Superbooth 2026: Bastl Kalimba is an original instrument that blends acoustic Kalimba mechanics with a colorful digital synth core.
Update: last 18 hours to support the Bastl Kalimba on Kickstarter. It raised almost €1,000,000 (standard 14:23 CEST)
At the beginning of the year, after many years of development, Korg released the Phase 8, an instrument that brought acoustic playing to the world of synthesizers. Some describe phase 8 as a high-tech kalimba. Bastl Instruments has likely heard of it before.
After three years in development, they have just unveiled the Bastl Kalimba, a portable instrument that is playable like an acoustic Kalimba but has the power of a modern Synthesizer.
Bastl Kalimba
I must smile when writing this. The “high-tech kalimba” that many have been talking about is now even more of a reality. The Bastl Kalimba not only looks like one, but it’s also actually one. It’s as if someone had put the kalimba into the future machine.
It weighs only 310g and measures 144 × 95 × 50 mm. I had the chance to hold it briefly during the setup day. What a cute, beautiful instrument! It feels perfectly in two hands.
Bastl Kalimba features 12 tone tines that are touch- and velocity-sensitive, captured by an internal microphone. This, in turn, excites a dual sound engine. You can pluck them or touch them, giving you two ways to play them.
And very customizable playing. You have six levels of sensitivity, and you can even micro-pitch them independently with 12 different available scales.
The internal microphone also allows you to play the instrument by knocking or strumming the unit’s casing or directly on the tines. You see, it’s your usual Synthesizer. It’s more like an acoustic instrument.
Besides the tines, the Kalimba from the future also includes an internal accelerometer that serves as an alternative exciter for the sound engine, dynamically filtering the left and right channels as you move and rotate the device.
Function-based touch points for pads, pitch slides, and more, along with two assignable functions on the back of the device, round out the playing section.
It’s all about unique interaction, and that’s what’s so fascinating here: it pushes musicians to discover the instrument from a different view than a classic synth with keys.
Excited Synthesis
Plucking or touching the tines excites the internal sound engine. It has six voices and is based on physical modeling using stereo digital resonators and an FM engine.
They are tweable on the hardware with six bipolar knobs, with interactive macro mapping. You control parameters such as timbre, excite, blend, detune, body, and decay. Octave switching on the fly is also possible.
Alongside the synthesis engine, it also offers a multi-FX processor with filters (low/high), crunch (downsampler, bit-crusher, distortion), modulation (chorus, flanger, tape emulation), time (two delay modes), and space (two reverb modes).
Part of this strong interactive focus is also a built-in looper (free/tempo sync). According to the developers, it uses a destructive looping concept, allowing you to re-record the looper using the built-in effects.
You can easily loop stuff into the Bastl Kalimba and adjust the time, octave, and more. Handy, there is also a one-layer undo/redo functionality. On top of that, you have a built-in arpeggiator with various modes and adjustable settings.
And all your settings can be saved in 16 presets, just like you know it from a traditional Synthesizer.
Connectivity
On the back of the Bastl Kalimba are the connections, which remind us that it is a Synthesizer and not an acoustic instrument. It has a headphone/line level output, and MIDI input and output on 1/8″ TRS (Type A).
Alternatively, you can use the MIDI sockets as analog clock inputs and outputs. The USB-C port handles MIDI input and output, firmware updates, and charging. Yes, it’s powered by a rechargeable battery.
Furthermore, it has a built-in speaker to make the Kalimba sound everywhere, as well as neck/wrist strap holes.
First Impression
I like it when companies try something new. This is original, fascinating, and cute to look at. I don’t know yet what the Kalimba from the future sounds like. There were no available beforehand.
But it immediately triggered something in me. A grin and a feeling of wanting to know more about it. I’m excited to test the Bastl Kalimba in person at Superbooth. The idea and its implementation deserve top marks. Now it just needs to sound great.
Bastl Kalimba is available now for pre-order at Kickstarter as a super early bird starting at 389€ and going up to 500€ without tax and shipping. The retail price will be around 550 €.
