occurrence even during the making of this video.

[@jppaglia1285]

@@loopop Ah, ok, cool. Appreciate the response. That's very helpful to know and also means that I have no excuses not to go further into debt by picking up a Taiga :) Still paying off the minifreak I just picked up, but whatever it takes to keep playing. thanks again.

[@sCealt]

Wow! This looks amazing! Love Pittsburgh Modular, they're quite underrated IMHO. Great, concise video on such a deep synth, thanks! Is it "skiff friendly"?

[@loopop]

Thanks! It depends on your definition of skiff… I didnt measure it, it’s quite hefty - please ask the company and let us know back here in the comments?

[@sCealt]

@@loopop Ah I've just read on modulargrid that the depth is 40mm, so I guess it can be considered "skiff", quite a broad term indeed.

[@billgilbride7972]

First mod would be to purchase some sort of direct audio recorder to capture for playback. The TAIGA is mesmerizing in the least. That along with the insanely good control of sound shaping. Another fine review and a t-shirt idea, "I'm jealous of your knobs" image of two synth's, one talking to the other.

[@iwanwesterduin]

Seems like a big brother of the West Pest. Very interesting and I think the price point is quite reasonable.

[@RetiredEE]

Great review!

[@samprock]

More like Buchla 208c married ARP26000m! I think mine will like a friend :) Great playing at the outro Loopop!

[@loopop]

Thanks!

[@robertsutton7949]

Sounds lovely!

[@SynthoidSounds]

Oh no! Yet another synth I may become addicted to and have to get. I do like the form factor, with the patch jacks along the bottom (keeps the cords from covering the controls, easier to associate with functions). As always, you provide an excellent demo, clearly describing functions, how they work and sound like. It's a bit pricey, but does have great sounds and features.

[@valdir7426]

yes it sounds a lot like my west pest which is a good thing. the west pest has a weird Decay/sustain envelope (always a decay from the LPG; and the sustain is an offset), this expands on that with an adsr (which would mean if you add attack there's still the pluck from the lpg). certainly a unique concept.

[@coconutlust470]

Might sell my Make Noise O-coast to get this. Feels like a more powerful version.

[@Vexcz]

this looks just great

[@edmc2]

Love the sound

[@twatmunro]

Sounds fantastic. Price isn't terrible either.

[@JordanService]

Sounds amazing.

[@TPsynth]

Ticking all the boxes 😮

[@IdoSchacham]

This sounds like the bomb

[@Garethduffy707]

Wow…sounds so good, serious synth

[@Goettel]

Great sounding and fair priced. Only thing I miss is 3-note paraphony.

[@biggrime]

Can you wavefold external audio. Just got tiaga. I can't seem to wavefold external audio

[@soysos.tuffsound]

No, there's no way to do that. There's so much internal conditioning and processing of the oscillators before they go into the warp circuit and wave folders.

[@biggrime]

@hermanpearl1430 thanks for the response. I've learned since my comment. Maybe looking adfing at a mavis. However taiga on its own does satisfy my folding dreams

[@Giitzerland]

When you pack knobs that close together, I think it would be nice if they took on a more conical shape, with the indicator still on the outside, allowing us to manipulate without fear of touching an adjacent knob.

[@AlexReidStudios]

I wanna buy a modular rack just to pair this with my subharmonicon

[@cp99music]

I really love how the 60hp Moog form factor is becoming its own “format” that other manufacturers are using.

[@couchcamperTM]

moog factor? it's 19", a very old industry standard.

[@cp99music]

@@couchcamperTM oh I had no idea, the first time I saw it was on the Mother 32 hence me thinking it was a Moog thing. The more you know!

