Unlike a DirectX driver, which offers a single stereo output comprising two output channels operating in concert, an ASIO driver offers software individual access to each monophonic channel. This offers no benefit to PCStage users where a single stereo output is concerned, since its panning and mixing features enable the left and right channels to be used separately, but where a soundcard offers more output channels they are often not accessible via a DirectX driver. Using this plugin, the full potential of multi-output soundcards to generate audio from multiple locations in a space can be realized.

The appearance and operation of the plugin is superficially similar to that of PCStage's Wave Audio tool - each channel of the selected ASIO device has a progress gauge, start and stop buttons - but it lacks all of its other features. Some of these may be added if this plugin is sufficiently popular.

As in PCStage's Wave Audio tool, sounds can be played manually by clicking on a channel's Play button, but it is intended that they be played automatically by PCStage. This is done by creating Plugin cue events which send the following command to AsioAudio:

Play <channel> <filename> [<level>] Plays the specified file on the specified channel. An optional channel level can also be given.
Stop <channel> Stops playtback on the specified channel.
Level <channel> <level> Sets the level of the specified channel.

<channel> is the number of the channel to use, from one upward, and <filename> is the name of a wave or MP3 file. If the filename includes spaces, it must be enclosed in double quotes. <level> is specified in dB, where 0 is maximum and negative values are quieter.

The included library OpenAsio.dll must be placed either in the the PCStage installation directory or a directory in your system path list, such as the Windows directory.