Engram turns AI audio glitches into experimental music

Engram is a sampler and groovebox from music startup Thoughtful Things. It runs a small AI model on the instrument itself, rather than connecting to the internet, and can turn incoming audio into strange, glitchy sounds or generate new ones.

The company describes it as a tool for experimental sound design, not a device that makes finished songs with one button press. Thoughtful Things says its models were trained on commercially licensed audio, and plans to open the firmware so users can modify it or load their own models.