libcsound

Python bindings for Csound (fork of ctcsound)

These bindings can be used with any version of csound >= 6.18. Csound 7 is explicitely supported and is the recommended version.

Installation

Csound

Csound needs to be installed in the system. See https://github.com/csound/csound/releases

In Linux / macOS:

curl -fsSL https://csound-plugins.github.io/installer/install.sh | bash

This installs the latest version of csound 7.

libcsound

pip install libcsound

Quick Start

Rendering in real-time using a render thread

import libcsound
csound = libcsound.Csound()
csound.setOption('-odac')
csound.compileOrc(r'''

sr = 44100   ; Modify to fit your system
ksmps = 64
nchnls = 2
0dbfs = 1

instr 1
  kchan init -1
  kchan = (kchan + metro:k(1)) % nchnls
  if changed:k(kchan) == 1 then
    println "Channel: %d", kchan + 1
  endif
  asig = pinker() * 0.2
  outch kchan + 1, asig
endin

''')
csound.start()
thread = csound.performanceThread()
thread.play()
# Schedule an instance of instr 1 for 10 seconds
thread.scoreEvent(0, "i", [1, 0, 10])
input("Press any key to stop...\n")
thread.stop()

Render offline

import libcsound
csound = libcsound.Csound()
csound.setOption('-ooutfile.wav')
csound.compileOrc(r'''

sr = 44100
ksmps = 64
nchnls = 2
0dbfs = 1

instr 1
  kchan init -1
  kchan = (kchan + metro:k(1)) % nchnls
  if changed:k(kchan) == 1 then
    println "Channel: %d", kchan + 1
  endif
  asig = pinker() * 0.2
  outch kchan + 1, asig
endin

''')
csound.start()
csound.scoreEvent("i", [1, 0, 10])
csound.setEndMarker(10)
# Perform until the end of the score
while not csound.performKsmps():
    pass

Documentation

https://libcsound.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Metadata

Release files for libcsound 0.17.0

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for libcsound 0.17.0
File	Size	Uploaded
libcsound-0.17.0.tar.gz	1.3 MB	Sep 10, 2026	Details

Release files / libcsound-0.17.0.tar.gz

Download URL	libcsound-0.17.0.tar.gz
Size	1.3 MB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`b681e4d77910cb7e1b0ff9eb8468b4abfb26b7793331b8f63e44b72f6b30c69a`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`5d0eccc2570e666b41fc74b4767993212488b5f83f9c5f0c036a9e737348abb1`
Upload date	Sep 10, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.14.4`