Global Variables

Variable names beginning with i-, k-, and a- are local to a particular instrument. You can reuse a name (such as asig) in any number of instruments without causing Csound to get confused. These variable types have global equivalents, which begin with gi-, gk-, and ga-. Variable names preceded by g- are exactly the same as their non-g- counterparts: Values defined with gi- are constant, those defined by gk- operate at control rate, and those defined by ga- contain audio vector data.

Normally, global variables should be declared (and given an initial value) in the orchestra header. They can be declared in an instrument instead, but in this case they won’t be available in any other instrument until the instrument in which they’re declared starts running, either because of an event in the score or because of an alwayson opcode in the header.