[@laylahassomethingtosay]

@@cp99music your original comment was correct. According to Modular Grid, it looks like there was one 60hp full-voice module prior to the Mother-32, but it seems relatively unknown and I don't see any attempts at running it in a standalone enclosure. So I would say Moog certainly gets credit for introducing or at the very least popularizing the format. I think couchcamper was referring to the vertical U measurements that 19" standardized (eurorack being 3U), rather than the horizontal HP measurements that you were referring to, as 19" racks have 84hp of usable space. I promise I'm not trying to fill up this comment section with corrections-- just wanted to clear up what seemed to be a miscommunication😅

[@couchcamperTM]

@@cp99music don't worry, some people even think Al Gore invented the internet 😂

[@couchcamperTM]

@@laylahassomethingtosay no, I was referring to what I was referring to: 19" synths are nothing new. It is correct, that Eurorack with its vertical 3U was inspired by 19" racks, though. but even that was not a moog idea nor did moog start the trend to put Eurorack into 19" racks. that's both Doepfer.

[@h3llo_wor1d]

Was thinking about buying this, recently picked up a Microvolt 3900 and loved it

[@mikenoface]

Five seconds into the video... My 0-Coast is looking at me very nervously....

[@Alphastare23]

Nice one, congrats to PM for putting out another killer instrument!

[@DJANTONIVS]

Loved the Ciani-esqued inspired sequence. 😊🥰

[@stephenroldan5107]

Yeah!!!! I still own a system 10. That's synth has the deepest bass I've ever heard. This reminds me of the pico

[@jjjohnson834]

Sounds super groovy

[@CatFish107]

Right on, Ciani riffs for outro!

[@wickeddubz]

Looks nice and promising. It will be great to connect it with Crave, because patch panels are located in similar way

[@frantsel5711]

ok this is pretty fantastic!

[@Chasing_Thoughts]

I genuinely hope they build these better than their Cre8 stuff

[@aurexlive]

For those who are wondering about the envelopes: apparently, Taiga uses the same envelopes with the same response as the Lifeforms SV-1. I contacted Pittsburgh for some more info. The reason why the envelope is reacting like that is because Loopop had the Frequency CV knob turned full right. That means the CV from the envelope was maxing out the filter frequency for much of the response and not following the natural curve of the envelope.

[@mattsmith1440]

Thanks for the info!

[@loopop]

I tried various mod depths and while it does improve slightly if you take the depth down, it still seems like you need to make very fine knob movements if you want various versions of snappy envelopes

[@aurexlive]

@@loopop hmm that's a pitty, I think Taiga is perfect for me but I'm wondering if I will feel annoyed by this when using it a lot.

[@theallmightyanalog]

Now i want one.

[@motoboy6666]

The design isnt terrible, nice

[@Dogboy73]

Just got a Taiga. Struggling with it out of the box. I followed the quick start guide but it still behaving hella weird! Really odd. I'm triggering from an Arturia Minialb 3. Can see the LED's on the ADSR's triggering when I pres a key. But, they're not behaving well at all. And everything else sounds pretty off as well. Very odd. Not sure if it's broken or am just doing something silly! Any tips?! May have to get onto Pittsburgh I think 😕

[@AveragePicker]

I did a factory reset....actually quite a few in all... but something was set weird on mine and the reset seemed to help. Dropping it down an octave or two from its default also helped get better sounds out of it. I really thought mine might be defective but the more I've played with it the more I've realized it is me. Where I play, the lighting is not great and the LEDs on it are way too bright and I have found myself putting it into odd modes accidentally too which doesn't help. I've also had better results when knobs are not turned all the way down but are nudged up at least a tiny tiny bit.

[@IntiAlonso]

The East Beast and West Pest need a panel overlay and knobs in the Taiga style!

[@tonyhill2318]

Goddamn, this is the most brilliantly designed synth I think Ive ever seen. And it sounds so good. I didn't think I'd ever want to replace my neutron but I'd trade it in a second for this.

[@KrumpusPlunk]

I just ordered a neutron and it hasn’t even arrived yet and I already can’t help thinking the same :D

[@Giitzerland]

I doubt I'd see the sun for a few weeks if I had one of these .

[@Turbo_TechnoLogic]

Gas gas gas! I'm gonna step on the gas... nnoooooo

[@erlendmagnussen8922]

Impressive! also in size and price

[@awpMusic1]

No USB? So how would you do firmware updates in the future?

