[alert type=”info” close=”false” heading=”Important Info”]The owner of Dubturbo has responded to this review (which you can read at the bottom of the comments by clicking here) — which in my opinion is a very fair and level-headed response, and worth reading before you form any rash opinions about the makers of the software.[/alert]
Occasionally, I review software and pieces of gear here at Make Beats 101 if I find them useful for producers and other musicians.
Because there’s already way too many things being advertised to us, I try to only review things that are beneficial to our goal of making great quality music.
Since I want to maintain my sense of integrity, I don’t bother writing about and recommending crappy equipment and software.
And that’s precisely the reason why I CAN'T give beatmaking programs like Dubturbo and Sonic Producer a good review.
I actually almost didn’t write this post, but because these programs are being advertised everywhere on the Internet I figured this post might help someone who’s thinking about buying one of these programs.
In case you didn’t know, I was strictly a rapper first before I started producing my own beats.
When I first started out a few years ago, I did what everyone else would do and searched the Internet for websites that would help me out.
So I went on Google and typed “how to make beats” or some other similar keyphrase. As you’ve probably seen for yourself, I came across websites singing praises about programs like Dubturbo and Sonic Producer.
Luckily, I never bought into the hype because I had producer friends who guided me along the “right path.”
But there are plenty of people who wouldn't know any better, and end up falling for the hype when they can get something much better for just a little bit more. I would actually go as far as saying that you shouldn't trust any website that blindly recommends you to buy Dubturbo.
So why don't I recommend aspiring beatmakers to start out with programs like Dubturbo or Sonic Producer, despite the hundreds of glowing Dubturbo reviews out there?
I have my reasons why I think they suck… 4 of them, to be exact.
1.) Features They Advertise Aren’t Real Features
Let’s get to the first point why I think Dubturbo is crap: pretty much all the features they advertise on their website are actually real shitty features.
All those bullet points are nothing ESPECIALLY if you compare it to real beat making software like Logic, Studio One, FL Studio or Reason.
First of all, I don’t actually know any beatmaking programs that use MP3s for their samples. No company in their right mind would do so.
That's exactly why real programs all come with sound banks that are several gigabytes worth of samples. And yes, they’re all “broadcast quality” (what the hell does that even mean anyway?).
Secondly, it's worth mentioning that all of the other, more professional programs export your final mix to a .wav files as well.
Even free audio programs like Audacity will export to wave files, so I don’t see how there’s actually anything special about this feature either.
Thirdly, Dubturbo gives you a “wicked 4-octave keyboard while others give you 1 or 2.” This is a bold, outright lie.
Real beatmaking programs give you the complete 88-key spectrum (which is 7 octaves, not 4) to play with.
Suddenly, 4 octaves doesn’t look so wicked anymore.
Lastly, Dubturbo gives you “16 tracks of stereo boomin’ sound” which means you can have up to 16 instruments in one song.
Sounds amazing, right?
…Until you find out that industry programs gives you UNLIMITED tracks, and that you’re only limited by your computer’s ability to handle all those instruments at the same time.
It's funny how Dubturbo claims to do “10x as much while costing 10x less than other software” because if you look at it closely, it's actually VERY FAR from meeting industry standards and does much, much less.
Yes folks, there's a reason why it's only $39.95, and why you won't find any legitimate producer in the music industry endorsing it.
2.) You Can’t Expand Beyond The Program
One of Dubturbo’s selling points is being able to program notes and drums using your actual computer keyboard. This may sound appealing to people who are starting out.
While this can be a useful feature (Logic, Reason and other DAWs have this feature too), sooner or later you’re going to want to use a MIDI controller to make programming notes easier.
But alas, you can’t do that with Dubturbo because there’s no option to use a MIDI controller with the program.
So when you're trying to compose a melody you’re either stuck with using your keyboard (which doesn't feel natural at all) or drawing in the notes with your mouse (that's a WHOLE LOT of clicking around!).
Trust me, it is extremely difficult to make beats this way. Trying to do so is like playing basketball with one hand tied behind your back — sure, you can do it, but why would you want to?
Now I’ll admit, when I listened to some of the sample beats from Dubturbo, *some* of the samples that come with the program did sound okay. It’s definitely NOWHERE near as great as they claim it is, however.
And no matter how much you like the sounds, eventually you WILL outgrow it. And when you do, you'll want to expand your instrument collection — which means investing in VSTs like Kontakt 5 (and other third party libraries), Trilian, and other instruments.
YOU CAN’T DO THIS with Dubturbo because the programming is so bad that it doesn’t support anything external to run with the program.
You’re pretty much stuck with the sounds that came with it. And since it doesn’t come with much (if any) effects, you won't be able to tweak the sounds and personalize it either.
And before you think that you'll never pay that much for the Komplete bundle (it costs $559 at the time I wrote this post), there are plenty of free VST instruments that all provide you with excellent sounds to use for your beats.
No, you won't be able to use them with Dubturbo either.
