AngeTheGreat describes building a physically realistic internal combustion engine simulator in C++, drawing on fluid dynamics, physics and chemistry. It generates procedural audio for engines such as a V8.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN points to it as a standout example of physics-based sound synthesis and engine simulation.
“AngeTheGreat's incredible video series showing his engine simulator- absolutely worth checking out”HN comment, 2025
> Interestingly, while the engine has the most moving parts in real life, in code, it's the simplest piece of the entire car simulation. Because at its core, the engine is just a torque calculator. It's concerned with producing a single output: rotational torque, from a set of inputs. It is essentially a blackbox. This just reminded me of AngeTheGreat's incredible video series showing his engine simulator- absolutely worth checking out, considering it's optimized enough to run in real-time! The fact that he's simulating it well enough to generate realistic sound is absolutely mind-blowing. this video
RecommendsFr0styMatt88Jan 2023
“that engine noise generator that uses a full physical simulation”
Full physical engine simulation that generates engine noise
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Or combine it with that engine noise generator that uses a full physical simulation: this video That would be pretty sweet! I’m guessing with the ECU sensors you could do away with much of the sim parts.
RecommendspengaruDec 2023
“You might find this software interesting”
Engine noise synthesis software
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You might find this software interesting: this video I don't know if any of the state of the art flight/driving simulators are doing this kind of engine noise synthesis already, but they should be.
RecommendsmodelessMay 2025
“Another physical audio simulation I like is the engine sound simulator made by AngeTheGreat”
Physical audio simulation of engine sound
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Love physics based audio! Using the GPU is a great idea. Another physical audio simulation I like is the engine sound simulator made by AngeTheGreat: this video
Cites itblahburnJan 2024
Example of physics-based engine sound simulation
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Would love to play around with this and hear the differences in sound. Something like what this guy did with the engine simulator this video
