I wonder if the author is aware that Machinedrum is also an established American electronic musician.

It's emulating an actual synth by that name that was released in 2001. It's also not a very original name. What's next, The Prodigy being named after Moog's Prodigy?

I've always thought he named the act after the instrument.

The Machinedrum is a drum machine created by Elektron in 2001 the title only reflects this. That's interesting though since I think the musician Machinedrum released his first album in 2001 too