Orpheus Audio Engine is a lightweight, modular C++ audio engine built for precise timing, layered playback, and clean mixing. Designed by Curly Development, Orpheus focuses on deterministic audio behavior, beat-based sequencing, and an API that’s simple to embed into games, tools, and creative software.
“Orpheus is built to make audio predictable, controllable, and composable — not magical.”
- 🔊 Modular Architecture – Independent systems for loading, mixing, timelines, and beat layers
- 🥁 Beat & Layer System – Stack and control audio layers with musical timing
- 🧭 Timeline-Based Playback – Schedule audio events precisely
- 🎚️ Mixer Abstraction – Centralized volume and routing control
- 📦 Sample Loader – Efficient sample management
- 🧩 Simple C++ API – Easy to integrate into existing projects
- ⚙️ Engine-Core Separation – Clean internal engine vs public-facing API
orpheus/
├── audio_engine.cpp # Core engine loop and lifecycle
├── orpheus_api.cpp # Public-facing API
├── mixer.cpp # Audio mixing and volume control
├── timeline.cpp # Time-based scheduling system
├── beat_layer.cpp # Beat / layer abstraction
├── sample_loader.cpp # Audio sample loading and management
└── README.md
Each module is intentionally isolated to keep the engine extensible and readable.
The heart of Orpheus. Manages initialization, updates, and coordination between all subsystems.
Responsible for loading and storing audio samples in memory. Designed to avoid duplicate loads and simplify reuse.
Handles volume control, blending, and routing of all active audio layers into a final output stream.
A deterministic timeline system that allows scheduling events (play, stop, transition) at exact times or beats.
A musical abstraction allowing sounds to be layered, muted, swapped, or transitioned in sync with tempo.
orpheus_api.cpp exposes a clean interface so users don’t need to touch engine internals.
- C++17 or newer
- A supported audio backend (implementation-dependent)
- Add Orpheus source files to your project
- Include the public API header
- Initialize the engine
- Load samples
- Schedule or play sounds
Orpheus::Init();
Sample kick = Orpheus::LoadSample("kick.wav");
Sample snare = Orpheus::LoadSample("snare.wav");
BeatLayer drums;
drums.Add(kick);
drums.Add(snare);
Orpheus::Timeline::Play(drums);(Exact API calls may differ — this example shows intent, not final syntax.)
- 🎮 Game audio engines
- 🎥 Video or cinematic tools
- 🎵 Rhythm-based applications
- 🧪 Audio experimentation & tooling
- 🛠️ Custom editors or engines
- Effects pipeline (reverb, filters, etc.)
- Real-time tempo changes
- Serialization / project saving
- Multi-output routing
- Scripting bindings (Lua / Python)
Curly Development Engine & architecture by Curly
This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.
Orpheus is built to be understandable first, fast second, and flexible always. If you’re tired of opaque audio engines and want full control over timing and structure — Orpheus is for you.