Front ends are programs that provide some form of user interface for Csound. Within these programs, Csound is used to generate sound, and familiarity with Csound code is required in order to use them. Front ends typically add helpful features, such as syntax coloring, graphic widgets, or tools for algorithmic score generation, that are not part of Csound itself. Most of these programs were created by a single person, so some of them are not being maintained. Below is a list (certainly not complete, and perhaps not up to date) of front ends available for Csound.
Most often, you'll want to download and install Csound itself before downloading and installing a front end. Some front ends require particular versions of Csound, so if you plan to use a front end, it's recommended that you verify its compatibility before installing Csound.
CsoundQt is a versatile, cross-platform GUI (graphical user interface) which is bundled with the standard Csound distribution. Created and maintained by Andres Cabrera, QuteCsound provides a multi-tabbed editor, graphic widgets for real-time sound control, and an opcode help system that links to this manual. At this writing (2013) CsoundQt is in active development, so the version installed in your system when you install Csound may not be the most current. The most recent version can be found at http://qutecsound.sourceforge.net/.
A cross-platform composition-oriented front end written by Steven Yi in Java. The user interface provides a timeline structured somewhat like a digital multitrack, but differs in that timelines can be embedded within timelines (polyObjects). This allows for a compositional organization in time that many users will find intuitive, informative, and flexible. Each instrument and score section in a blue project has its own editing window, which makes organizing large projects easier. Blue can be downloaded at Blue Home Page.
Cabbage is a Csound frontend that provides users with the means to develop audio plugins and standalone software across the three major operating systems. While Cabbage makes use of underlying plugin technologies such as Steinberg's VST SDK, ASIO, etc, Csound is used to process all incoming and outgoing audio. Cabbage also provides a growing collection of GUI widgets ranging from simple sliders to automatable XY-pads. All GUI widgets in a Cabbage plugin can be controlled via host automation in a plugin host, thereby providing a quick and effective means of automating Csound instrument parameters in both commercial and non-commercial DAWs. Cabbage can be downloaded at Cabbage Home Page.
WinXound is a free and open-source Front-End GUI Editor with syntax highlighting for CSound 6, CSoundAV, CSoundAC, with Python and Lua support, developed by Stefano Bonetti. It runs on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OsX and Linux. You can get it at the WinXsound Front Page.
Winsound was formerly part of the main Csound tree. It is now available only as source code. Winsound is a cross-platform FLTK port of Barry Vercoe's original front-end for csound. Some partially sighted or unsighted users report success using Winsound with text-to-speech software.
You can use CsoundAC as a Python extension module. You can do this in a standard Python interpreter, such as Python command line or the Idle Python GUI.
To use CsoundAC in a standard Python interpreter, import CsoundAC.
import CsoundAC
The CsoundAC module automatically creates an instance of
CppSound named csound, which provides an object-oriented
interface to the Csound API. In a standard Python interpreter, you can
load a Csound .csd file and perform it like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\mkg>python
Python 2.3.3 (#51, Dec 18 2003, 20:22:39) [MSC v.1200 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import CsoundAC
>>> csound.load("c:/projects/csound5/examples/trapped.csd")
1
>>> csound.exportForPerformance()
1
>>> csound.perform()
BEGAN CppSound::perform(5, 988ee0)...
BEGAN CppSound::compile(5, 988ee0)...
Using default language
0dBFS level = 32767.0
Csound version 5.00 beta (float samples) Jun 7 2004
libsndfile-1.0.10pre6
orchname: temp.orc
scorename: temp.sco
orch compiler:
398 lines read
instr 1
instr 2
instr 3
instr 4
instr 5
instr 6
instr 7
instr 8
instr 9
instr 10
instr 11
instr 12
instr 13
instr 98
instr 99
sorting score ...
... done
Csound version 5.00 beta (float samples) Jun 6 2004
displays suppressed
0dBFS level = 32767.0
orch now loaded
audio buffered in 16384 sample-frame blocks
SFDIR undefined. using current directory
writing 131072-byte blks of shorts to test.wav
WAV
SECTION 1:
ENDED CppSound::compile.
ftable 1:
ftable 2:
ftable 3:
ftable 4:
ftable 5:
ftable 6:
ftable 7:
ftable 8:
ftable 9:
ftable 10:
ftable 11:
ftable 12:
ftable 13:
ftable 14:
ftable 15:
ftable 16:
ftable 17:
ftable 18:
ftable 19:
ftable 20:
ftable 21:
ftable 22:
new alloc for instr 1:
B 0.000 .. 1.000 T 1.000 TT 1.000 M: 32.7 0.0
new alloc for instr 1:
B 1.000 .. 3.600 T 3.600 TT 3.600 M: 207.6 0.1
...
B 93.940 .. 94.418 T 98.799 TT281.799 M: 477.6 85.0
B 94.418 ..100.000 T107.172 TT290.172 M: 118.9 11.5
end of section 4 sect peak amps: 25950.8 26877.4
inactive allocs returned to freespace
end of score. overall amps: 32204.8 31469.6
overall samples out of range: 0 0
0 errors in performance
782 131072-byte soundblks of shorts written to test.wav WAV
Elapsed time = 13.469000 seconds.
ENDED CppSound::perform.
1
>>>
The koch.py script shows how to use Python
to do algorithmic composition for Csound. You can use Python
triple-quoted string literals to hold your Csound files right in your
script, and assign them to Csound:
csound.setOrchestra('''sr = 44100
kr = 441
ksmps = 100
nchnls = 2
0dbfs = .1
instr 1,2,3,4,5 ; FluidSynth General MID
I; INITIALIZATION
; Channel, bank, and program determine the preset, that is, the actual sound.
ichannel = p1
iprogram = p6
ikey = p4
ivelocity = p5 + 12
ijunk6 = p6
ijunk7 = p7
; AUDIO
istatus = 144;
print iprogram, istatus, ichannel, ikey, ivelocityaleft, aright
fluid "c:/projects/csound5/samples/VintageDreamsWaves-v2.sf2", \\
iprogram, istatus, ichannel, ikey, ivelocity, 1
outs aleft, arightendin''')
csound.setCommand("csound --opcode-lib=c:/projects/csound5/fluid.dll \\
-RWdfo ./koch.wav ./temp.orc ./temp.sco")
csound.exportForPerformance()
csound.perform()