# Thoughtful Things launches Engram AI sampler on Kickstarter

Digest AI · Hardware & Compute · published 2026-09-27T20:46:36Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/thoughtful-things-launches-engram-ai-sampler-on-kickstarter

## Summary

Music startup Thoughtful Things has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Engram, a hardware sampler and groovebox designed to generate experimental audio. Unlike consumer AI music tools that aim for polished, radio-ready tracks, Engram focuses on creating glitchy, hallucinated sounds by pushing local AI models to their limits. The device operates offline, running a custom-trained "tiny AI" model that the company says was built exclusively on commercially licensed open datasets to avoid using pirated or non-commercial data.

Founder Evan King describes the device as a "field recorder for latent space," drawing inspiration from circuit bending to allow users to tweak and intentionally break the audio models. The hardware is intended for sound design and exploration rather than simple song generation. Thoughtful Things plans to open-source the firmware, enabling users to modify the device or load their own custom models.

The initial limited run is available for pledge starting at $675, which the company lists as a 30 percent discount. While the final retail price has not been announced, the discount structure suggests it will likely fall between $850 and $900.

## Key points

- Engram is an offline AI sampler that generates experimental, glitchy audio sounds.
- The device runs a custom-trained local model built on commercially licensed open datasets.
- Kickstarter pledges start at $675, with a likely retail price between $850 and $900.

## Why it matters

Engram offers a hardware alternative to cloud-based AI music tools, focusing on experimental sound design and local processing. Its open firmware approach may encourage a community of developers and artists to customize AI audio generation.

## Sources

1. [Engram is a sampler that turns broken AI hallucinations into music](https://theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1001193/engram-sampler-ai-hallucinations-music) (The Verge AI, 2026-09-27)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Thoughtful Things launches Engram AI sampler on Kickstarter", 27 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/thoughtful-things-launches-engram-ai-sampler-on-kickstarter

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