Moog Taurus I

The Moog Taurus I (Model 205A) is a foot pedal-operated monophonic synthesizer with 13 pedals, introduced in the mid-1970s. Originally it was part of a Moog 'Constellation' synthesizer system, which never went to production so the Taurus pedal was issued as a standalone unit (inspired by pedals on an organ). It has memory consisting of three basic preset sounds - bass, brass and 'Taurus' - and one for a user-created program. Sound shaping controls are located behind a plastic lid to prevent accidental tweaking with the foot. Also, there's an octave button so the Taurus can be tuned between a range of 5 octaves, and pitch glide & decay.

Mike Rutherford's Moog Taurus I pedals
Mike Rutherford was a primary user of the Moog Taurus pedals with Genesis. He'd been using them since A Trick Of The Tail in 1975/76, replacing the Dewtron Mister Bassman pedals. He used the Taurus to fill out on basslines simultaneously while playing guitar during live shows, and sometimes for studio work as well. He also interfaced the Taurus I with a Moog Source keyboard as early as Genesis' 1983 self-titled album, but would take this to the stage on the We Can't Dance tour.

At some point, he also tried the Moog Taurus II, but stuck to the original Taurus pedals until the 2007 Turn It On Again. As of 2022, Mike still has seven sets of the original Moog Taurus pedals but none of them were deemed reliable. Daryl Stuermer had also used a set of Moog Taurus pedals with Genesis in concert.

Quotes on the Moog Taurus
"'I had gotten a bin-and-horn speaker set-up; it was a three-way system with deep reflex cabinets for the bass guitar and [Moog] Taurus bass pedals, plus a high-frequency horn and a Crown amp. I found that the Taurus pedals were also a great improvement over my old ones. They’re designed so that if you make a tone or octave change while a note is sounding, the change won’t occur until the next note is hit. That’s very handy.'"

Phil Collins' Moog Taurus I
Phil Collins owned a set of Moog Taurus pedals as well - he had one around at his home studio, which he used for Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going (e.g. "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Do You Know, Do You Care?"). His Moog Taurus was also listed in the program for the Duke tour (1980).