3.) The Internet Is Littered With Lies About It
Search Google for “Dubturbo review” or “Sonic Producer review” and you will find it almost impossible to find a review that doesn’t sing high praises about these products.
It is actually very, very, very difficult to find an honest review of those programs that doesn’t try to get you to buy it.
To be honest, I don’t exactly blame Dubturbo or Sonic Producer for this.
The reason why you find so many websites peddling these products is because of their affiliate program, which pays a commission to anyone who sells a copy of the software.
In other words, if I decide to be an affiliate for Dubturbo or Sonic Producer then it’s in my best financial interests to praise the program as much as I can.
Because if I can successfully sell you the product, I’ll get $28 out of the $39 that you pay.
These “reviewers” don’t actually care whether it’s a good program to make beats with.
They only recommend it because the sales page does a good job of convincing newbies that the software is the shit, and it makes them money if you buy it.
I mean, do you honestly believe this “review”…
I find it extremely difficult to believe that this chick makes beats… Scratch that, I seriously doubt if she knows what the hell she's talking about.
Now don’t get me wrong: I don’t have a problem with making money as an affiliate.
But it bothers me when people recommend poor products and tell lies about it just to make a quick buck.
Which brings us to the fourth and final point…
4.) They’re Advertised As The Holy Grail Of Making Beats
Read through the salespages for Dubturbo and Sonic Producer and you’ll end up thinking that all you need are these programs to make beats that rival Timbaland and Scott Storch.
And if you believe all the “reviews”, nobody has anything bad to say about these programs.
They make it seem like you don’t need anything else to be an award-winning producer making tons of cash money from the super hot beats you’ll be producing.
Yeah, right.
I don’t care what anybody says — it takes a lot of practice and musical training to be able to put together good beats.
Put a 5-year old in front of Dr. Dre’s beat making equipment and he still won’t be able to make anything that comes close to “Still D.R.E.”
They want you to believe that “you can make the same quality rap and hiphop beats that your favorite artists and producers are making, in a snap” (that’s a quote straight from their salespage by the way).
But let's be realistic here — no program or software will turn you into a superstar beatmaker overnight.
Unless you're extremely talented, it will take a solid background in music theory and months of constant practice before you'll be able to put out good beats.
Sucks to hear, but it's the truth.
Here’s the funny thing about it all.
Sonic Producer comes with bonus instructional videos on how to make beats… Not with Sonic Producer itself, but with Logic, Pro Tools, and a Korg M3 (a hardware synthesizer that costs a couple thousand dollars).
That’s right, their own tutorials teach you how to make beats using real software and big boy gear!
So Is Dubturbo and Sonic Producer A Scam?
Even though there's a lot of bullshit hype with these programs, I don't believe it's a scam — it is, however, INCREDIBLY bad value for your money.
The sellers of Dubturbo and Sonic Producers are businesses who simply sell not-so-good products, market it with over-the-top methods and have low-integrity salesmen promoting it for them.
When you actually look at Dubturbo in-depth and compare it with other software, it’s easy to see how you’re actually getting LIMITED by using it.
I haven't even gone into the fact that loads of people complain about Dubturbo constantly freezing and crashing on them, or how their logo is a backward version of Beats By Dre.
So no, I DO NOT recommend anyone to buy Dubturbo or any of its counterparts (such as Sonic Producer).
In my opinion, they are poorly programmed pieces of software that are seriously lacking any useful features and mislead newbies into thinking anyone can make chart-topping beats overnight.
If you're a complete beginner looking for software to make beats with, you’re much better off investing in “real” programs like Reaper or Reason Essentials instead (read my Reason Essentials review here and see why I think it's the best product for those starting out making beats).
Either one only costs $20 to $40 more, but comes with ten times the functionality that DubTurbo will ever have. While you do pay a little bit more in the short-run, you get a lot more bang for your buck AND it won’t be a problem if you want to expand your setup in the future.
If you already have a DAW such as Reason, FL Studio, Logic or Studio One, then don't worry: you're not missing out on anything. Learn your software and invest your money on refills or sound modules instead.
I can't stress this enough: if you're serious about music production and want to make your own beats, stay far, far away from Dubturbo and invest in quality software and gear instead.
Remember, you get what you pay for, and you can't realistically expect a $39.95 software to turn you into a super producer virtually overnight.
(2016 comment, only got it recently in terms of years, sorry if this is late)
Why have we not sued??
Just scrolling down here I saw people mislead, people rejected refunds and more.
More story: I paid £80 (>$100) for it, and couldn’t even get it to work. I asked support for help and was ignored. I eventually got it working in FL studio but was very, VERY disappointed.
1. The main VST is literally a soundfont player, and a barely responsive one at that
2. I found myself using freeware more often because it worked better
3. It came with ‘freebies’… Some absolutely terrible dub, some samples I’ve heard before in better quality, and some unusable vocals which is a minor good point at least.
4. Wobbleboss itself PLAYS LOW-QUALITY COMPRESSED MP3 FILES, it sounds horrible, you would need a whole mastering channel just to cover up.
