Csound is a command for passing anorchestra file andscore file to Csound to generate a soundfile. The score file can be in one of many different formats, according to user preference. Translation, sorting, and formatting into orchestra-readable numeric text is handled by various preprocessors; all or part of the score is then sent on to the orchestra. Orchestra performance is influenced by command flags, which set the level of displays and console reports, specify I/0 filenames and sample formats, and declare the nature of real-time sensing and control.
With some recent additions to Csound, there are now five places where options for Csound performance may be set. They are processed in the following order:
Csound's own defaults
File defined by CSOUNDRC environment variable, or .csoundrc file in the HOME directory
.csoundrc file in the current directory
<CsOptions> tag in a .csd file
Csound command line
The last assignment of an option will override any earlier ones. As of version 5.01, sample and control rate overrides (-r and -k flags) specified anywhere override sr, kr, and ksmps in the orchestra header.