How to Use Multichannel DirectShow ASIO Renderer in Media Player Classic (MPC)

ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) can make all the difference in the quality of sound reproduction on your computer. There are some sound devices that offer ASIO interface using which the operating system can access the hardware directly without having to route through manufacturer provided software. Even if you don’t have a sound card that supports ASIO, you can use ASIO4ALL which is a universal sound card driver for all the WDM audio devices and might improve the sound output a little bit.

We have posted about how you can use ASIO4ALL in Foobar2000 or XMPlay, but both of these require some sort of ASIO plugin to be used. These plugins are player specific and do not work with all the players. Now there is another software called “Multichannel DirectShow ASIO Renderer” using which you can make ASIO support available in any media player that uses DirectShow to play the sound.

In case of Media Player Classic (MPC-HC), here is how you can use ASIO using “Multichannel DirectShow ASIO Renderer”:

  1. Download and install Media Player Classic, Multichannel DirectShow ASIO Renderer, and ASIO4ALL (if your sound card does not support ASIO). You can install them in any order you want.
  2. Launch Media Player Classic and select View → Options from the menubar. You can also press O to open MPC options.
  3. In the options, select Playback, Output and then select Multichannel ASIO Renderer Filter as Audio Renderer. Multichannel ASIO DirectShow Renderer
  4. Select Internal Filters, Audio Switcher, and then unselect Enable built-in audio switcher filter and click OK to save the settings.Multichannel ASIO DirectShow Renderer
  5. Now try playing any music or video file in Media Player Classic, you will see that it is now being played using ASIO. You can right-click on MPC window, select Filters and then Multichannel DirectShow ASIO Renderer to open its settings.Multichannel ASIO DirectShow Renderer
  6. In the filter settings, you can make changes to various of its options and view information like audio driver, spectrum analyzer, output volumes etc.Multichannel ASIO DirectShow Renderer

“Multichannel DirectShow ASIO Renderer” allows ASIO for all the media players that use DirectShow interface to play the music. However, you have to manually make changes in all the media players to ensure that this ASIO filter is used.

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