Beat-Matched Smart Crossfade • Best Mix Queueing • 10-Band Audiophile EQ • Orchard Connect • Local Replay • Listening Parties
Download • Features • Smart Crossfade • Android App • Build • Issues
Orchard is an open-source, high-performance YouTube Music desktop client built for listeners who demand more control over playback dynamics, sound quality, queue intelligence, and connected devices than the web player provides.
By pairing an embedded browser session with a native Rust audio engine and machine-learning analysis, Orchard delivers audiophile-grade processing, seamless DJ-style transitions, LAN multi-device sync, and deep desktop integration—all while honoring your existing library and playlists.
Note
Orchard connects directly to YouTube Music via browser-backed InnerTube requests. It is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google or YouTube.
| Smart AutoMix Crossfade | Best Mix Queue Intelligence | Audiophile Audio Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Beat-matched, phrase-aligned transitions with quantized downbeat sync, bass swaps, and filter sweeps. | Sort queues harmonically using Camelot musical keys and BPM for seamless flow between tracks. | 10-band manual EQ, Auto-EQ profiles, dynamic loudness leveling, and live real-time spectrum analysis. |
| Orchard Connect Ecosystem | Local Replay & Discovery | First-Class Desktop Native |
|---|---|---|
| Seamlessly hand off playback and control desktop sessions from Android or LAN web controllers. | Year-round offline listening stats, Release Radar, synced lyrics, and nearby live-show discovery. | Discord Rich Presence (with animated art), Last.fm scrobbling, local disk caching, and media keys. |
Orchard reproduces beat-matched, phrase-aligned AutoMix transitions inspired by Apple Music's AutoMix, utilizing 3-phase volume curves, progressive filter sweeps, downbeat quantization, and seamless bass frequency swaps.
smartcrossfade.mp4
- Real Shuffle & Autoplay: Eliminate YouTube's repetitive shuffle bias with true randomized or weighted queues.
- Best Mix Queue Sorting: Reorder any queue or playlist harmonically using BPM and musical key metadata.
- Smart & Fixed Crossfade: Seamless transitions with automatic tempo/beat alignment or configurable 1–12s fixed fades.
- Song Caching & Prefetching: Prefetches upcoming queue tracks to local disk for instantaneous, gapless playback.
- State Persistence: Automatically restores your exact queue, position, and playback context across restarts.
- Desktop Controls: Global media keys, customizable system tray menu, sleep timer, and fullscreen visualizer mode.
- 10-Band Graphic Equalizer: Precision tuning with customizable frequency bands and profile import/export.
- Auto-EQ Integration: Apply tailored equalization profiles for hundreds of headphone and speaker models.
- Dynamic Leveling & Gain Memory: Automatic loudness normalization with persistent per-track gain calibration.
- Live Spectrum Visualizer: Real-time audio frequency visualizer rendered at 60+ FPS.
- Output Device Routing: Route music to dedicated DACs or audio outputs independently of OS system defaults.
- Native C++ / N-API Analyzer: Fast, low-latency DSP processing built directly in native code.
- Full YouTube Music Integration: Seamless browsing of Home, Search, Library, Playlists, Albums, Artists, and Podcasts.
- Synced & Static Lyrics: Real-time synchronized lyrics with multiple fallback resolvers.
- Local Replay: Private, on-device listening statistics for top tracks, artists, albums, and total listening time.
- Release Radar & Radio: Discover new drops from followed artists and personalized infinite radio stations.
- Live Concert Discovery: Find upcoming tour dates and live shows near you powered by Ticketmaster.
- Orchard Connect: Secure, local-network remote control and playback handoff with Android devices and web companions.
- P2P Listening Parties: Listen together in real-time with friends over synchronized peer-to-peer audio sessions.
- Discord Rich Presence: Dynamic Discord status displaying current track, artist, album, and animated cover art.
- Last.fm Scrobbling: Real-time now-playing notifications and accurate play scrobbling.
- Universal Song Links: Generate shareable Orchard Song Links that bridge across music platforms.
- Adaptive Artwork UI: Interface background dynamically shifts palette to match current album artwork.
- OLED Dark Mode & System Themes: Pitch-black OLED theme or automatic OS theme following.
- Artist Packs: Community-created custom skins, artwork variants, custom layouts, and ambient page effects.
