Leases - Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Jan. 02, 2021	Dec. 28, 2019
Lessee, Lease, Description [Line Items]
Operating lease costs	$ 2,583	$ 2,818
Lessee, Operating Lease, Not yet Commenced, Option	$ 956
Minimum
Lessee, Lease, Description [Line Items]
Term of contract	1 year
Renewal term	1 year
Maximum
Lessee, Lease, Description [Line Items]
Term of contract	10 years
Renewal term	5 years

Lessee, Operating Lease, Not yet Commenced, Option

No definition available.

Name:	mtsc_LesseeOperatingLeaseNotYetCommencedOption
Namespace Prefix:	mtsc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeLeaseDescriptionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Term of lessee's operating lease renewal, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121609121&loc=SL77918673-209980

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeaseRenewalTerm
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Term of lessee's operating lease, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeaseTermOfContract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of operating lease expense. Excludes sublease income.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121603541&loc=SL77918638-209977

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OperatingLeaseExpense
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: