chnexport
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## chnexport

chnexport — Export a global variable as a channel of the bus.

## Description

Export a global variable as a channel of the bus; the channel should not already exist, otherwise an init error occurs. This opcode is normally called from the orchestra header, and allows the host application to read or write orchestra variables directly, without having to use chnget or chnset to copy data.

## Syntax

    gival chnexport Sname, imode[, itype, idflt, imin, imax]

    gkval chnexport Sname, imode[, itype, idflt, imin, imax]

    gaval chnexport Sname, imode

    gSval chnexport Sname, imode

## Initialization

imode -- sum of at least one of 1 for input and 2 for output.

itype (optional, defaults to 0) -- channel subtype for control channels only. Possible values are:

- 0: default/unspecified (idflt, imin, and imax are ignored)

- 1: integer values only

- 2: linear scale

- 3: exponential scale

idflt (optional, defaults to 0) -- default value, for control channels with non-zero itype only. Must be greater than or equal to imin, and less than or equal to imax.

imin (optional, defaults to 0) -- minimum value, for control channels with non-zero itype only. Must be non-zero for exponential scale (itype = 3).

imax (optional, defaults to 0) -- maximum value, for control channels with non-zero itype only. Must be greater than imin. In the case of exponential scale, it should also match the sign of imin.

## Notes

The channel parameters (imode, itype, idflt, imin, and imax) are only hints for the host application or external software accessing the bus through the API, and do not actually restrict reading from or writing to the channel in any way.

While the global variable is used as output argument, chnexport does not actually change it, and always runs at i-time only. If the variable is not previously declared, it is created by Csound with an initial value of zero or empty string.

## Example

The example shows the software bus being used as an asynchronous control signal to select a filter cutoff. It assumes that an external program that has access to the API is feeding the values.

            sr = 44100
            kr = 100
            ksmps = 1

            gkc init 1000   ; set default value
            gkc chnexport "cutoff", 1, 3, i(gkc), 500, 2000

            instr   1
               a1   oscil     p4, p5, 100
               a2   lowpass2  a1, gkc, 200
                    out       a2
            endin

## See also

Software Bus

## Credits

Author: Istvan Varga
2005

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