So after already fixing it myself, I asked for maybe a partial refund. I was ignored.
I asked for a full refund and voiced my distaste. No reply. Ignored.
Eventually the 60 day refund period expired. The VSTs barely function in FL Studio and only one of the synths from them is usable.
So I tell their support, like “okay you literally blanked me until you didn’t have to keep a customer standard refund, congrats” and was ignored.
I had to actually verify their support email exists, and seeing it wasn’t invalid I demanded they at least address my problems since they are technically breaking the law in my home country. No reply.
I could REALLY do with a bonus $100, don’t know about you guys, but something has to be done.
This is the first time I’ve been able to talk, because most reviews like this have comments off, Reddit did not care at all, and they obviously don’t read complaints themselves.
What if you are a beginner? Would this be a good program to start with because it is so simple? And then as you get used to it you can move into something better and more complex (not to mention more expensive). I saw a site that didn’t recommend this product if you were at Skrillex level but if you were just beginning they said it would be a great beginner’s tool. What are your thoughts on this? And what would you recommend instead that would be simple, and inexpensive to try out dubstep.
You don’t want to blame them for the affiliate crap? Man they anticipated about every search string one could think of and created incredible masses of dummy websites to cover for absolutely everything, including “isdubturboascam.com” and similar shit. Like 2 years ago they had spam-f….d Google up its ass so much that it was completely impossible to find anything real about Dud Turbo on the first 49 pages of Google hits.
How I came up with the idea to check for that quite obviously shady product anyway? They black-hat-crap-SEO link-spammed (not only) my forum using some crappy spambot software. If you’re so desperately trying to vandalize half of the internet to sell your software, what does that tell about said software’s quality? Right on.
Hey, so I’m a producer and I like checking out different softwares/VSTs. I came across dubturbo a few months ago and they were giving out free VSTs before the launch of their DAW. Judging by the looks of it I was sold immidiately, so I got all 5 plug-ins. Now… Do I use them in my music? HELL NO! They shit to use, they tried to be too different and ‘unique’ and the presets are all crap. I reccomend getting FL Studio or some DAW trusted by millions, downloading some free VSTs like Tal-Noisemaker, Scylla, TDK etc. I can tell by DubTurbo’s VST that the DAW must be shitty, then I read this and found out the sounds all mp3!!! LMAO! What a joke! How can this software even be legal? Its like the definition of bullshit. I use FL Studio, and only use free VSTs (moneys tight man), but ‘its not about what gun you have, its about who’s swingin it’ (that doesn’t apply to dubturbo users*) and I utilize what I got, what I do, “you can do anything if you put you’re mind to it, man” . So I reccomend FL Studio, here are some of my tracks if you want some free EDM https://soundcloud.com/rainyx
Broadcast quality means it’s 16-24 bit quality. Any beats you make will be dumbed down to broadcast quality in the event that you get placements. CD’s are pressed with this format as well. So if you burn your beats to cd they will be broadcast quality. I actually am able to push past that level (trade secret.)
Major software does come with huge wav files, yet I do produce with mp3’s, aiff, snd, rx2, etc. It’s not the sounds alone, it’s the production level. In no way am I advocating getting Dubturbo as opposed to FL Studio or Maschine, it’s just that I can produce on anything. I make beats on Android using Su-Preme MPA as well.
I made a hot track in Dubturbo and still wouldn’t recommend it for 1st-timers. It’s not as simple as they would lead you to believe. There’s no record button so everything is simply clicking notes in piano roll which is ridiculous, especially without a timing marker on playback. The only people I know who can make beats really fast that way are classically trained pianists. One of my guys actually produces for Sony Music and he produces that way because he hears notes just by seeing the keys (totally ridiculous.) I was able to make a hot beat, yet, it still wasn’t on the level of FL Studio. I’m an avid FL Studio guy and at the same time I can produce in anything. I would’ve immediately gotten a refund had I bought Dubturbo. If any of you have purchased this, just use it til you get super nice on it, then switch to FL Studio and your level of production will increase exponentially. That is, if you don’t want to wait out the process of getting a refund.
GET A REFUND!!!!!!!
I must say, their aggressive marketing plan would be awesome for the right product.
Need serious electronics and studio equipment? http://www.lostangelsinternational.com/vs
This is the owner of DUBturbo 🙂
I have read every single comment/bit of critical feedback and would like to take a moment to say THANK YOU for your collective input and love/hate.
We’re totally overhauling the software/brand and taking it into C++ territory so in a few months all you guys will have a totally new and improved experience with us (this means midi, audio channels, fxracks, etc.).
I’ve explored going the C++ route a few times throughout my journey but it was never feasible for us until now.
As for the affiliates exploding the brand and then sabotaging it – I am truly sorry for enabling them – and had no idea it would get this big this fast so yes in a way I became a victim of my own success and learned a lot throughout this process.
