Emulators for the Monomachine & Machinedrum are now available in Joe Landers’ fork of the TUS’s Gearmulator project.
Emulators are the hot topic in the plugin world these days. The Usual Suspects are leading experts in this field, having developed Gearmulator, software that emulates the used ICs of various musical devices to run the original ROM.
The project is open-source, so others can use it too. Berlin-based user Joe Landers has now created a fork of the Germulator with two new emulators of famous Elektron devices: the Monomachine and Machinedrum.
Monomachine & Machinedrum emulators
Yes, this isn’t a fever dream. Emulators now exist for the popular, iconic Elektron devices: the Monomachine and the Machinedrum. Musicians like Autechre, Radiohead (Thom Yorke), The Chemical Brothers, and many more use these instruments.
Berlin-based developer Joe Landers has built a fork of the current Gearmulator version and incorporated these two Elektron emulators. I think it was developed with AI, but I can’t confirm or deny that.
The Motorola DSP56303, which is part of the DSP56300 chip family, made these emulators possible. More precisely, we are talking here about two DSP5603 chips in each instrument.
As with the other emulators, you need the original ROM files for this one as well. I am not providing links to them. Elektron states in his EULA:
You may not and may not permit others to (i) disassemble, decompile or otherwise derive source code from the Software; (ii) reverse engineer or create derative works of the Software (iii) copy the Software; (iv) or use the Software in any manner that violates the terms of this Agreement or infringes Elektron’s intellectual property or other rights.
You may not distribute, rent, sublicense, lease or otherwise make the Software available, directly or indirectly, for use by any other person.
We’ll see whether or not this could lead to problems. So far, the companies haven’t done anything about the current wave of emulators.
Early Alpha Version!
Don’t just rush over to GitHub to download the version. Please keep reading. You should know the project is still in its infancy and in the experimental/early alpha stage. So, many things still aren’t perfect. Some users report very high CPU usage.
Users with older systems, in particular, are warned that their CPUs may be fully utilized. However, it seems other developers have since joined the project. We may see significant progress quickly, especially with CPU usage.
Joe Landers has created not only emulation but also suitable, authentic UIs that you can work with in your DAW. They support key chording and parameter locks, encoder clicking, and secondary functions.
SysEx file send support is also onboard, as well as extensive audio interface functionality. For example, you can route host audio to the machine’s input effects or sampling functions. The VST3 version also supports multi-output, so you can use additional output pairs.
What Are The MM and MD?
We’ve talked a lot about the emulators now, but what were—or are—the Monomachine and Machinedrum? The Elektron Monomachine, built from 2004 to 2016, was a Synthesizer with a powerful sequencer.
It became iconic for its unique digital synth engines, including a SID-based, Speak & Spell-inspired voice synth, DX-style FM+, virtual analog SuperWave, and DigiPro engines. Another key feature that made it famous was the sequencer with its parameter locks.
On the other hand, the MachineDrum was a drum machine/drum Synthesizer with four independent percussion synth engines: TRX (Roland TR), EFM (percussive FM), E12 (sample playback), and PI (physical modeling).
For each drum sound, you can edit it with AM, a 1-band EQ, a multimode filter, distortion, a sample-rate reducer, and delay + reverb effects. It also features an advanced creative drum sequencer with two modes and more.
Two digital instruments that achieved iconic status thanks to their sound and creative possibilities.
Monomachine & MachineDrum: Early Impression
A very exciting project. It’s still in the early stages, and I look forward to seeing how it develops.
The new Monomachine & Machinedrum emulators are available now as a free download on GitHub. They run as a standalone and VST3 plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
More information here: GitHub
Jeez you journalists in pursuit of sensations can spoil anything, I’m afraid now Elektron will try to shut down the project which is only 3 weeks old. Let the project at least take shape and mature before speaking of it.
calm down. Try to shut down like Roland, Yamaha, and all the other chip emulators- um, like Nintendo, etc.
