Rando

Absolutely LOVE Rando by Monkey C. Not only does it serve as a great sample browser, but there are so many creative ways to use the plugin. It really provides constant inspiration. And the support from it's creator is top notch.

Such a cool and creative idea! I can finally put all my 1000s of samples that I've collected over the years to good use. Really inspiring way to use or re-use the massive amount of samples in your library in an accessible and creative way that inspires new ideas. Can't recommend enough.

I deleted my prior review, which was for Rando 1, and am re-writing it for Rando 2 - another fabulous 5 star instrument that is in every project of mine from now on. Rando 2 is the re-written, updated version of Rando 1, while Rando 1 is also Landr Sampler now. : D Weird, I know.

Rando is a powerful sampler that can load and map 88 samples across a customizable virtual keyboard, filtering for loop or 1 shot, length, type/basic tonal or percussive character, etc. Rando can be pointed at one sample folder, or many folders can be separately mapped and selected/deselected as you load new batches. It has many great features such as automatic BPM and key matching, a 'magic' button that keeps all samples in sync all the time, sample locking per key, great export and drag/drop in/out options, 'move to left' feature that lets you push all your favorite locked items left, great global + per-sample effects, a damned 64 step 4 + 1 track sequencer, and this cool "kick library" feature where you tag and define kicks to be used in the kick sequencer lane or 1 shot on the keyboard.

I have so far loaded over *1 million samples* into Rando 1 and now also Rando 2, from 2 different local drives, and it performs perfectly. This sort of performance / toolkit / sequencer sampler is a dream instrument for me and my specific workflow.

Rando 2 has my most requested update(I thought it was a pipe dream to be honest) to Rando 1, which is SAMPLE SLICING inside the UI! MonkeyC added a built-in slicer, available at the bottom of the program window behind a toggle near the other controls. The slicer has all the features you might want from a basic slicer tool such as transient detection, detection threshold, equal parts, beat grid, etc, and everything works fine in cubase(14) and bitwig(5.3.9) at low buffer (128) settings on my interface. Rando 2 has a somewhat snappier UI on my system, as opposed to version 1.

As is normal on a release like this, there were a few bugs to squash, and also as normal, Dennis at MonkeyC once again crushed those bugs in a matter of days. On top of everything else that is great about Rando2 and this excellent dev, this was provided to existing customers of R1 without charge.

Rando 2 is a fantastic sampler instrument of the likes of which there is no other -- wait, scratch that. There is one other, and it is also Rando but it has Landr's logo on it. Lmao I love you guys and this is my favorite software sampler!! :).