CHOMPI portable sampler instrument is now open-source (hardware and software)

103 points by lashkari a day ago on hackernews | 29 comments

I've had my eye on one of these little musical wonder boxes for a long time!

I'm still hoping to try one soon. Maybe this is my time!

Open source but production of the hardware was discontinued so you would either need to buy used or build one from the specs.

stavros | 22 hours ago

Now that it's OSS, I'm sure plenty of people will build and sell it. Hell, you might be able to just get it off Ali, as well.

: blltprfmnk | 21 hours ago
It’s always possible. There’s definitely been a market for Eurorack clones of open designs like Mutable Instruments modules.
The main thing would be how you market it since one of the provisions is that you can’t use that trademarked name, and I imagine that would apply to marketing it, not just the product name itself.

onemoresoop | 22 hours ago

I liked this instrument but could never get one. Actually I was bombarded by scam accounts on Facebook(no longer a user) pretending to be Chompy. I'll be lookign for a used one.

Does this look legit to you?

https://www.acoguitar.com/product/chompi-sampler/

dnoberon | 21 hours ago

Check out reverb and see if there are any selling.

onemoresoop | 21 hours ago

Thanks. Whats a good price for these used?

prmoustache | 16 hours ago

The price you are willing to pay for it.

: onemoresoop | 2 hours ago
Just wanted a baseprice, don’t want to be fleeced by a seller who’s taking advantage this is discontinued.

adw | 20 hours ago

Wildly, severely not, honestly. They're going about retail second-hand on Reverb, with thin supply. You might do better having a look in the Chase Bliss Audio Discord.

onemoresoop | 22 hours ago

Yeah, me too. Too bad they're discontinued but I'm glad they open sourced it.

gkhartman | 20 hours ago

Glad to see stuff like this. I'm willing to pay quite a bit more for products supporting oss/osh.

johnwheeler | 17 hours ago

Hey Yall!

I’ve adapted it to run in your DAW as a VST, Audio Unit, and AAX plugin for Pro Tools.

Check it out: https://www.temeculadsp.com/nibbi

Code: https://github.com/temeculadsp/nibbi

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6m-woOQfqc

: albertsikkema | 16 hours ago
Nice, will give it a try later this week!

NDlurker | 17 hours ago

I wanted one of these but never thought it was worth hour much they charged. I guess that's how most people felt.

bzzzt | 14 hours ago

It was priced very high, even for a boutique musical instrument. There are a lot of samplers on the market on (or even under) that price point and some simple ones that cost a fraction of it.

ahoka | 11 hours ago

But 700 euros almost gets you a microfreak and an sp404.

: NDlurker | 9 hours ago
I already have both of those, a Bastl Microgranny, Polyend Tracker, and Polyend Play. So I really don't need another sampler. But it does look fun and has a unique workflow.
: bzzzt | 9 hours ago
That's the competition I was talking about: SP-404, (used) OctaTrack, MPC live or sample, EP-133 KO 2. All cost about the same or less and do a heck of a lot more.

liotier | 14 hours ago

Electronic toys that are not mass produced are always too expensive for the mass market. Chompi is awfully cute though.

MomsAVoxell | 13 hours ago

The CHOMPI is a very fun project.. have considered building one myself over the years, but I think I have a bit more motivation to build a FundamentalFrequency LMN-3, which is in a similar form factor but is, imho, a bit more open ended with regards to what it can be used for ..

https://github.com/FundamentalFrequency

Either way the time has come for open source projects of this nature and form factor .. the world tires of overpriced junk from boutique vendors, and wants more DIY music making toys for the kids to rock out ..

jrm4 | 11 hours ago

I love people making little things like this and so one hates to throw rocks from the sidelines.

But I literally laughed out loud, HARD, at the price.

micromacrofoot | 8 hours ago

unfortunately that's the cost of supporting small businesses, no one can really compete with competitors who benefit from scale pricing

phoghed | 8 hours ago

afaik they sold out and then never made more. I was trying to buy one for my kids.

sonjaqql | 6 hours ago

Add to cart still works: https://www.chasebliss.com/shop/p/chompi-sampler

: phoghed | 5 hours ago
Oh cool, I haven't checked on it in quite a long time.
I ended up getting them a Dato Duo, which we enjoy quite a bit. Got that for $229, price on it is way up now. Been eyeing the Dato Drum, but it's pretty steep at $500.

peteforde | 7 hours ago

I'm not saying that you've clearly never built and shipped a hardware device as a small team in North America; maybe you have, and maybe that's what you do all day.

However, I have noticed that the only people who look at a product like Chompi and think "overpriced" are people who have never built and shipped a hardware device. Perhaps you'll be the one to prove me wrong.

I'm not saying that Chompi wasn't expensive, or that you couldn't get a mass-produced device like a Roland SP-404 for less on Reverb. I am saying that that is not a fair comparison, however.

brendoelfrendo | 7 hours ago

That's pretty much what I would expect from Chase Bliss. They make very cool, high quality, and often niche audio products. Small production runs made in North America come with a high price tag.

stigi | 11 hours ago

HN Marketplace? I've got a Chompi in Berlin which I'd be willing to pass on. Contact in Profile