Sampleson have announced the launch of their first AI-powered generative plug-in, Funkastic. Designed primarily to generate Clavinet-style parts, the latest offering has been trained on an array of “funky grooves”, and is said to be capable of generating organ and bass lines as well as electric piano parts.
Sampleson say that unlike ‘auto-composer’ tools or AI systems that attempt to create finished tracks, Funkastic instead behaves more like a virtual funk session player. Users are presented with an array of musical ideas expressed as short, expressive one-bar grooves that serve to spark a new idea and starting point.
Funkastic comes loaded with parameters that allow users to choose specific musical characteristics such as Style, Mode, Root Note, Feel, Notes Amount and Velocity Strength. Every click of the plug-in’s Generate button produces a new idea, while Variate delivers alternative phrases based on the same rhythmic pattern, offering a great way to build multi-bar grooves that sound ‘natural’ and ‘human’. Generated phrases appear instantly as standard MIDI that can be dragged over to a DAW track, or routed via the plug-in’s MIDI Out connection to trigger external virtual instruments.
Key Features
- Generate authentic funk and soul grooves with a single click.
- AI model trained on real funky performances.
- Set musical characteristics: Variation, Mode, Root note, Feel, Notes Amount, Velocity.
- Full MIDI Out to control external instruments in real time.
- Drag and drop MIDI directly into your DAW.
- Retina- and 4K-ready interface.
- Lightweight, fast and fully local — no cloud connection required.
Compatibility
Funkastic is supported on PCs running Windows 7 or higher, and Macs running macOS 10.7 and later. VST3 and AU plug-in versions are available. Note that there is no AAX plug-in, meaning that Pro Tools is not supported.
Pricing & Availability
Funkastic is available now, and is currently (13 December 2025) being offered at an introductory price of $29, reduced from its full cost of $49.
