Three years in the making, Bastl Instruments’ quirky Kalimba is a fusion of traditional instrument design and state-of-the-art internals: “Treat it like an acoustic instrument, it will answer like one”

SUPERBOOTH 2026: After three long years of development, Bastl Instruments today launched Kalimba - a typically quirky hybrid synth/instrument that resembles - you guessed it - a kalmiba, complete with playable tines

To operate, Kalimba relies on tiny microphones, touch sensors and an accelerometer to yield all manner of expressive sounds. All of which are housed within a physical design that is inspired by the traditional kalimba, tines and all.

There seems to be a theme emerging at this year’s show, of prioritised expression and more traditional-instrument based-routes into exploring sound, and the handheld Kalimba is no exception. “Treat it like an acoustic instrument, it will answer like one” Bastl say.

Playing the tines at varying intensities excite the internal physical modelling and FM engines, thanks to the instrument’s internal microphones. The internal accelerometer acts as both an exciter for the physical modelling engine and also filters the left and right channels of the FM engine, as the device is physically rotated.

Six knobs sit atop the front panel, which adjust rates of timbre, excite, blend, detune, body and decay respectively.

Beyond that, the Kalimba also has a slew of further options on its front panel, with function-based touch points (for, as Bastl say, creating pads, pitch slides and timbral modulation) as well as 2 function-assignable ones on the back of the device.

There’s a heap of control options, with an arpeggiator, an internal layering looper, octave shifting, tempo/metronome and a palette of built-in effects (reverb, delay, bit-crush, overdrive, filtering, modulation).

Bastl states that the Kalimba’s three-year creation has been one of the most ‘challenging development projects’ that the company has ever undertook. “We have spent more than three years developing this instrument, exploring different casing shapes, tine lengths, materials, internal designs, features, and visual directions. We couldn’t be more grateful and proud of the entire Bastl team for what they have accomplished and how much heart they’ve put into this project.”

Artists such as Oliver Torr and Never Sol were also on-hand to stress and road-test Kalimba.

Bastl will be launching Kalimba on Kickstarter first (to help fund wider production) and is available from today until till 6th of June.

The ‘super early bird’ price starts at €389 which goes up to €500 Eur without tax and shipping. There’s also a range of backer awards and extra goodies (including a custom strap, a shirt and USB-C wrist strap amongst other trinkets) so check out the company’s Kickstarter page for more info.

Post-Kickstarter, the Kalimba is expected to ship in December 2026. If demand exceeds 1,500, Bastl plan to ship a second batch in early 2027.