Thoughtful Things launches Kickstarter for Engram, an AI-powered sampler built to hallucinate sounds
Engram runs a custom AI model locally, without internet access, using only commercially licensed audio for training. The experimental sampler launches on Kickstarter in September 2026 at $675, with plans for open firmware and user-loaded models.
Music startup Thoughtful Things launched a Kickstarter campaign in September 2026 for Engram, its first instrument — a sampler and groovebox that uses onboard AI to transform incoming audio and generate entirely new sounds through what the company describes as AI hallucination.
Engram is not designed to produce radio-ready tracks at the push of a button. Instead, it targets experimental sound design, allowing musicians to push AI audio models beyond their limits and explore glitchy, uncanny sonic territory. The company draws a direct comparison to circuit bending — the practice of deliberately breaking electronics to produce unexpected sounds — applying that philosophy to its onboard AI models.
The device runs a custom, in-house-trained AI model locally and has no internet connection. Thoughtful Things says its models were trained exclusively on audio licensed for commercial use, such as CC-BY datasets, and states it has not and will not train on pirated or non-commercially licensed material. The company also plans to open up Engram’s firmware, allowing users to modify it or load their own models.
In the campaign video, founder Evan King demonstrates the device by speaking the word “piano” into it. Engram responds with a glitchy, loosely piano-like sound. King describes the instrument as a “field recorder for latent space.”
Engram is available through the Kickstarter campaign starting at $675, which the listing describes as a 30 percent discount off the expected retail price. Thoughtful Things has not confirmed a final retail price, though the campaign suggests it will likely fall between $850 and $900. The initial run is limited to Kickstarter backers.