Anyone that ever tried it – buys it – bought it – refunded it – hated on it – loved it – 🙂 – you guys all get a free copy when the overhaul is released.
We’re also doing APP/DEVICE versions, an online community, and widgets so you can sell your beats through our widget that you place anywhere and ppl buy through your paypal without us taking a commission :).
I made a video announcing all of this and I’d love to open dialogue with you guys as we roll this out. please take a moment to watch this and absorb all the news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UytdF8p9EFs
Yes I’m a producer, and a designer, and have always tried to create something that would sell to the masses and help a bunch of people solve problems or be creative or do something good to raise the vibrations of the planet with my music. I didn’t know it would happen with this project, and when it did – at first it was just a cool tool that started to get some traction.
I had no idea that it would get this big, or that affiliates would jump on it like they did, or that we would become a very reactive business stuck in flash programming trying to be something special and hitting brick walls a lot while being cloned faster and faster by competitors.
Some quick points just to separate opinion from fact:
* We only own dubturbo and wobbleboss – the rest have all done pretty good jobs cloning us or modeling after us (talking about the clickbank/affiliate products). People seem to think we own them all because they all follow a pattern/formula – which they do – it works in the online space well so it’s standardized and other teams really tried to outdo us but most times it came out wonky and non-relatable to the market so I understand why people think we launched all of them but we didn’t. I also helped with BeatThang/BTVSolo for a while as a consultant and that’s a software/hardware combo however I don’t own it.
* We’ve stopped our affiliate program from being anonymous and with the new version we will not have affiliates at all. Currently there are only 20-30 and they are bigger sites/brands (though partnerships with big brands or us buying media spots will still happen so you’ll still see us but not for blind commission to a third party affiliate).
* We got sabotaged a year ago by the very affiliate system that helped us get buzz and awareness, I wear that, and have learned a lot from it. I have a lot of bad press out there and lot’s of cleaning up to do with good karma marketing and thank you marketing and simply apologizing to the industry for the bits of damage in my wake of enabling this system and seeing its true power.
* I started this with nothing but the best of intentions, was raised right and genuinely want to help people make great music while being able to create a great living from my talents.
Being in the marketing mix and seeing what the market responds to when something huge happens for your brand was a very reactive experience to make the most out of an opportunity that showed itself. If I knew the gap was this big and could have predicted this outcome, yes I probably would have gone the C++ route faster. However I also believe that timing is everything and now we have a great opportunity to showcase something special that is an accumulation of talent simmering for a few years before combing resources to not only prevent the brand from dying but hopefully thrive to new peaks without affiliates or incentivized 3rd party marketing.
It’s a double edged sword, while on one hand I had to email clickbank a list of dirty/bad affiliates every week that had shady campaigns or did list/email marketing to sensitive lists they shouldn’t have, I also had amazing affiliates with whitehat sites or big sample/loop sites. I wouldn’t have gotten here to have the resources and be able to attract the talent that is needed to CONFIDENTLY take this to C++ territory without the affiliates. I wouldn’t have been able to move this many units to this many countries no matter how big my marketing budget was.
This blog is a part of why we’re doing this as well – social justice makes this a win/win. So thank you for all your feedback, I apologize for all the extra extra marketing I enabled affiliates to do, and I’m open to questions either on the youtube video or here or email us on our site.
Thank you – the youtube link again is :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UytdF8p9EFs
Norbz
You telling me guys and believe me you are gonna wanna hear this one!!! Silly me falling into this trap of dub-turbo and i decided to purchase a prezzy card (pay-pal) earlier today…load it up with $51 NZ dollars (converting rate) and submitted my transaction online about 18hrs ago…but wait, it get’s even more disturbing…the dub-turbo site is quick to take my money and guess what? they send me a download link to my email stating “congrats at 75{206c1b12f9fb10c564014517a442150f86534154877a5459064c1087562b6d43} discount” just click on link to access your software…so I clicked on the link about earlier today when I received this confirmation to my email (18hrs ago)…yep! here we go…only to block me off their site eventhough I paid for this software “Citibank validation sales error” whatever the fuck this means keeps on popping up when I attempt to access my goods??? I musta attempted about 50 times today so far to get access to my now purchased equipment & im still waiting, I sent them about 6 stern emails & not one response as of yet (18hrs later) to help me access my software, so it seems like they are not only ripping people off with their crap equipment…they are also stealing the public’s money too…so yes! im in the mids of laying a serious case of fraud against dub-turbo. Here is the even more confusing part…if you look at their website technical support area…it clearly states they are only available Mon-Fri (not weekends)..now for a site making their products look & seem so flash (the best as they say)…only to have no one to help purchasers over the weekend???…so yes! all they care about is the bucks & commission and fuck the customer who up to now is approaching 24hrs and still sitting with no access to my fully paid product!!! where is my answer from these guys & where do I download my equipment???, I do have a receipt thou which they automatically emailed me…I see this receipt as a thank you for your money but screw you when you need our help…first impressions last & they are a very sad organisation & im saying this not even 24hrs involved yet. Certainly not trustworthy & im beginning to think they are a hoax and a pure scam!!! what kind of business are they running doing this to their first time customers & every other customer. Are they stealing our money??? it certainly seems so & why do it to us dj’s and music lovers??? all we wanna do is follow our passion with the correct equipment which im sure now, ive wasted my money which seems to be stolen by a bunch of assholes!!!
