Music by Ben Barden
Album 6, progress update 1
My sixth studio album is now underway. So far I've been working on the following tracks:
- Overture
- Down to Business
- Break of Day
- Try to keep up
I've been writing a lot of new tracks and seeing how they turn out. These four tracks sound great and I think they work best in the above order. Although this isn't a concept album, I like to get a feeling of progression from one track to the next.
For the first time, I may put the tracks online as I finish them. I've tried this before with previous albums, but the tracks were already close to completion - they just needed polishing. If I do it for this album, it'll be the first time I've finished some new tracks and put them online almost immediately.
Stay tuned for more news...
Creative X-Fi Titanium soundcard - moving in the right direction...
To follow-up on my post about audio problems with the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio card in Windows 7, I'm pleased to say that a replacement soundcard fixed the problem. This time I went for the Creative X-Fi Titanium card. Lo and behold, I now have "What U Hear" back.
I have a couple more installations to do on the PC, but once those are done, I'll be ready to start making music again. It's been a while since I've had a proper music PC - nearly 18 months - although I did manage to release A Change of Scenery using a laptop as an interim setup.
I haven't decided what to work on just yet... but it's likely to end up being my sixth studio album. Title, artwork and music are all currently unknown as I haven't done anything for it yet - watch this space for news!
Buy the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Sound Card
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio, Windows 7, and What U Hear
This is a problem that has been causing me a huge amount of hassle and I only found the answer by searching online forums for a few hours.
I recently bought a new Dell PC with Windows 7 64-bit, and a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio sound card. In the past I've used the "What U Hear" option so I can record my tracks as MP3s just by setting up an audio track and hitting record - no need to run a cable from line out to line in. (Which would be silly anyway.)
To cut a long story short, the "What U Hear" option had completely disappeared, and I found the following explanation from Creative:
The What U Hear recording option is supported in Windows Vista and Windows 7 for Sound Blaster X-Fi series (excluding Xtreme Audio series) and Sound Blaster Audigy series (excluding Sound Blaster Audigy LE, SE and Audigy Value).
So PCI Express X-Fi Xtreme Audio does not have the What U Hear feature in Windows 7.
Source: The "What U Hear" problem (Dell Community Forums)
Unfortunately, Dell doesn't provide a lot of customisation options in the soundcard department, so I had little choice but to choose the Xtreme Audio card. It looks like I'll have to buy a replacement soundcard - wish I could've done that up front.
I can't confirm this will definitely fix the problem, but from the description I found from Creative, it sounds like I'll never get my existing soundcard to reveal the missing option. Disappointing.
New music PC currently on order - here are the specs...
As we've been in the process of moving, I've been without a music PC. Now though, we're finally settled, so I have ordered a new music PC. Specs:
- Base: StudioXPS 8100 - Intel Core i3 Processor 540 (3.06GHz, 4MB)
- Memory: 8192MB (4x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory
- Keyboard: Dell Multimedia USB Keyboard Dual Tone - UK/Irish
- Monitor: Dell ST2210 21.5" Full HD Widescreen Monitor - UK/Irish
- Video Card: 1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5450 graphics card
- Hard Drive: 2TB Dual Hard Drive Non RAID (2x1TB - 7200rpm)
- Microsoft Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English
- Mouse: Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse
- Optical Devices: DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burn software
- Sound Cards: Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Card
- Speakers: No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
- Wireless Networking: Dell 1525 Wireless PCIe Network Card 802.11n
Check out the monitor, hard drives and memory!
I know there are no speakers, I'll get those separately.
What do you think? I can't wait to get my new PC so I can start making music again.
Album 5 now available for free online streaming and downloads
I'm pleased to announce the release of my fifth album!
You can hear the entire album and read the sleeve notes on the album page: A Change of Scenery.
Like it? Please feel free to share it. Thanks for listening!