AIEntertainmentGadgetsEngram is a sampler that turns broken AI hallucinations into musicThoughtful Things says Engram is a ‘field recorder for latent space’ and circuit-bending tiny AI models.Thoughtful Things says Engram is a ‘field recorder for latent space’ and circuit-bending tiny AI models.by Terrence O’BrienSep 27, 2026, 8:46 PM UTCShareGiftImage: Thoughtful ThingsPart OfAll the latest in AI ‘music’see all updates Terrence O’Brien is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.Music startup Thoughtful Things has just launched the Kickstarter campaign for its first instrument, Engram. It’s a sampler and groovebox that uses AI to mangle incoming audio and even hallucinate completely new sounds. This isn’t Suno in a box, though.
This isn’t a “push-button, get-song” device, aimed at creating something that sounds ready for top-40 radio. It’s about creating experimental, uncanny sounds and pushing AI audio models beyond their limits.Engram isn’t connected to the internet. Instead, it runs a “tiny AI” locally. According to the Kickstarter listing, the model is designed in-house and custom-trained.
The company says:“We’ve trained our audio models on open datasets that only contain audio licensed for commercial use (CC-BY or similar). We have not trained and will never train our models on non-commercial, pirated, or otherwise stolen data.”The company also plans to open up Engram’s firmware so that others can tweak it or load their own custom models. In the campaign video, founder Evan King uses his voice to ask for “piano,” and Engram spits out something glitchy and vaguely piano-like. He says to think of Engram as a “field recorder for latent space.” It’s about exploring the world of AI hallucinations and experimental sound design.
It even draws inspiration from circuit bending, allowing you to tweak and even break its tiny AI models.Thoughtful Things is launching with a limited run of Engrams for the Kickstarter campaign, starting at $675. The company hasn’t said what the retail price will be, though it’s likely to be between $850 and $900, as the $675 pledge is listed as a 30 percent discount.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Terrence O’BrienAIEntertainmentGadgetsMusicTechSony and UMG are suing Suno againTerrence O’BrienSep 25Lunacy Audio Nova is a place to build and sell your own AI-powered music plug-insTerrence O’BrienSep 17UMG is suing DistroKid for alleged deceptive trade practices and “blatant copyright infringement.”Stevie BonifieldSep 15Most PopularThe smart home graveyard is getting crowdedApple hit with $5.7 billion in damages over haptic patentsOpenAI pauses training of its ‘most capable models’Googlebooks might be the real dealControl Resonant is a great game — it’s even better when you read everythingAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
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