@Mikey – to be fair – their terms, refund policy, their customer service hours everything is on the website – but…
Most people don’t bother reading stuff until after they buy – their fault for not doing their due diligence.
Also, I know for a fact that anyone who has ever requested a refund for Dubturbo has always received it – How do I know? I was once an affiliate and now I am a vendor of my own products – and as a Clickbank vendor you have to adhere to Clickbank’s rules and refund policies – ie, 60 day refund guarantees or you can’t use the Clickbank marketplace.
As an affiliate I got a review copy of the software – the software works fine on my set-up and though it certainly isn’t FL Studio, I was not expecting it to be for $40 – and I have been able to create some cool beats. with it.
To say that the owner is only in it for the money is also unfair – you only have to spend time on the official Dubturbo YouTube channels to see how much effort he has put into tutorials trying to help people – I think he really cares –
but haters gotta hate I guess – never mind totally trying to destroy someone’s business – I guess people think that’s cool – I don’t.
So in summary, it’s a simple thing really – if you buy the Dubturbo software and it doesn’t work for you – no need to get nasty – ask for help from their support people or request a refund within 60 days of the purchase and get your money back – and you will.
@Mikey – in order to use Clickbank (not Citibank!) as a payment processor, a vendor can’t deny the customers their refunds if they request it – that is why Dubturbo is still able to operate using Clickbank – they process all refund requests. Instead of spewing hateful lies, I suggest you request one and you will 100{206c1b12f9fb10c564014517a442150f86534154877a5459064c1087562b6d43} get your money back.
Wow. You just saved me some money I otherwise would have blindly blown. That girl was an idiot haha :’)
So glad I read this!!!! I was almost going to buy dubturbo! :0 But now I’m aware, thanks! 😀 But if you spend few money you get shitty software and for good software you have to spend alot of money. I don’t want both, so am I just not able to produce music? I have real instruments, but I want to make house and dubstep! :S Got any options for me????? 🙁
Luckily this is the first review that popped up in google 😀 Thanks so fricken much 40 dollars saved
Appreciate the review. Let me ask you this, though: if I bought it for my 14 yr-old son, could he learn the basics of beat-making and music mixing? Would he be able to transfer what he learned by using DubTurbo to a more professional platform later on?
I understand that to a pro, Dubturbo might look like a piece of crap. Similarly, as a guitarist, I know that a $100 electric guitar is going to be a piece of crap; but you can learn to play on a $100 guitar. I’m not going to plop down $1000 for my kid’s first guitar. Would DubTurbo be an OK piece of software for a beginner?
I would recommend Reason Essentials over DubTurbo all day, everyday. It’s less than $100, much more powerful and capable (he can actually record vocals over his compositions if desired), not to mention it’s a lot more applicable to more professional platforms than DubTurbo ever will be.
i got a new laptop, reg win 8 Toshiba satellite 500gb 4gb. thanks I was actually about to buy this shit then I saw the ad about it being free and suddenly the lies came out and the shit hit the motha fuckin fan. im going to buy fl studio. for now im going to try to find my old cakewalk disc
i bought it, regretted it coz it kept crashing, took a break from it, then played with it and made a few reasonable things, but most of them sound like 90s video games music. it really is a piece of shit because you have no control over anything, if you move up octave it speeds up the sound. Also the sample sounds are arranged so erratically i never got my head around the order.
I wish i’d seen this earlier.
this review reaches more people sooner!
You are now 3rd result when googling Dubturbo.. well done… The whole Fxpansion deal is very close too getting results btw…
hi guys…. i am beginner music producer, what about BTV solo??? i need real testimony about it.
Great review. That said there are some expensive plug ins that do a lot less for a lot more money so it may not be great but its certainly not the worst value in the music making space. . Compared with some of the rack extensions (RE’s) Propellerhead is currently offering Dub Turbo starts to look like pretty good value.
Dubturbo marketing just went to a whole new low by possibly hacking into other companies customer databases. Just got a email from Fxpansion in my spam folder trying to sell Dubturbo to me.
KVR Topic on it.
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=383148&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Thanks for writing this. I just got an email from Fxpansion offering me Dub Turbo. Until now I thought Fxpansion was pretty reputable but presumably the huge commission has encouraged them to pitch it to their mailing list. I searched because the email is so badly written I was sure it must be a phishing scam. I did find your review of Dub Turbo easily though so well done.
Nice to see an honest review of this awful program. So sad to see all those shills with fake reviews bigging the program up so they can make a few lousy bucks from a referral program. Have they no shame?
