Scoopfeeds — Intelligent news, curated.
The Bastl Kalimba is a wild synth that thinks it’s a thumb piano
tech

The Bastl Kalimba is a wild synth that thinks it’s a thumb piano

The Verge · May 10, 2026, 8:42 PM

It’s already raised over $700,000 on Kickstarter. | Image: Bastl Make no mistake, the Bastl Kalimba is a synthesizer, you just play it like a kalimba. Its tines don't really make much sound. There is an internal mic that you can blend in for a little acoustic spice, but it's mostly driven by the synth engine that combines physical modeling and FM. The tines are actually touch and velocity-sensitive triggers. And, while it can sound somewhat like a real kalimba, it's a lot more sonically versatile and offers features you can only find on a synth. Beyond the synth sounds that range from pluck to pads, there are also built-in effects covering basic spatial effects like delay and reverb, as well as distortio … Read the full story at The Verge.

Article preview — originally published by The Verge. Full story at the source.
Read full story on The Verge → More top stories
Aggregated and edited by the Scoop newsroom. We surface news from The Verge alongside other reporting so you can compare coverage in one place. Editorial policy · Corrections · About Scoop