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Csound supports all major desktop platforms with full audio and MIDI capabilities.

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macOS

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Requirements

  • Xcode command line tools
  • CMake
  • Bison 3.8+ (macOS includes older version)
  • libsndfile (optional)

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Build with dependencies installed

If you have libsndfile and other dependencies installed: 
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j 8
sudo make install
The CsoundLib64 framework is installed in $HOME/Library/Frameworks.

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Build without dependencies (vanilla)

Build Csound with minimal dependencies on a clean macOS system: 
# First build libsndfile
git clone https://github.com/libsndfile/libsndfile
cd libsndfile
cmake -B build -DENABLE_EXTERNAL_LIBS=0 -DENABLE_MPEG=0 \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../sndfile_install
cmake --build build
cmake --build build --target install
cd ..

# Build Csound
cmake -B build \
  -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$PWD/sndfile_install" \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$PWD/csound_install" \
  -DCS_FRAMEWORK_DEST="$PWD/csound_install"
cmake --build build --config Release
cmake --build build --target install
This installs Csound in the csound_install directory with CoreAudio, CoreMIDI, and statically linked libsndfile.

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Build using Homebrew

Use Homebrew to install all dependencies: 
brew install --only-dependencies csound
brew install bison flex jack googletest

cmake -B build -DCUSTOM_CMAKE="./platform/osx/custom-osx.cmake"
cmake --build build --config Release
sudo make install

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macOS audio and MIDI backends

  • CoreAudio: Native macOS audio
  • CoreMIDI: Native macOS MIDI
  • JACK: Professional audio routing (optional)

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Linux

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Ubuntu/Debian

Install dependencies: 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cmake libsndfile1-dev libasound2-dev \
  libjack-dev portaudio19-dev libportmidi-dev libpulse-dev \
  swig liblua5.1-0-dev default-jdk libfltk1.1-dev \
  libfluidsynth-dev liblo-dev fluid ladspa-sdk libpng-dev \
  dssi-dev libstk0-dev libgmm++-dev bison flex libportsmf-dev \
  libeigen3-dev libcunit1-dev gettext libsamplerate0-dev
Build Csound: 
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

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Linux audio and MIDI backends

  • ALSA: Linux native audio and MIDI
  • JACK: Professional audio routing
  • PulseAudio: Consumer audio system
  • PortAudio: Cross-platform audio I/O
  • PortMIDI: Cross-platform MIDI I/O

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Windows

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Requirements

  • Visual Studio 2022 (or later)
  • CMake
  • Chocolatey (for dependencies)
  • Flex and Bison
  • Git (optional)
  • InnoSetup (optional, for installer)

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Install dependencies

Open PowerShell as administrator: 
choco install -y cmake winflexbison3 innosetup git

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Clone source

git clone https://github.com/csound/csound.git
cd csound

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Setup vcpkg

The vcpkg package manager handles dependencies like libsndfile, portaudio, and portmidi: 
git submodule init
git submodule update
.\vcpkg\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat

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Build Csound

# Without Python
cmake -B build -S . -DUSE_VCPKG=1 \
  -DCUSTOM_CMAKE="./platform/windows/Custom-vs.cmake" \
  -DINSTALL_PYTHON_INTERFACE=OFF
cmake --build build --config Release
With Python 3 installed, you can remove the -DINSTALL_PYTHON_INTERFACE=OFF option.

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Build installer

Set up Visual Studio runtime paths: 
$Env:RedistVersion = Get-Content "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\Microsoft.VCRedistVersion.default.txt"
$Env:VCREDIST_CRT_DIR = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Redist\MSVC\${Env:RedistVersion}\x64\Microsoft.VC143.CRT"
$Env:VCREDIST_CXXAMP_DIR = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Redist\MSVC\${Env:RedistVersion}\x64\Microsoft.VC143.CXXAMP"
$Env:VCREDIST_OPENMP_DIR = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Redist\MSVC\${Env:RedistVersion}\x64\Microsoft.VC143.OpenMP"

iscc /o. installer\windows\csound7_x64_github.iss
Note: Adjust the Visual Studio path if using a different version.

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Windows audio and MIDI backends

  • PortAudio: Cross-platform audio I/O (WASAPI, DirectSound, ASIO)
  • PortMIDI: Cross-platform MIDI I/O

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Customizing the build

Create a Custom.cmake file for platform-specific options: 
# Example custom configuration
set(USE_DOUBLE OFF)  # Use 32-bit floats
set(BUILD_PLUGINS ON)  # Build opcodes as plugins
set(USE_JACK ON)  # Enable JACK support
Use it with: 
cmake -DCUSTOM_CMAKE=Custom.cmake ..

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