The Malekko Scrutator is a digital sample rate and bit reducer pedal, announced in September 2015. It belongs to the bitcrusher family of effects: it deliberately degrades the resolution of your signal to produce the lo-fi, gritty, downsampled sounds associated with early digital gear and circuit-bent toys, and it pairs that with a filter to shape the result.12
What it does to your sound
The Scrutator works by reducing two things at once: the bit depth and the sample rate of your signal. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio described the Bit knob this way when the pedal was announced12:
"The 'Bit' knob controls the 'fidelity' of the signal, squashing it down to a semi-atonal 2 bits"
At low bit depths the tone turns harsh and semi-atonal, which is the character most players reach for in a bitcrusher. The built-in filter then tames or reshapes that grit2.
The filter
The pedal carries a dual mode filter with lo-pass and band pass modes.2 A lo-pass mode rolls off the top end for darker, muffled lo-fi tones, while a band pass mode focuses on a narrow slice of the spectrum for radio-like, vocal sounds. The Filter and Q controls, along with Rate and Bit, can all be assigned to external control.1
External control and power
Any combination of the Rate, Bit, Filter and Q controls can be driven externally, via an expression pedal or a control voltage.1 That makes the Scrutator a performance-oriented effect: sweeping the filter or the bit depth with your foot turns a static setting into a moving sound. If you plan to use an expression pedal, see the site's Expression Pedals page, and for more on where this pedal sits among lo-fi and tone-shaping effects, see Filter Pedals.
The Scrutator runs on 9V DC, center negative, and draws 50mA.1
The Scrutator is a digital circuit, so it needs a regulated 9V DC supply rated for at least 50mA.1
The English manual is available as a PDF from Malekko Heavy Industry's website.1
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Questions
What power does the Malekko Scrutator need?
The Scrutator runs on 9V DC, center negative, and draws 50mA of current, according to the maker's product listing. A standard 9V pedal power supply that provides at least 50mA on its output will run it. Because it is a digital pedal, it needs a proper power supply rather than a battery.
Can the Scrutator be controlled with an expression pedal?
Yes. Malekko gives the Scrutator external control over any combination of its Rate, Bit, Filter and Q controls, using either an expression pedal or a control voltage. That means you can sweep the filter, the bit depth or the sample rate with your foot while you play.
Is the Malekko Scrutator analog or digital?
The Scrutator is a digital pedal. Its circuit type is listed as digital, which fits what it does: bit reduction and sample rate reduction are processes that chop the digital representation of your signal, and the built-in filter then shapes the result.
What filter modes does the Scrutator have?
The Scrutator has a dual mode filter with lo-pass and band pass modes, as reported by Delicious Audio when the pedal was announced. The filter works alongside the bit and sample rate reduction, and both the Filter and Q controls can be assigned to external control.
Where can I find the Scrutator manual?
The English manual for the Scrutator is available as a PDF from Malekko Heavy Industry's website, linked from the maker's product listing on RockBoard's PedalPedia. It covers the pedal's controls and setup.
Sources (2)
- Scrutator by Malekko, RockBoard PedalPedia, 2026
- New Pedals: Malekko's Scrutator Bit And Sample Rate Reducer, Delicious Audio, 2015-09-04
Peter Holmström
