THE INSTALLATION PROCESS AND OTHER TECH-KNOW

For this review, a special computer was assembled by the Dubroom's Tech-Team. The minimum requirements were met, and the computer was kept as clean as possible. No gadgets, no other software, just Reason 3.0. We used an average sound card, nothing special either.

We wanted to know, what Reason can do on it's own. Especially for the contemporary computer based DUB producers who don't have a band, or a studio, or a mountain of money, it's of crucial essence to know if Reason can do the job on it's own.

So the Tech-Team assembled a computer, connected a monitor, mouse and keyboard and that's it. No midi keyboards, no midi controller hardware.

Although the "Real Life" Dubroom Studio has a stockpile of samples, and a whole heap of other gadgets and thing, none of that is used for this review either. We used the sounds that come with Reason, and only the software itself. The only external software we used was to encode the mp3 files that come with this review.

The Tech-Team didn't install Reason. That would have been too easy. Many people think, that being a computer-based DUB producer means you can assemble any computer and so on. In the Dubroom, this is not so. It's not so that everyone who knows how to create DUB with computers, knows how to create computers.

Fortunately, Propellerhead knows this too. So installing the software was very, very easy. Insert the installation disc, and follow the instructions. Basically, the instructions are when to put which disc in the drive. The software is installed in no time, and is continued as soon as you launch the program for the first time.

You will be asked to enter the registration codes, and after you did, the final phase of the installation process will be completed. That's where it went wrong during our installation process. However, an elbow accidentally hitting the left button of the mouse caused the mistake. A typical situation, a natural situation for a DUB producer. Anyway, the computer halted the installation process. But after a re-set, and a re-launch of Reason, everything went fine.

So the installation process is painless. It's idiot-proof, because even when you make a mistake, you don't have to redo the whole process. When your computer meets the minimum requirements, Reason is installed in 20 minutes at the most. And when you're not an idiot, it will be shorter.

The most time will be taken by copying the two CDR's with the sounds anyway. Previous versions of Reason would let you choose between installing the banks on your Hard Drive and leaving them on disc. This is no longer an option in Reason. And it shouldn't have to be either.

Let's try to get some DUB out of Reason, shall we?

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