diff --git a/Makefile.conf b/Makefile.conf
index 54b9d68..52733ff 100644
--- a/Makefile.conf
+++ b/Makefile.conf
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 HERE:=$(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))
+-include $(HERE)build.conf
 
 # Project Name
 TARGET?=blink
@@ -7,29 +8,20 @@ TARGET?=blink
 # common configurations:
 # use DEBUG = 1 and OPT = -Og for debugging
 # or DEBUG = 0 and OPT = -O3 for performance
-DEBUG=0
-OPT=-O3
+DEBUG?=0
+OPT?=-O3
 
 # (optional) Includes FatFS source files within project.
 #USE_FATFS = 1
 
 # Relative to dir 'src'
-LIBDAISY_DIR=../../heck_libDaisy
-DAISYSP_DIR=../../heck_DaisySP
-
- CXXFLAGS+=-Wall -Wno-unused -Wno-reorder-ctor -Wno-switch
+LIBDAISY_DIR?=../../heck_libDaisy
+DAISYSP_DIR?=../../heck_DaisySP
 
-######### Overrides from build.conf #########
--include $(HERE)build.conf
+CXXFLAGS+=-Wall -Wno-unused -Wno-reorder-ctor -Wno-switch
 
 ifneq (,$(findstring g++,$(CXX)))
     CXXFLAGS+=-fdiagnostics-color=always
 else ifneq (,$(findstring clang,$(CXX)))
     CXXFLAGS+=-fcolor-diagnostics
 endif
-
-ifeq ($(DEBUG),1)
-    CXXFLAGS+=-g -O0
-else
-    CXXFLAGS+=-DNDEBUG=1 -O3
-endif
diff --git a/build.conf.example b/build.conf.example
index 2c71c04..6f077aa 100644
--- a/build.conf.example
+++ b/build.conf.example
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@
 
 # TARGET sets the program to compile and flash
 # the name of the main cxx file without the prefix 'main_'
-TARGET=blink
-#TARGET=testtone
+TARGET?=blink
+#TARGET?=testtone
 
-DEBUG=0
+DEBUG?=0
 
 # Daisy dependencies relative to dir 'src'
-LIBDAISY_DIR=../../heck_libDaisy
-DAISYSP_DIR=../../heck_DaisySP
+LIBDAISY_DIR?=../../heck_libDaisy
+DAISYSP_DIR?=../../heck_DaisySP