There are tons of cheap DAWs out there that do a much, much better job.
Thanks for this review. I just received a fraudulent email purporting to be from the good guys at fxpansion.com, as if it was one of their products. fxpansion make excellent products, and I’m sure they wouldn’t want to be associated with this product. I’ve contacted them to alert them that this is going on.
Great review.
I’m an affiliate marketer and I saw this was at the top of Clickbank and as an aspiring beat maker I thought I would buy it before I dared to promote it. Most affiliates don’t do that and end up ruining their own reputation.
I have the producer edition of FL Studio so when I didn’t really need to buy this Dub Turbo software but I checked it out anyway and it really is as terrible as you pointed out in your review.
I just wished the affiliates who are promoting this and spamming forums and such knew what the hell they were talking about or even promoting.
I’m glad that there are people out here with integrity so that the people who need it most could benefit.
And if anyone is having trouble getting refunds, don’t go directly to Dubturbo’s support. Their merchant account is hosted at Clickbank. Email Clickbank and they would give you a refund within 24 hours without even asking any questions.
I bought it and let me say this IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!! between he lagging and constant freezing I was unable to make a simple bass beat. Not only that the fact that you only have a limited array of beats, sounds and other effects is really REALLY lame. I didnt bother getting my money back because I had a feeling the company has its “customer service” in a foreign country with people who dont speak english. I just learned that just because its cheap and reviews are slapped all over it doesnt mean it is actually gold. If you are going to invest in a career like music or production of music you may have to break the bank of course the slaes team of Dub Turbo will try to convince you that DRE, Skillerx and the other music gurus used their software. Let me save you the time, trouble and the the TIME you WILL waste with this program. IF your mouse is over the complete purchase DON’T DO IT!! Instead take that $40 and buy useful software.
Sorry for the very late reply Timaeus I didn’t think I would get a reply from you. Anyways the refund went well. Got my money back and everything. Although even though I did get my money back I can still use the DubTurbo program. I guess I got it for free. That’s a bug the programmer is going to have to fix in the next version. If one ever come out that is. 🙂
(Registration is just an email and I bet someone can crack it.)
So I got dub turbo an after using allot of free programs when i got dubturbo i was like I CAN GET BETTER MUSIC USING FREE FLASH APPS and its true. Im a noob but I know what a phaser is there are NO FX I was lucky theres a 30 day money back thing so I returned it.
I donno man. I appreciate the honest review, but for $40, I don’t EXPECT this thing to be anywhere near a professional DAW. In fact, I am so intimidated by those programs, I am attracted to the brain dead simplicity of this thing. It’s $40. If I wind up hating it, so what? I can ty to get my money back. Even if I don’t it’s not the end of the world. It looks like a really easy way to noodle around and make some bass.
I’m on the fence about buying it. I’m more concerned with it installing malware or not being able to get my money back then the quality of the product. If it comes with a ton of dirty samples and I can figure out a way to make a tune an hour I would be satisfied. I don’t think it’s fair to say “OH THEY CLAIM YOULL BE DR DRE OVERNIGHT” or that the product somehow isn’t going to measure up to a $600 copy of Reason or whatever the pros use. People aren’t that dumb are they? I just want something to f** around with, not pretend to be a superstar.
Be careful guys with believing ANYONE who write reviews and especially such a negative review. I believe that anyone has interests, so maybe it’s a way to kill your competitors out there…NOT SO ETHICAL. There is a way to say things…
I think that people that search “how to make bits” on the internet will start their journey by learning how to work with any kind of software and it will be better to do it with a low budget. It’s like how I started to play my guitar, at first, just to make sure I’m serious about it, I bought a cheap acoustic chinese guitar and not ran and bought the most expensive electric guitar, and after one year, I decided to upgrade my sound and bought an expensive model. So what do you think? Did I learn anything in this year with this “crap”? BIG YES.
My point is, You should start with something simple (such as Dubturbo, Sonic or any other “crap” software) and don’t run into buying the top PRO software like FL or invest in expensive audio gear, you aren’t there yet (I meant to newbies of course). Take your time and develop your own style and take the decision to expand your budget when you’ll feel it’s the right time.
Thanks I knew it was to cheap to be a good program.
I thought something was fishy about Dub Turbo, and searched far and wide for some *real* reviews that didn’t just shamelessly shill it. Hell, I’ve paid less for Tuareg and Tu2 by Bram Bos, and now he offers them free! You can actually make some good music with these programs, and you can even make your own sound and sample banks. There’s a whole lotta free DAWs you can get online that would beat the crap outta Dub Turbo. Let’s just hope it don’t ‘go Turbo’ on us. /lame Wreck It Ralph reference
I am not going to defend Dub Turbo as living up to its hype because, as a producer, I would never use it myself. But you should actually buy the product and try it out before you write a review.
I did and there are many things in your review which are incorrect.. For instance, Dub Turbo does work with the full 88 note spectrum. The keyboard only address 4 octaves at a time, but you can change which octaves the keyboard is addressing.
