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RandRobin Is A FREE Round-Robin Plugin For Windows

By 12 Comments3 Mins Read
RandRobin

Fanan Team released RandRobin, a free round-robin plugin for Windows.

Sample libraries and virtual instruments come in all shapes and sizes. Some are very dynamic, and the more advanced ones even have round robins (meaning there are multiple recordings/variations of every hit/note) to achieve that realistic sound closer to the real deal.

But let’s say you’re working with something like one-shot samples. You may be able to get some mileage out of them by varying velocities, but even with that, they could still use some more humanization.

Or perhaps pitch bending? Fear not, as the Fanan Team has a solution for that in plugin form called RandRobin.

RandRobin attempts to emulate humanization for sound sources such as drums. It does so by splitting the signal into 3 frequency bands and applying pitch randomization for each band separately.

That’s at least what it does on mild settings, but on more extreme settings, it can lead to some more crazy sounds, which we will get into.

The pitch direction can also be set for each frequency band via the “pitch bending method” menu. “ONLY UP” on a band means the pitch of the band will only go up or sharper than the source, but not down (flatter).

“ONLY DOWN” is of course the opposite, meaning the randomization will only make that band flatter. “UP & DOWN” is pretty much a bidirectional pitch bend, allowing for the randomization to cause the source to go sharper and flatter over time.

Mixing and matching these settings for the 3 bands can lead to some interesting sounds and modulations.

The amount of pitch randomization can be controlled with a MIX knob on each frequency band, so you’re able to dial it in to your liking. Low MIX on a band means that it will receive minimal pitch randomizations. While high MIX can result in unusual and almost glitchy sounds.

The “same pitch to all” control applies the same randomization to all 3 bands, albeit with different amounts that can be set with said mix knobs.

The “DRY-WET RATIO” control determines the chance that the randomized signal will occur. And finally, there are a number of presets to see what the plugin can do.

Interestingly, while this plugin randomizes pitch, on some extreme settings, it tends to cause some form of distortion. This may be suitable for lofi drums or even glitchy sound FX if that’s your thing.

While this plugin is marketed as a round-robin randomizer, I find that it acts more like a pitch wobble effect, depending on how you dial it in.

RandRobin is available for free for Windows only, in VST and VST3 formats.

Download: RandRobin (FREE)

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Soroosh is a composer, guitarist, and music producer based in Canada. His music ranges from aggressive metal, to cinematic music, to ambient soundscapes.

12 Comments

  4. fuegoc

     on

    interesting idea, and in fact i was recently playing around with a homemade FX rack to try to get something similar (using multiband frequency shifting instead of pitch shifting, but usually it just ended up sounding like a phaser effect).

    testing the VST3 version in FL Studio, one thing i noticed is that it adds an odd stereo effect to the incoming signal, and it’s not just a simple Haas delay because isolating either the L or R channel will sound noticeably different than the original signal. so for that alone, i place this plugin in a flanger / glitch effect sort of category, rather than the “auto round robin” category it’s marketed as. could yield some fun results in the right context.

    Reply

    • Choko

       on

      I wonder why this happens on mono samples. They only say it manipulates the pitch. No mention of panning anywhere. It’s a very weird flanger sound as you said… I wonder if this is intended. I’m getting the same results on Renoise.

      Reply
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