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[negopus]

Actually, I am not so satisfied.

I am looking for a detailed, professional visualization of audio. I understand that MC is going "mainstream". Its main target is the typical home theater/home entertainment enthusiast, so a professional audio visualization is not one of the main goals of MC.

I found that ther are excellent VST plug-ins for audio visualization. One of them is InspectorXL from Elemental Audio Systems http://www.elementalaudio.com/products/inspectorxl/ (there is a free version of it too, named just Inspector).

In order to use a VST plug-in into MC, that can become a DirectX Host using the DirectX Host plug-in, you have to wrap the VST plug-in into DirectX using the free VST DX Wrapper Lite, from SpinAudio http://www.spinaudio.com/products.php?id=33.

DirectX Host has two main problems:

1) Slow initialization: when opening the DirectX Host window in DSP Studio, it seems that every DirectX plug-in is checked, including DXi soft synths, that is a very slow process. Even uninstalling DXi soft synths (using the free DX Plug-in Uninstaller from VB Audio http://perso.wanadoo.fr/vb-audio/us/products/dxrack/dxrack.htm), initialization is slow. Typical professional audio application perform a long and slow plug-in scan only the first time they are loaded (or on request), not every time.
2) Slow refresh rate: the plug-in user interface is refreshed 4-5 times per second, too slow for real-time audio visualization

Also a third problem could arise, but it is hidden by the slow refresh rate:

3) Lack of synchronization: MC, like almost every player, has an output buffer, and audio data is sent to plug-ins before the output buffer, so data displayed by the plug-in is in advance of a buffer size respect to audio output. You can keep the buffer small, in order to make MC more responsive, but I found I need at least a 200 ms buffer. This delay should be compensated by a checkable "visualization mode" option, that delays the signal send to the plug-in and bypasses its output without switching it off completely (and possibly increases the refresh rate).

So DirectX Host should fix these three problems in order to be useable for audio visualization. I believe that the Adapt-X library, upon which DirectX Host is built, has not being upgraded for a while. The latest version of the Adapt-X plug-in for WMP and Winamp (3.6) is dated 2003

I have found an alternate solution. There are audio cards that can route their output back into their input (in the digital domain, I hope). Using a VST host that accepts the audio card input, such as Forte from Brainspawn http://www.brainspawn.com/ lets you use VST plug-ins to visualize the card input.

However, this is a workaround (the typical way in which major software vendors solve their customers' problems), not a real solution.

I don't know whether pro sound cards feature this (not so clean) routing trick. Luckily my Terratec EWX 24/96 has this feature (only for the analog output, however).

[GHammer]

I am using DirectX Host only for a single audio processor plugin.
For that, it works well.
I have tried using a couple of spectrum analyzer plugins with little luck.
I don't like having to have the DSP Studio open and the DirectX Host open inside that to display those plugins.
But, for my actual usage, single audio plugin, it works well.

Would I be in favor of MC becoming a host on its own? Sure. It would make it more flexible I think.