As far as MP3’s go, quite a few of the free beat makers and some of the lower end online beat makers render only in MP3 format.
The real criticism should have been that the “keyboard” is not really a keyboard, but it is notes assigned to the computer’s keyboard.
Another distortion in your review is that you can only have 16 instruments. While it is true that Dub Turbo 2.0 only has 16 tracks, each track has a 9 pad interface attached to it into which you can assign up to nine different samples to.
In reality, Dub Turbo can address 126 samples. As far as hype goes, yes it is way over hyped, but then again what isn’t.
I can’t walk past any package of Golf Balls with out seeing bold letters proclaiming “Hit It Longer”, “Flies Straighter”, “Take Strokes Off Your Game”, etc.
As a golfer, I can tell you it is all nonsense. Just visit any drugstore and read the toothpaste packages, “Whiter Teeth, Fresher Breath”, “Noticeably Whitens Teeth In 3 Days”, etc.
You make money off this blog by promoting products that pay you a commission to do so. In other words, you are playing the same game. The truth is that if you would like to make beats as a hobby, but can’t afford the hundreds of dollars and the hours of learning it takes to buy and use Sonar, Cuebase, Fruity Loops or one of the other expensive DAWS, then Dub Turbo is one of many good options.
Plus, if you are really going to be taken serious, you need top-shelve hardware for capturing samples.
If you are trying to go pro, then Dub Turbo is not a good choice and that is because it does not have the capabilities to manipulate samples, it has no MIDI interface, and its effects suite is very limited.
NOTE: This is true up to version 2.0 I will wait until 2.5 comes out before I comment on that version.
Paul Tooley
Producer and Owner of Olive Tree Records
i just save 40 bucks lol
I wish I had read your review before I bought the program. It only took a couple of minutes before I realized it was a glorified pre-programmed sound player. The ONLY tweaking you can do is hit a different note on the keyboard which raises or lowers the pitch but it also raises or lowers the speed – you cannot change them independently! So, forget making any music with wubwub or wobbles. You cannot even change the duration of a sound! Crap! I could have written a better program in under 5 days.
I am responding because I just paid 35 dollars for something that should be a free online kiddie toy.:(
OMG thank you so much for writing this! You are the only true review I can find about this crappy program. I absolutely hate this program because of how shit it is and that people selling them are greedy and doing it just for the money and don’t even know anything about music production.
Especially on yahoo answers, I especially hate seeing this crap there. A lot of people give true and helpful answers then these spam douchebags come in with multiple accounts come and answer the questions with a dubturbo link and vote their own answers up.
Bunch of scumbags/
Thanks for this I was looking for a good software to use to make music. I have a keyboard that can be plugged in to my computer and a akia lpd8 and was looking for a good but cheapest beat making software. I now there all pretty expensive but if I can just find the best one. For a starter of corse.
Finally, a honest upfront review. Glad I found your Dubturbo review before I actually purchased the software.
Thank you! I thought that the reviews on this thing looked fishy as hell, glad I found out why.
Great article. I’ve reviewed a number of music products myself including Studio One, Reason 6, FL Studio, etc and all are of a far superior quality although a little more in price.
For those looking to buy this; here is a better idea; a much better DAW for just $60 (you can buy it on the discounted license if not using it to earn more than $20,000 per year). Its a much better product, its only slightly more and I’m not giving any affiliate link – I just love this product for ease of use (I find easier than FL Studio). What? “Reaper” you can get it from reaper.fm .
Just my opinion but wanted to point anyone looking at getting a cheaper DAW to learn with at Reaper as in my opinion it is a great product… Much better than DubTurbo
I wish that I had come across this review before I bought the program. But to late already did. Every thing you said about the program is right on. The guy that sells the program does mention in one of his video that this program is by no means in competition with FL studio or the other programs. It is a beginners tool. I am one not to give up thou, since I bought it, I was going to look for a way to make it work for me some how and I did. By the way I am not an affiliate.
Since I cant create an entire beat with it, I made it in parts. Then I got this DAW for free called LMMS, similar to FL Studio, I uploaded in part to LMMS and put it all together to make a beat and it sounds ok. I guess it similar to slicing a song and making a beat with it. Anyways I like all the sounds that it comes with and that’s why I didn’t want to give up on it. Also it comes with free upgrade for life. So maybe who knows one day it will come with all the bells and whistle., not holding my breath on it do.
You can also get it much cheaper. Just keep visiting the different sites that sell the program and when you go to leave, sometimes, they will offer you a cheaper price. But you are right if you want a better program save a few extra dollars and buy FL studio or some of the other ones. It will be worth the investment.
Please check out the beat I made with this program and LMMS. I am not a producer and I don’t pretend to be one. Just enjoy making music and learning. Any way heres the youtube link if you can or want to listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37hZwNRVUQw.
Thanks for the review. It is cool to see someone not buying into the bullshit. This is really appreciated.
