MARS Vacuum-Tube Synthesizer: The Most Aggressive Modern Synth I've Ever Tested

video upload by Vulture Culture

0:00 Intro Jam
2:17 Mono Mode & Basic Oscillator Shapes
4:16 The Vacuum Tube Filter
7:49 Duo Mode / Polivoks-Style Duophony
8:47 Poly 1 Mode / Korg Mono/Poly Behavior
10:47 Ensemble Mode & Supersaw Sounds
14:14 LFO Shapes, Retrigger & One-Shot Mode
17:31 Sample & Hold Filter Modulation
20:16 FM Synthesis Overview
29:00 Pros & Cons
37:43 Closing Thoughts

"What happens when you build a vacuum tube-based hybrid synthesizer in a Soviet space lab and send it back from the future? Today we’re demoing, reviewing, and explaining MARS from Eternal Engine Electronic Musical Instruments — one of the strangest, most beautiful, and most aggressive modern synthesizers I’ve ever played.

MARS is often described as a four-voice polyphonic tube synthesizer, but architecturally it’s more accurately a paraphonic synthesizer. The four digital oscillator voices can be played across multiple notes, but they all share the same tube-based filter and vactrol-based amplifier. That puts MARS more in the tradition of instruments like the Korg Mono/Poly and Formanta Polivoks than a conventional analog polysynth.

In this video, I walk through the full architecture of the Eternal Engine MARS: the digital oscillator section, mono / duo / poly voice modes, pulse-width modulation, ensemble mode, FM synthesis, modulation matrix, envelopes, LFO, sample & hold, the gorgeous Nixie lamp interface, the resonant vacuum tube filter, and the asymmetric tube overdrive that gives this synth its raw, snarling character.

This is not a safe, polite, modern analog synth. MARS is boutique, unusual, heavy, beautifully built, and absolutely vicious when pushed. The tube filter and drive section give it a sound that feels alive in a way most modern synthesizers don’t — somewhere between vintage analog synth, industrial bass machine, experimental sound design box, and Soviet sci-fi artifact.

If you’re into industrial music, EBM, darkwave, synthwave, experimental electronic music, vintage synthesizers, boutique synths, tube distortion, paraphonic synthesis, analog filters, FM basses, PWM pads, or Polivoks-style aggression, MARS is worth hearing.

I also talk through who I think this synth is actually for — and who should probably pass on it. Because while I absolutely adore the sound, MARS is not a cheap “do everything” synth, and it’s not trying to compete with mass-market analog polysynths. It’s a character instrument. A monster. A special machine for people who want something truly different."