- Account Switching: Fast multi-account switcher with cached sign-in credentials.
| Stable Release | Latest Beta (Pre-Release) | Canary (Nightly / Automated) |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended for general use. Thoroughly tested and verified. | Preview upcoming features, fixes, and experimental changes. | Automated, bleeding-edge builds straight from active development. |
| Download Stable | View Pre-Releases | Download Android Canary ZIP |
| Platform | Package Formats | Architecture |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | NSIS Installer (.exe), manager ZIP (.zip) |
x64, arm64 |
| Linux | Debian (.deb), RPM (.rpm), Flatpak (.flatpak), Arch Linux (.pkg.tar.zst), manager archive (.tar.zst) |
x64, arm64 |
| macOS | ZIP Packages (.zip) |
Apple Silicon, Intel |
| Android | Standalone APK (.apk), Canary ZIP (.zip) |
arm64-v8a |
Release files and SHA256SUMS.txt are also published at downloads.sfg545.dev/orchard.
Note
Desktop installers install Orchard Packages. On first launch, Orchard Packages downloads the matching Orchard application and Electron runtime; later updates replace that managed version without requiring another system installer. Current Windows and macOS builds are unsigned. If your operating system displays a security prompt during the first launch, select "More info" → "Run anyway" (Windows) or allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security (macOS).
Orchard Mobile is Orchard's standalone companion app for Android—featuring on-device machine-learning track analysis, offline playback, Smart Crossfade, Android Auto, and seamless Orchard Connect handoff.
Explore the Mobile Documentation & Source Code • Download Canary ZIP
The mobile app can act as a standalone player or connect to your desktop session via Orchard Connect:
- Open Orchard Desktop and navigate to the Orchard Connect pairing view.
- On your phone, go to Profile → Connected devices (or the Now Playing device picker) and scan the QR code or paste the pairing link.
- Approve the connection on the desktop client.
- Seamlessly transfer playback between your phone and desktop over your local network.
- Node.js: v24.x LTS and npm
- Rust: stable toolchain with Cargo
- C/C++ Toolchain: required by the system-media addon and Rust audio dependencies
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/SFG5453/Orchard.git cd Orchard -
Install dependencies:
npm ci
-
Start in development mode:
npm run dev
This builds the native audio analyzer, starts Vite on
127.0.0.1:5173, and launches Electron against the dev server. -
Build the complete application:
npm run build
-
Run tests:
npm test
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
npm run dev |
Launch Vite + Electron in development mode |
npm run build |
Full build (Rust Earmark DSP + Vue frontend + Electron main) |
npm run build:frontend |
Build only the Vue renderer bundle |
npm run build:native |
Compile the shared Rust audio-analysis/transition addon and system-media addon |
npm test |
Run complete Node test suite |
npm run test:native |
Run audio, transition planner, and native DSP tests |
npm run package:orchard |
Build package-service application archives |
npm run package:orchard-packages:linux -- linux-x64 |
Build Debian and RPM Orchard Packages installers |
npm run package:orchard-packages:windows -- -Architecture x64 |
Build the Windows Orchard Packages NSIS installer |
orchard/
├── src/ Vue renderer and application state
│ └── audio/ Web Audio DSP engine and Smart Crossfade pipeline
├── electron/ Electron main process
│ ├── main/ Electron composition root
│ ├── preload/ Sandboxed renderer IPC bridge
│ ├── audio/ Native analysis and audio service bindings
│ ├── auth/ Browser-backed YouTube authentication
│ ├── connect/ Orchard Connect encrypted LAN WebSocket service
│ └── playback/ Stream resolution, caching, and proxying
├── native-audio-rust/ Rust/Earmark analyzer, transition engine, and platform bindings
├── orchard-packages/ Cross-platform installer and version manager
├── mobile/ Native Android / Kotlin client (Jetpack Compose)
├── workers/ Cloudflare Workers and Durable Objects for P2P sync
├── services/artwork-converter/ Animated-artwork conversion service
├── packaging/ Linux packaging and runner assets
├── scripts/ Build, launch, and release utilities
└── test/ Node and native test suites
Security Note: The renderer reaches privileged desktop functionality only through the sandboxed preload bridge. Catalog and playback requests use a loopback Socket.IO bridge, and Orchard Connect operates strictly over authenticated local network pairing.
Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome!
- Fork the repository and create a feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/my-feature). - Keep changes focused and clean.
- Verify that tests pass (
npm test). - Run
npm run build:frontendfor UI changes, ornpm run buildif native code is modified. - Submit a Pull Request with a clear description of your changes.
Use the GitHub Issues tracker for public bug reports and feature requests. Private reports with optional diagnostics can also be submitted through Orchard's in-app Support System.
If you enjoy using Orchard and would like to support its development, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-fi.
- License: Orchard is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later. (Releases up to and including 3.x were published under the MIT License and remain under those terms).
- BPM & Key Metadata: Provided by GetSongBPM.
- Beat Tracking: Beat and downbeat tracking models inspired by and adapted from Beat This!.