ARE Audio Renderer

ASIO audio output for MPC-HC, with precise, configurable sample rate conversion.

ARE Audio Renderer is a DirectShow audio renderer for MPC-HC that sends decoded PCM audio to an ASIO device. It focuses on precise output control, high-quality sample-rate conversion, and a clear view of the active audio path.

Features

• Direct ASIO output with selectable device, first output channel, buffer size, and output precision.
• High-quality sample-rate conversion using r8brain or SoX Sinc, processed in Float64 with linear-phase filters.
• Device-rate playback with optional resampling to keep the ASIO device at its current sample rate.
• Mono, stereo, and surround support. Mono can feed both stereo outputs; multichannel audio is preserved when enough outputs are available and downmixed when necessary.
• Automatic or explicit PCM output with 16-, 24-, and 32-bit choices and dithering when integer quantization is required.
• Live playback status for input/output formats, sample rates, channel mapping, buffer latency, conversion state, and underruns.
• Runtime settings and playback-rate changes designed to minimize unnecessary ASIO device reinitialization.

Installation

You need Windows, MPC-HC, and an ASIO driver matching the architecture of MPC-HC.

1. Download the package for your MPC-HC architecture from Releases.
2. Close MPC-HC, extract the package, and run Install.cmd.
3. Select your ASIO device in the renderer settings and click Apply.
4. Restart MPC-HC, then select ARE Audio Renderer under Options → Playback → Output → Audio Renderer.

Version 3.1.0 restores the settings gear after MPC-HC updates. Click the gear next to the selected renderer to open ARE settings. The installer starts a per-user helper and registers it for Windows sign-in. It uses the existing Windows controls without replacing MPC-HC or checking its release version. Allow about one second after opening Output or selecting ARE for the gear to activate. During playback the gear opens the active renderer for live status and Apply; before playback it configures defaults.

The helper runs silently as ARE-Audio-Renderer-Settings.exe --mpc-integration, independently for x64 and x86. Use Install.ps1 -NoMpcIntegration to omit it. Run MPC-HC without administrator elevation so the helper can reach its controls. Compatibility depends on MPC-HC retaining its standard Output controls; future UI redesigns may need an update. See integration details.

During playback, open the renderer settings from Play → Filters → ARE Audio Renderer. You can also use ARE-Audio-Renderer-Settings.exe to configure defaults outside the player.

To unregister the renderer, stop its helper and remove its Windows startup entry, run Uninstall.bat from the installed or extracted folder.

Version 3.1.1 fixes install/uninstall under Windows PowerShell. Reinstall reuses identical loaded files and stages changed binaries separately, so an open player or settings window does not cause a DLL overwrite error. Restart MPC-HC and close older settings windows to use the updated version. Uninstall waits for hidden helpers to exit and retains saved device preferences.

Audio behavior

ARE receives decoded PCM from the player's audio decoder and sends it through the selected ASIO path.

Input / device situation	Behavior
Mono on a stereo output	Duplicated to left and right
Stereo	Preserved as stereo
Multichannel with enough ASIO outputs	Channels are preserved in speaker-mask order
Multichannel with fewer outputs	Downmixed to stereo, or mono when only one output is available
Source and device sample rates differ	Resampled when device-rate playback is enabled
Compatible source/device rate and format	Conversion can be bypassed for a direct PCM path

The first ASIO output channel is configurable, and unused device outputs are not opened.

Decoder configuration

Configure LAV Audio or another upstream decoder to output PCM when using ARE. Compressed Dolby/DTS bitstream passthrough, DSD/DoP passthrough, and object-based audio metadata are outside the PCM/ASIO path.

Sample-rate conversion

Two conversion engines are available:

• r8brain — the default high-quality converter.
• SoX Sinc — an alternative high-quality sinc converter.

Both operate internally in Float64. Resampling is only used when required by the selected device-rate configuration; otherwise the renderer can keep the original sample rate.

Build from source

Install Visual Studio with the Desktop development with C++ workload, a Windows SDK, CMake, and Python. All required DSP sources and ASIO interface headers are included in the repository.

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts/Build.ps1

Build a single architecture with:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts/Build.ps1 -Architecture x64

Use x86 instead for a 32-bit build. Generated packages are written under dist/.

For settings integration and the archived MPC-HC 2.8.2 host patch, see integration/mpc-hc/README.md.

License

The original ARE Audio Renderer source is licensed under the MIT License.

Windows release binaries are distributed under GPL-3.0 because the included Steinberg ASIO SDK headers use their GPL option. The MPC-HC compatibility patch is GPL-3.0-or-later, and bundled third-party components retain their own licenses.

See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for details.