RANDOM (and RANDOM METAL) REview
Plugin Boutique has hooked me up with a copy of Beat Surfing’s Random and Random Metal. I’ve had my eyes on these ever since their release, they seemed very strange and unique with some fun UI. Obviously, the most striking feature of each of these plugins is the strange “blob” at the center of the interface. Unlike Forever 89’s VIsco, this blob can’t quite be manipulated directly and is more of a visual representation of the patch. You do get an XY pad that affects the tone and shape, but the “blob” is really just there for decoration.
Each of these plugins acts a bit more like a well constructed preset with a nice set of macros and a randomizer to get a range of variety. I would definitely describe these as inspiration tools and starting points for sound design rather than fully fledged creative tools. The sounds of each are on the more chaotic and experimental side of things, which I think the UI does a great job of representing. Ultimately, these will be tools that you basically blindly explore. Don’t attempt to guide or influence their sound in any way, just click random a few times and drag around the XY until you find something you like.
Both feature the ability to drag the resulting patch as audio into your DAW as well as an undo button in case you accidentally “randomize“ past something you like. Each are also monophonic with a variety of different “materials”(matter) to chose from.
RANDOM
Random was the first iteration of this product. I like the blob on this one a bit more, it’s almost like a ferrofluid oil spill. The UI is also much more minimal, which I almost apreciate in a plugin like this. The sounds range from bassy synth patches to squelching metallic crunches, to glitchy synth chaos. You can tell there’s some sort of resonator involved under the hood, maybe some bit-crushing as well I wont attempt to speculate much further on how these “work” though. I do think if you’re making any sort of aggressive electronic music, you’ll likely find a few things you really enjoy in here. You could probably sit for an hour just randomizing and exporting sounds to create a small library to make a track with.
I think Random could really benefit from some motion, even if it was just a slow random walk for the XY pad, something that made the sounds evolve over time.
RANDOM METAL
The “metal” version of Random takes the original idea and orients it towards percussive sounds. There are far more materials(matter) to chose from in this one, though each one has a more limited range of tones. These come with descriptions and intended sound type listed alongside them to help guide your choices. I do think there’s maybe a few too many though, with some sounding either weak or too similar to others. I really enjoyed the Zerathium material which had a very metallic and alien tone.
You get quite a few more controls in this version, with a whole “advanced” tab. I’m not sure if the randomizer is affecting only the controls in this tab, or more under the hood as well. You get 12 drum pads, each can have their own advanced settings, but unfortunately they all share the same XY position and material. There does appear to be four “types” for each material, but the differences from type to type are much more subtle than from matter to matter.
I would really like to see a step sequencer on this one, something to play back patterns with. I’d really love to just sequence some of these sounds internally, I found myself wishing a couple of these were engines on something like Battalion.
Between the two, I think I like the OG Random a bit better, I was thinking I’d like metal more because of the extra materials and parameters, also because I love metal, but the original just offers more sounds that I’d be after using a plugin like this. This is a bit of a strange one to review, as I don’t really encourage using the “randomize” button that comes with many effects and synths. I think the “randomize everything” buttons tend to lead towards lower quality sounds and the stifle creativity. Sure, every once in awhile they can produce something useful, but they don’t help you build a mental map of the plugin and I believe with work you can achieve much higher quality sounds. That said, these Beat Surfing “random” plugins seem to be fine tuned for this randomizing purpose and produce a lot of unique and usable sounds in the process. Their UI is also built around this workflow and if you’re going to use a “randomize everything” button, you might as well get a cool animated blob along side it.
If you plan on purchasing RANDOM from Plugin Boutique, please consider supporting me by using one of my affiliate links.
RANDOM: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/11170-RANDOM?a_aid=61c378ab215d5
RANDOM METAL: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/139-Drum-Synth/13336-RANDOM-Metal?a_aid=61c378ab215d5
RANDOM + RANDOM METAL BUNDLE: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/81-Bundles/58-Instrument-Bundles/13365-RANDOM-Metal-RANDOM-Bundle?a_aid=61c378ab215d5