Vasily Makarov Releases Free Marazmator Virtual Synthesizer

Vasily Makarov has introduced Marazmator 2.0, a freeware experimental virtual synthesizer available in 32-bit VSTi plugin format for Windows based host applications.

The synthesizer is only offered as a 32-bit VSTi plugin for Windows, however it is not a SynthEdit or FlowStone creation as one might suspect. Marazmator was written in Delphi and the developer spent over ten years making it (according to the info available in the official product announcement). The fact that the plugin was in the making for such a long period of time is probably the reason why the GUI is so small by today’s standards (only 560 pixels wide). On the other hand, Marazmator is a very stable plugin, which is obviously a positive result of such a long development cycle.

The instrument itself is quite a unique offering on today’s plugin market. It is based on three oscillators which can be mixed together or used as modulation sources, paired up with a great sequencer module and a useful set of filters and effects. Marazmator also features a built-in preset manager, a great collection of presets and a powerful randomization module which can be used to randomize all of the available parameters. The included factory presets are quite well made and they are a good indication of the types of sounds that can be created with Marazmator. The instrument shines in the abstract soundscape department, although it is also capable of creating some very interesting drones, sequences and one shot sound effects. Some of the factory presets are quite loud compared to others, so make sure to turn down your speakers while browsing through the available patches. The included reverb module sounds very nice and it is most probably based on the freeware “Ambient Reverb” plugin from the same developer.

During our test run, Marazmator 2.0 was perfectly stable in MuLab 6. Strangely, though, the CPU usage can go anywhere between 8% and 70% (on an i3 processor), depending on the applied settings. The most demanding part of Marazmator’s sound engine is the Pipe module which instantly consumes around 40% of available CPU resources when switched on.

The plugin’s biggest drawback at the moment is the fact that the provided user manual is only available in Russian. Although Marazmator 2.0 is not terribly complicated to use, a nicely written manual in English would definitely help a larger number of users get the most out of this very promising virtual instrument.

Marazmator 2.0 is distributed as an EXE installer, however the installation process can be bypassed by using a freeware archive extractor such as 7ZIP (for those of us who like to stay away from automatic installers). UPDATE: The KVR Audio thread linked below now also contains an optional ZIP version of the download.

Download

Marazmator 2.0 is available for free download via KVR Audio (1.36 MB download size, EXE installer, 32-bit VSTi plugin format for Windows).