Short demos, ditties, explorations and exercises.

Some of these will grow up to eleven-minute-long minimal techno tunes one day.

Mini

Little ditty. Started on Roland T-8, rebuilt in Bitwig Studio.

Chromatic Offset Pebbles

Find out more: https://cartoonbeats.com/parkplatz-schlurfen/

Full version coming soon: https://soundcloud.com/haszari/parkplatz-schlurfen

An exploration of sounds recorded around Funkhaus, Berlin, mostly with my phone – percussive hits, textures. I edited the sounds into a short arrangement focused on a frenetic hypnotic rhythm, then layered on a live synth part played on a Doepfer Dark Energy 2.

Credit to my collaborators: @mxpinky for the ghostly texture and Greg for doing the literal carpark shuffle (you can hear his footwork!).

This is my first exercise for Catalyst Advanced Sound Design course.

Parkplatz-Schlurfen (Catalyst short sketch)

I've been exploring other rhythms this week – anything but 4/4! Challenging – I'm very habituated to cycles of 4 and rigid grids. 

This amorphous ditty came together much faster than I expected. It's in 9/8 – which is both completely alien to me, yet a nice compromise for more familiar rhythms. I'm down with 6/8 (I love blues), so this feels a bit like 1.5 6/8s. It's also 3x3 which feels elegant and in a way an extension of 4/4 (2x2). 

I find Bitwig the stock synths and presets inspiring and that helped bring this together. I especially like the phase-distortion piano lead, I wonder if I could get a similar sound out of a CZ-101?

I made a completely different version for my weekly assignment, using Operator (FM Synthesis) for most sounds. Another completely alien, unfamiliar technique!

Nontemplate (Bitwig version)

See https://soundcloud.com/haszari/nontemplate-bitwig for more background on this tune. 

This version uses Ableton Live's Operator synth for all sounds (except the smaller piano "fills"). I'm doing a sound design course at Catalyst Berlin. This week we touched on FM synthesis which I've never really figured out.

So I built these sounds (including the drums) from scratch in Operator. Still a long way to go to feel in control but happy to produce a reasonable set of instruments. Usually with FM I quickly arrive in "harsh alien atonal cymbal" territory (and can't leave).

Nontemplate (Operator version)

Week 3 – sampling. I've had my ear on this little vocal snippet since it came out. 

I set up a Steve Reich style phase loop, though it's automated so it's mostly phaser in the first half and out of sync cacophony in the second half.

On top of this I've layered a small melody played with a snippet of the same vocal, and a half-speed phrase to transition into second half.

All the rich highs in the original recording make for a lush pad enhanced with more toppy reverb.

Just Phased

This week (the final week) we were challenged to use artificial intelligence in some way. We also experimented with granular synthesis.

Catalyst Advanced Sound Design students agree – granular synth could be allowed to run the world, but AI must not.

I struggled to get my piece together. It's the last week, we can do 3 minutes long, we can use everything, we have to use AI. Also I leave Berlin next week so I also want to do other everythings this week too!

The granular synth class saved the day. I went out and recorded a bunch of clangs with Sandy & Tomasso and back in the lab streettcchhedd and gllliittcchhhed them out. Before long (and after deploying multiple reverbs) I had some sound that I liked. Later I added a mono bassline, and used Google-AI-generated jazz to accent the minimal dub rhythm, and as a little interlude (think cantina at the end of a long concrete tunnel).

Sinking Galley

Brand new micro jam combining a deep hypnotic sub, bouncy micro tech groove and a searing modem-inspired Bitwig preset.

See also jam video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_53npU_jK98

Jammed out live in Bitwig.

Haszari Renders - livejams

Acoustic Handshake (livejam)

https://cartoonbeats.com/haszari/

Original electronic music from the deep south of NZ – Kākā Point / Ōtepoti.

bookings / remix enquiries: info@cartoonbeats.com
send me your demos / promos: music@cartoonbeats.com