How to learn audio plugin development with JUCE for free

Posted by Jan Wilczek on March 04, 2026 · 2 mins read

The official JUCE audio plugin development online course is here.

Course trailer

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TL;DR: There is an official, free online course to learn audio plugin development with JUCE. Sign up now and start creating your first audio plugin.

The most frequent question I get is, “How can I learn to develop my own audio plugins?”

“Audio plugins” in the question refer to plugins for digital audio workstations (DAW), like Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Steinberg Cubase, Reaper, Bitwig, Pro Tools, etc.

Audio plugins are “shared libraries” that you can load in a DAW to generate sound (sound synthesizers) or add audio effects (reverb, EQ, compression, distortion, etc.).

Most audio plugins on the market are created in C++ using the JUCE C++ framework; it has become the de facto industry standard.

I teamed up with the JUCE framework developers, and together, we created the official JUCE audio plugin development course for complete beginners.

What’s more, the course is entirely free!

The course teaches you everything you need to know about audio programming to get started:

  • installing the right developer tools on your operating system,
  • building your first plugin,
  • defining its audio processing chain,
  • adding parameters,
  • creating a graphical user interface,
  • testing in a DAW, and
  • the basics of distribution.

Throughout the course, you will create an actual audio plugin, a tremolo effect, that you can use in a DAW of your choice.

The course reflects all the best practices of the audio plugin industry and is provided completely free of charge.

So sign up today and become an audio plugin developer!

Let me know in the comments if the course is the thing you need!

Watch Tom Poole and me introduce the course at the Audio Developer Conference 2025

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