There are also different tiers of backer awards that contain an extra custom strap, a shirt, a cap, a USB-C wrist strap, stickers, or a Keitai charm. The Kickstarter runs until the 6th of June, and the first batch of 1500 units is expected to ship in December 2026.
More information here: Bastl Instruments / Kickstarter
I am a sucker for a kalimba!
This thing is so tempting that I almost backed it without hearing a sound! I’m drooling on Phase 8 for it’s unconventional sonic and tactile approach and this Kalimba brings even further the playability.
Tried them both at Superbooth and preferred the Kalimba!
If you are looking for one of the most creative synth companies of today: Bastl it is. For me there was no hesitation to support the Kalimba. Even my chief financial officer was impressed by this device and gave her OK instantly. Can’t wait to receive my Kalimba hopefully before XMas.
I’m so sick of the kalimba sound everywhere. It seems to be the only acoustic instrument YouTubers know and are always suggesting you could sample it, no matter what sampler or genre of music but most frequently, ahhhh… – relaxing already (so close to nature) – ambient. Now this super-kalimba. I hate the sound of the word “kalimba”.
kalimba is up there with potplants and muteable instruments modules in ambient synth youtube videos
A Kalimba with a built in Pickup is under 100€ – add some fx, you might already have, and have fun!
and now add the physical modeling and FM synthesis engine into it 😉
Don’t forget the sequencer, microphone, position sensor, batteries, Midi-port, …
Reality can be so satirical.
It’s as though we’ve become so bored with synthesis that we’re now reinventing the wheel as a hexagon.
The entire concept feels like an answer in search of a question. A kalimba pretending to be a synthesizer, a synthesizer pretending to be a kalimba, and neither appearing particularly interested in excelling at what made either instrument compelling to begin with.
Physical modelling, FM synthesis, touch sensors, microphones, motion controls, gesture input, a looper, effects and a dozen other ideas have all been thrown into the same box, yet I’m still left asking the most basic question: why?
Even the physical execution raises questions. Reports from Superbooth suggested that some attendees found the prototype’s metal tines and edges surprisingly sharp, with claims of minor cuts occurring during hands-on demonstrations. For an instrument whose primary selling point is tactile interaction, that is hardly encouraging.
Then there is the price. For what is ultimately a niche digital synthesizer wrapped in a novelty control surface, the asking price feels remarkably ambitious if not delusional. The fact that the Kickstarter campaign sailed past a million dollars does not convince me otherwise. Crowdfunding success is often a measure of novelty, hype and disposable spending power; it is not necessarily evidence of thoughtful design or lasting musical value.
I can appreciate experimentation. I can appreciate unconventional interfaces. What I struggle to appreciate is complexity, novelty and cost being mistaken for innovation.
I could not agree more. It’s almost as if this device was some sort of sarcastic social experiment or maybe simply a joke.
Why? Because of the playability. Kalimba is something you can easilly pickup and play. This kind of interface is also what is makomg this expensive. I think its great piece of engineering
What would be a better option as small, battery powered, polyphonic synth? The Behringer Minis? The Korg Volcas?
neither the Behringer nor the Korg analog ones are true polyphonic, they are paraphonic. The Volca FM2 is 6-voice poly
Other options the Roland AIRA Compact S-1 Tweak Synth or the Sonicware LIVEN series. ESI Xsynth is a nice all-rounder but need a power bank
retail price 550€ ?! Here’s a tip for all you synth noobs.
buy a cheap kalimba, attach a few contact mics. route them to discrete channels in ableton each with long effects chains. use resonators, vocoders, animated filters, multitap delays etc. You’ll get better and more infinite results than this for around 30€.
That’s a really good suggestion John fuckface.
Now how about a suggestion as to how I carry all that around in my pocket, if you please?
who carries a kalimba around in their pocket? The logic in this instrument is that you plug it in to record it. If you don’t, you are spending 550 on a kalimba with USB, audio out that you are not using. This makes very little sense.
The reality is that you have it in studio or with a portable setup. At the point where you plug it in, this instrument kind of collapses as you can run it through much more interesting things on a computer. you could even run it through effects suites on your phone, tablet etc if you are set on portability.
But please, link me to your all kalimba music project so i can see what point i’m missing.