The Bastl Kalimba is a land synthesizer that is thought of as a thumb piano

Make no mistake, Pastel kalimba It is synthesized, you can play it like a kalimba. Her teeth don’t really make much sound. There’s an internal mic you can mix in for a little vocal spice, but it’s mostly powered by a synth engine that combines physical modeling and FM. The spines are actually touch- and velocity-sensitive actuators. Although it can sound somewhat like a real kalimba, it is sonically more versatile and offers features you can only find on a synth.

In addition to synthesized sounds ranging from plucking to pads, there are also built-in effects covering basic spatial effects such as delay and reverb, as well as distortion, bit crushing and even tape emulation. There’s also a multi-mode high- and low-pass filter, and a simple arpeggio.

But what’s even more interesting are the looping dots and touch points that add unique effects. Repetition has time-extension features, and can be reversed and re-recorded through destructive processing effects. A series of touchpads on the front enable note sliding and timbre changes using effects Bastl calls Soil and Wind. These effects open up the kalimba’s accelerometer for further manipulation of timbre. There are also two programmable contact points on the top that can be assigned to almost any parameter, from simple pitch bends to reverb volume.

Bastl is currently running a Kickstarter campaign For the first batch of Kalimbas. Typically, this is where you get the warnings about crowdfunding products. But Bastl Instruments is an established company with a proven track record of delivering exotic music gear on a large scale. The company described it as “one of the most challenging products” it has ever created, and spent more than three years in development, so it’s possible Bastl is gauging interest before committing to mass production. We’ve reached out to Bastl for comment and will update if we hear back.