[@loopop]

There’s a usb port on the board - you just need to take it out of the enclosure

[@mthomas1091]

You had me at pastel knobs 🥺

[@iamyila]

cool synth!

[@hughthemusicalengineer4365]

Could take a photo of the panel to help to record some sort of preset. My Taiga should arrive today. Looks and sounds great.

[@mynameisnotcory]

Ooh man this thing looks juicy

[@friza1986]

29:10 - * East Beast and West Pest are Cre8Audio's products, not Pittsburgh's.

[@soysos.tuffsound]

Richard and Michael from Pittsburgh designed the EB & WP. PM is in partnership with Cre8

[@PaulBoos]

Back to a curiosity question, is this compatible with the Moog tiered set-up? That would be so cool if it were. I'd put this at the bottom of the 4 tiered system as this would be the one I'd most want to drive from a keyboard or sequencer like Analogue Solutions' Generator.

[@UncleJimima]

@Paul Boos - I’m curious if this is pretty much just the next iteration of their Voltage Research Lab - All “west coast / additive”. Not much like the SV-1 at all. I own the Voltage Research Lab and I have LOVED - but this seems like an updated version with some extra bills and whistles. Andy one want to purchase a MINT Voltage Research Lab (with the wooden encasing and the the tough-pad). I also have a MOOG fest version of the original subharmonicon I’m unsure if I’m going to get rid of.

[@BigEmptyZero]

Been wondering if this might get along well with my moog subharmonicon. Sounds like it might...

[@dillipphunbar7924]

Peninsula coast synthesis...nice combination and extensive patchbay.

[@thalesfechner340]

That intro tune was awesome. Very Ciani! Would love to play with this in quad. I wonder what Suzanne Ciani would make of this synth

[@pilockakrach]

hey thanks for this review)) which analysis tools that you screen in are you using?

[@loopop]

Hi, I use MOscilloscope and MAnalyzer by a company called Melda - they’re free with some limitations in the MFreeFXBundle. Occasionally I’ll use scopes by VCV

[@pilockakrach]

@@loopop merci!

[@daniel_mana]

I didn't understand very well how you managed to play two melodies on the final jam, could you please explain? thanks man!

[@loopop]

There's a button that lets you disconnect any osc from keyboard tracking - I did it to osc 3, then played it with the knob (which isn't easy to get the tuning right...). I also created two signal paths for each melody as I explained in the video. Aside from that there's also a paraphonic mode to play two different notes/melodies, also shown

[@daniel_mana]

@@loopop thanks very much!

[@GizzyDillespee]

I noticed on some other YT channels' vids of Taiga, too... the envelope knobs don't have much room in the short times (i.e. "very logarithmic" as you say). That's kind of a bad decision, I think. That's giving me second thoughts. You can do plucks, but there should be a wider knob range in the "pluck zone" of their values, from what I've seen. I can hear good plucks from this, obviously. I think it could've been even better, is what I'm saying.

[@GizzyDillespee]

I also wish the BBD went faster than 16ms. I could live with a little BBD and LPG bleed, in some circumstances. I wish the delay could go faster, tho

[@LukeLendrum]

Can you link those examples as this is very important to me. My Microvolt 3900 is a pluck master so on paper this should be similar? Plus dynamics control on the LPG is amazing.

[@daniel_mana]

ok I decided what my next purchase will be ....fu€#ing fantastic

[@varial303]

I wonder if they are going to make a drum machine version kind of like the DFAM since they did those drum module "experiments" 🧐

[@allgunsblazed9106]

fucking hell I just bought a synth , guess I need another one......

[@gmo2932]

Duophonic is cool but 3 voice paraphonic and it would be a huge hit.

[@loopop]

For sure. I hope they find a way to add it using the pitch output

[@geerhoar]

Richard Nichol said that it’s not three-note paraphonic, because the Taiga has only two physical Digital-to-Audio converters (DACs).