Thoughtful Things launches Kickstarter for Engram AI music sampler

In short: Music startup Thoughtful Things has launched a Kickstarter for Engram, a music device that uses offline AI to twist sounds and generate new ones.

What happened

Thoughtful Things announced Engram, its first instrument, and opened a Kickstarter campaign for an initial limited run. The company describes Engram as a sampler and groovebox. That means it can record short bits of sound and then help you arrange them into a repeating pattern, like building a beat from small audio clips.

Engram uses AI to change incoming audio and to “hallucinate” new sounds. In simple terms, an AI hallucination is when a model makes something up based on patterns it learned, instead of copying a real recording. In a demo, the founder asks for “piano,” and the device produces something glitchy that still resembles a piano.

Unlike many AI music tools, Engram is not connected to the internet. It runs a small AI model directly on the device (like having the “brain” inside the box, instead of sending work to a faraway computer). Thoughtful Things says it trained its audio models on open datasets that are licensed for commercial use, and it says it will not train on pirated or stolen data.

The company also says it plans to open up Engram’s firmware, which is the built-in software that makes the device work. This could let other people modify how it behaves or load their own custom AI models. Kickstarter pricing starts at $675.

Why it matters

Engram is aimed at musicians who want strange, experimental sounds, not a one-button machine that spits out a radio-ready song. It also shows a push toward AI tools that work offline, which can matter for privacy, reliability, and who controls the software over time.

Source: The Verge AI