DUBTurbo reviewed
Not one of the standard DUBTurbo reviews
First of all I’d like to mention that this isn’t your average DUBTurbo review that seem to pop-up all over the place. This is an actual hands-on review by a seasoned beat maker and audio engineer who knows the ropes.
Is DUBTurbo a scam? No, it isn’t! But it’s often overhyped in reviews
Don’t get me wrong, the software is actually amazing when you keep things in perspective. It’s not recording software and it’s not an all out DAW such as Cubase. However, it is a high quality sequencer which lets you import your own audio samples and exports in high quality. It does all this for a very fair price. Especially with the recent 2.0 update. A big pro of DUBTurbo is it’s ease of use.
I’ve been using beat-making software, like Native Instruments Battery and Propellerhead Reason, for over eight years, and I can still recall the pain of learning to navigate the interface and lay down that first beat. It wasn’t easy. With DUBturbo, that pain is practically nonexistent, and most first-time beat makers should be able to lay down a basic beat in less than an hour without any hair pulling or tears. From DUBturbo’s clean interface to its streamlined features, it’s a beginning beat maker’s dream come true.
Let’s go through DUBTurbo’s main features from here. Some of the words are high lighted in this color, which means you can click them to pop up a screenshot of the application.
When you first open DUBturbo, you’ll be greeted by the master sequencer, transport controls, editing tools and other options. I found my way around the sequencer within minutes, and I believe most beginners will have a similar experience, especially if they watch the online tutorials. The sequencer is split into bars and is capable of handling up to 16 tracks. Each track is listed in the left panel and can be either a drum or keyboard track. Selecting the track type is easy: click the arrow next to the track’s name, and select one of the options in the menu.
Adding notes to a track is quick and painless. Select the Pencil, and then draw a bar into the sequencer next to the track you want to add notes to. Next, click “Edit” to bring up the keyboard or drum machine, and then start drawing notes in the panel’s sequencer with the Pencil. You can also tap the notes on your keyboard and record your key presses in real time, which is great if you find clicking around with a mouse too cumbersome.
DUBturbo’s drum machine is especially powerful, since it consists of 10 drum pads, with each containing an individual sample. Each drum pad’s volume can be modified, giving you complete control over your drum tracks. The best thing about the drum machine, however, is that you can set every single track in the main sequencer to a drum track and use up to 160 samples in a single DUBturbo session!
The keyboard panel consists of an interactive four-octave keyboard and a list of sounds to choose from. It’s amazingly easy to use: click on a sound, press a key on the keyboard to hear it, and then start drawing notes with the Pencil. You can also press keys on your keyboard to play notes, which is much easier than using the mouse.
DUBturbo’s keyboard and drum samples are CD-quality: 44.1 kHz, 16 bit. They sound clean and professional, and loop seamlessly. Tons of samples are provided with DUBturbo, and they range from electronic drum beats and strings, to classic synthesizers, vocals and ethnic sounds. This allows you to make music from a wide range of genres, including house, dance, hip hop, and drum and bass.
Once you’re done creating your tracks, you can master them in the main sequencer. If a track is too loud or too quiet, just move its fader up or down to change its volume. If you decide you don’t like the samples you loaded into a track, you can change them in the main sequencer too — the options are located next to the keyboard and drum pads.
When your DUBturbo masterpiece is complete, you can export it as a CD-quality WAV file. This is much better than exporting a track as an MP3, which is compressed and not studio quality. You can also export each track in a session individually by soloing and exporting them one at a time, which makes up for the fact that DUBturbo isn’t a VST instrument that easily links to a DAW.
Unlike a lot of beat makers, DUBturbo can be used online and on your desktop, and both versions provide the same features. Although DUBturbo works best as a standalone application, it still performs well online. If you have a slow Internet connection or an outdated Web browser, however, you might run into some problems, like slow response times and a crashed Web browser. Additionally, some of the samples sound distorted in the online version, but this problem is easily remedied by using the desktop version.
On the surface, DUBturbo seems like a great beat maker for beginners, but once I dug deeper, I realized it was also good for seasoned beat makers like me. Its clean and easy-to-use interface makes it a pleasure to work with, and the learning curve is extremely low. If I want to make beats fast, DUBturbo is definitely a great go-to tool to have in my software arsenal.
