kindness, exploration, and playful expression culture-crafting company CHOMPI Club is proud to announce that the Kickstarter Campaign for funding its quirky CHOMPI sampler — a magical tape music instrument made for self-expression through sound design built on Daisy, Electrosmith’s powerful DSP (Digital Signal Processing) platform, perfect for unlocking easy firmware updates and flexible programmability options — goes live with exclusive early bird specials, pre-order pricing, and limited-edition bundle packs, plus other options, as of March 28.
CHOMPI Club was co-founded by CEO Tobias Hendrickson (Product Development, Education, Business Management) and COO Chelsea Hendrickson (Marketing, Design, Business Operations), having previously spent 10 years running Techno Logic Synth-Culture as a community program promoting self-expression through sound, partnering with local non-profits and education institutions to provide support and resources for high school students to broaden their understanding of music production and create meaningful digital media with hands-on access to a wide variety of electronic instruments and audio production equipment. Effectively evolving into CHOMPI Club, the proactive pair are distilling their experience, inspiration, and communal insight into a new endeavour that they believe will invite more people to discover the magical world of sound design.
Duly representing the first physical fruit of CHOMPI Club’s creative skillsets and experiences as teachers, musicians, community partners, graphic and sound designers, the quirky CHOMPI sampler is crafted as something special — certainly something worthy of its flagship positioning. Put it this way: as a magical tape music instrument made for self-expression through sound design, it invites immediate fun with its one-of-a-kind sampling engine, unique multi-effects, and tape-style looper. Indeed, it is fair to say that this device could quickly become anyone’s best buddy, being suited to seasoned performance or newbie sonic journeying alike.
Clearly CHOMPI is always hungry for new sounds, so the signature CHOMPI Mode acts like a sound sketchpad where users can capture sounds from their environment using the onboard microphone or utilise the stereo line input to sample their favourite external sources with the unique sound design engine that jumpstarts any creative journey. JAMMI Mode can be viewed as the base function of CHOMPI; this engine plays a single sample chromatically, up and down the piano-style keyboard, and is where users recall, jam, and layer presets, performing them chromatically into the looper, while secondary shift functions and the menu are also accessed in this mode. Meanwhile, the CUBBI Mode engine enables users to access 24 individual samples at the same time, each on a different key slot, and is especially useful for resampling and saving loops. Last, but by no means least, MIDI Mode enables users to swap the internal sampling engine for an external synth voice (via MIDI control); by utilising a passthrough from the stereo line input, it is possible to send audio directly to the effects and looping engines, retaining CHOMPI’s unique workflow while providing additional flexibility for sound sources.
Almost all aspects of the CHOMPI hardware can be customised, but CHOMPI comes in two colour-ways for the Kickstarter Campaign-funded first run — namely, classic BLACK and GOLD (with CHOMPI BOBO Keycap Set) or Limited Edition PINK and GOLD (with Upgraded Marshmallow Keycap Set). Above and beyond that, more limited-edition panel colours and accessory kits will be offered to experiment with in the near future. As artists themselves, the CHOMPI Club co-founders find so much joy in the process of customising their own devices that they thought CHOMPI owners might ultimately feel the same way.
CHOMPI Club have designed CHOMPI with friendship at the forefront of the process, keeping the legacy of the portable fun that came with their childhood music and gaming devices alive, an exciting time when instruments like the Casio SK-1 introduced entire generations to sound design, creating a more friendly access point into that magical world. With a microSD card for managing samples, USB-C power, stereo line in/out, MIDI in/out, and a built-in microphone, CHOMPI cheerily talks to everyone’s favourite devices and is the perfect companion for their next sonic adventure.
As CHOMPI is built on Daisy, Electrosmith’s powerful DSP platform, it is not just a cool sampler, but can utilise a growing library of alternate firmwares to turn it into a wavetable synth, FM (Frequency Modulation) engine, and more besides! Initially it offers a one-of-a-kind sampling workflow belying the diminutive dimensions of its playful appearance, bolstered by six-plus hours of dynamic stereo sampling time utilising temporary recording buffers for non-destructive experimentation until choosing to store samples, plus a built-in reset protocol so the instrument boots up into a clean slate every time the power is cycled, encouraging endless exploration without fear of making mistakes. Moving onwards and upwards, the streamlined sound design engine features seven-voice polyphony, 14 slots to save/recall chromatic presets, 24 slots to save/perform resampled loops and/or one-shots, sample playback speed and direction controls, and attack and decay envelopes. Expandable and powerful, the multi-effects engine offers parallel low- and high-pass filtering, saturation and stability tape effects, and so-called MagicWand (granular reverb and delay) effects, with additional effects planned for future availability. A sophisticated sound-on-sound stereo looper includes a record decay control, plus an iconic transport knob with control over playback speed/direction and manual tape scrubbing (when loop is paused), as well as additional Easter eggs waiting to be discovered by advanced users.
CHOMPI Club cordially invites its CHOMPI Kickstarter Campaign backers to join them in crafting a culture of kindness, exploration, and playful expression through sound design with a magical tape music instrument made for self-expression.
Explore and support CHOMPI Club’s Kickstarter Campaign for funding its quirky CHOMPI sampler — with exclusive early bird specials (pledge $475.00 USD or more), pre-order pricing (pledge $499.00 USD or more), and limited-edition bundle packs (pledge $799.00 USD or more), plus other options.