Developer Joe Landers has released Gearmulator MD/MM, a free and open-source emulation of the Elektron Machinedrum and Monomachine for macOS and Windows.
Landers is also the dev behind Profligacy, the hardware-level Korg Prophecy emulator that we featured yesterday. Gearmulator MD/MM takes a similar approach to two of Elektron’s iconic instruments.
This one isn’t simply inspired by the originals. Gearmulator MD/MM closely emulates the hardware and runs the actual Elektron firmware, recreating the front panels and operating systems inside a plugin or standalone application.
The Machinedrum combines drum synthesis, sequencing, effects, and sampling on UW models, while the Monomachine is a multi-engine digital synthesizer and sequencer. Both machines became modern classics, but used units are expensive, so seeing them running inside a DAW is pretty exciting.
Gearmulator also adds some useful computer-friendly touches. Shift-clicking lets you hold buttons for key combinations and parameter locks, while Option-clicking on macOS or Alt-clicking on Windows presses the Monomachine’s data encoders.
The plugins expose 416 Machinedrum and 348 Monomachine synthesis parameters for DAW automation. Both accept stereo audio from the host, and the VST3 versions provide three stereo output pairs: one for the main output and one each for the individual hardware outputs.
You can also send SysEx files directly from the right-click menu. The video below uses Autechre’s publicly shared Machinedrum and Monomachine data from the group’s 2008 live setup, along with a fan-made Reaper project containing the required tempo, program changes, and automation.
As we’ve recently seen in several similar emulation projects, there is one major requirement.
Gearmulator does not include the copyrighted Elektron firmware, and the developer says it is intended for people who own the original hardware and firmware. You must supply supported complete firmware images before either machine will work.
This is similar to the setup required by Vintage Emulator Studio and The Usual Suspects projects such as OsTIrus and Xenia. It preserves the original software behavior, but it also makes the installation less convenient than a typical free plugin.
The current alpha 12 release lowers Machinedrum CPU use, improves direct control of both interfaces, and fixes several timing and navigation issues. Still, this is alpha software, so I would treat it as a technical preview rather than something to depend on in a real project that you’re working on.
The download comes directly from GitHub, and each package contains both emulators. Windows users get 64-bit VST3 and standalone versions. Separate Intel and Apple Silicon macOS packages include VST3, AU, and standalone formats, although the Mac builds are not notarized and may trigger a security warning.
Download: Gearmulator MD/MM (FREE)
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Last Updated on September 17, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