DAMN IT I JUST BOUGHT IT AFTER READING ALL THOSE REVIEWS ONLINE!!! FUCK!!! Then I find this. I’m getting my refund and hope that it goes well. :/
Do tell me if you get your money back. I just want to see how much worse DubTurbo management can get. ;D
Id love to get a copy of your guide whenever its ready.. I know for a fact that I’m going to put in a lot of effort in to this, its my passion.
Thank you sir,
Karim
Thanks for this review, you’ve saved me buying DubTurbo and being let down big time. Back to Fruity Loops I go. Thank you! 😉
Great review!!!! The internet is full of companies selling the dream of “making it” in the music biz! Its a real job, that requires real skill, dedication, and lots of practice. Good job!
FINALLY a genuine review. Jesus, I was beginning to think I was going crazy when I googled the 20 pages of reviews praising this obscure piece of software. I’m safe now. Thank you…
Thanks for the honest review – something seemed fishy about this program right off the bat. Advertised as free and then mentions the 40 dollar price tag after you listen to their pitch… And the 70{206c1b12f9fb10c564014517a442150f86534154877a5459064c1087562b6d43} commission definately explains it. I blame the company because they are fully aware that offering that kind of commission will get people to spread false info in order to sell their product. You read enough “reviews” that look legitamite and you start to believe. The only thing stopping other businesses from doing this is ethics and product overhead. Any company that can offer 70{206c1b12f9fb10c564014517a442150f86534154877a5459064c1087562b6d43} to their sales team did not invest enough in the initial product – which would explain why it sucks. This is as close to a scam as you can get without selling a virus.
They charged me 32$ for a “commercial” license for 20 years. That option was to make their VI I’d just purchased authorized to be used in professional applications.
Without this license it is only a toy. You can’t use the sounds in it for cd’s as you have not purchased the license.
Your recording rights revert to them after 20 years.
My dad always told me-
“Never give a prostitute money to go get some weed”
I should have listened.
Thanks for this review.
I am a producer and iam using FL Studio, but when i saw the ads i had the feeling that Dubturbo is sh**. I didnt find any reviews(except this one), which werent written by the developers of Dubturbo. So i hope your review will help beginners to their decision.
Btw, sorry for my english,
iam 14 Years old and german
I agree with both of you guys before i bought the software i was looking for a honest review. I couldnt find one. Its took me about two weeks for me to say f@#k it im going to buy it, if i didnt like it i can get my refund. So now i can honestly say Dubturbo is not that bad besides the freezing time to time. I mean cmon for $40 u cant beat it, is it one of the best music producing software out there? I doubt it. Its been about 6 months since i bought it and i like it. I made about 20 beats and bunch more i havent finished yet but just keep in mined YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
P.S Im NOT a paid affiliate just a customer adding my 2cents to this honest review,to hear some samples i made with dubturbo check out the link …..thanks
Thanks for writing this. I was actually buying this software today, but I never actually pressed the “complete the order button”. I found two charges for $34.95 on my credit card. Jerks. I better get my money back.
They did the same thing to me. I refunded in 30 minutes, luckily the refund went through.
Kudos for writing this, although I’m afraid that the chances of it ever swimming on top of the thousands of paid reviews in any search results are slim to nil. It’s as good as impossible to specifically look for real opinions on these tools, because any site that writes serious reviews of real software usually don’t even mention it (you say that you were hesitant to yourself).
I disagree with you that it’s not the fault of the creators though. It is their fault for creating these affiliate schemes. In fact, I’ll call and raise you: I think they had their sorry excuse of a software written specifically for the purpose of creating a referral scheme (it’s probably written by the lowest off-shore developer they could outsource to). The fact that any affiliate program invariably turns into such a disaster, ruining any reputation an offer might have had, is so well-known that they must have planned for this. Even their own sites are these typical Black Hat SEO type of sites, a page 50 screens long that is overladen with flashy graphics, fake testimonials and 100pt “BUY HERE NOW PROMO ONLY 5 SECONDS LEFT” links. Their goal was never, ever to write a good piece of software.
Apart from DubTurbo and Sonic Producer, there’s also Dr. Drum that’s about the same. It is my running theory that they are all the same software by the same company, reskinned and rebranded to provide space for more referral schemes. I could probably confirm that by even just looking up the WHOIS of their domains.
And that video review was hilarious. My favourite comment: “I hope it pays more than being a hooker, because they lose more pride doing it.” Brilliant.
100{206c1b12f9fb10c564014517a442150f86534154877a5459064c1087562b6d43} agreed.
Came in at #5 on google!
Good review. I ran into this piece of shit software couple of months ago when i was upgrading my studio software setup and i laughed my ass off! 😀 For all people out there looking for cheap DAW, i’m suggesting giving Reaper a try! It’s professional level DAW for only 60 dollars. Stable coding, developers are not wasting money on advertising and they update it at really fast pace. The demo is fully funtional and you’re allowed to use it for 60 days free. (It works after that, but cmon the license is too cheap)
Cheers!