Creating a chip emulator isn’t illegal
I am completely calm, just noting the fact that journalists have no idea what responsibility in providing information means. All you need is a clickbait headline to increase views, which is why you grab onto anything that can trigger it. You couldn’t care less about the damage this can cause to a project in its early stages. Nintendo, for your information, has shut down more than a thousand emulation projects on github
I am reporting on a project that is being discussed publicly on YouTube, GitHub, and other platforms. I do not see any clickbait. My job is to write about synth news. This is a piece of news in which people are interested.
Next time, I could even talk about a half-eaten pear or a sack of rice tipping over in China—if that might trigger you less. Maybe they have an included emulator as well.
Clickbait refers to misleading, exaggerated, or sensationalized headlines. There are plenty of other websites that consist of only of clickbait and nothing other than that. I’m not in that because my titles say what is in the article:
“Monomachine and MachineDrum emulators ✅ yes, there are emulators
“iconic Elektron instruments” ✅ they are seen as iconic
“for your DAW”: yes there run in your DAW ✅
And the responsibility remains with the developer and their AI agent. They created and published it. Publish means making it available to general public, including media. I am reporting it. That’s it.
If such things aren’t meant to become public knowledge or reported/discussed in public, it’s better not to publish them at all and keep them on the private system. Don’t forget in your concern: when projects like this gain visibility, other developers also jump on board and help the creator.
Any project can be taken offline. Even big commercial products. So far, however, no synth chip emulator has been taken offline. Maybe the synth companies are more open minded than Nintendo. If it does happen, you just have to live with it, because the devs are operating in a legal gray area. But you know that anyway.
Cheers
thank you ChatGPT
journalism and blogging at its best
no responsibility, no substance, no effort. Just watch my ads and click affiliate links.
have a nice day
The brilliance of doing emulators like this is that it’s no different than the decades of console emulators we’ve had. Nintendo cartridges were just ROMs, after all, and if you put an emulator out in the world and don’t include any ROMs it’s very well established that there’s no breach of the law anywhere (and if there were ANY company that would love to kill off emulation over the years, it is Nintendo, so if they couldn’t do it you can rest assured nothing will happen to these emulators).
What a weird take. Wow.
Elektron abuses their user base as beta testers. My Tonverk is almost is almost a year old and still full of bugs and incomplete. If Elektron can actually drop unfinished products in stores than why are you complaining against Synth Anatomy for his coverage on something that is in the public domain?
This is the internet I love, showing you know nothing and being aggressive.
There is one case of a shut down emulators (that are legal) and this is a switch emulators, because the product is still alive AND Nintendo has so much money that no one wants to try to defend itself (even if after years of procedure they will probably win).
Here the two products are no longer sold (Like Gamecube, Wii, etc……); Elektron has no interest in losing money and reputation (because, once again, all of this is legal — in certain conditions that are met in that case) for two products from which they do not make any money.
Finally, you’re mad just because you think everybody (Elektron and SynthAnatomy) is an asshole, without knowing anyone’s intentions and anticipating highly improbable future events.
Perfection 👍, you made my day.
Rhoooo let’s put this on IOS please !!!!
this is great but these boxes are built for physical interaction. If you have one, loading your sessions from the box to your daw would be handy. But an emulation by itself is a very different experience and i would assume result.
Yeah, but different is good! If a different experience is had, and different result that is useful and enjoyable is achieved, I see it as a win 🙂
guys, the firmware of these machines has been reversed engineered years ago and there is a wonderful unofficial firmware you can download for free from GitHub, with a good community on Elektronauts. If the emulation is good, then it should load the unofficial firmware. this is overall wonderful news I have a Machinedrum but can’t really justify a mono machine so I can’t wait to play with this plugin. I will say though that machine drums key traction for me is the UI and physicality of it rather than the particular sound, but that’s it. I wouldn’t mind creating something on the physical device and then playing and automating it with ease on the computer.
I believe allowed to post link to githubs:
https://github.com/jmamma/MCL/releases
this is project Justin Valler has been developing for years now with a while new OS for the Machinedrum. It works best with the mcl which a physical controller you need to buy or build (to get probability triggers and such) but even without the MCL the new OS gives you new oscillator types, new FX and loads of cool stuff
At headquarters, the tension is palpable. A sign of weakness. The glorious old days are over.