Welcome to the official online course on audio plugin development with the JUCE

C++ framework. Learning audio programming and audio plugin development in

particular is a journey.

My name is Jan Wilczek, I'm the founder of [Link], and I'll be your guide
in this journey.

I assume that you would like to develop audio plugins for digital audio workstations
(DAWs) such as Ableton Live, Reaper, or Pro Tools.

You may come from a music production background. Or you may come from a
software developer background. Or you may be a musician, a student, an engineer,
or someone simply interested in the topic.

Regardless of background, we all face a common challenge: we have limited time to

learn. Or at least not so much as we would like to have.

At the same time, learning audio plugin development is difficult: you need to learn
programming and C++, understand the audio plugin ecosystem and plugin formats,
be proficient with digital audio signal processing, and ideally be able to develop
cross-platform graphical user interfaces. Some of these terms may even be unknown
to you!

When I started using JUCE to create my own synthesizer back in 2018, all I knew
was a bunch of tutorials on the JUCE website. I wasn't even able to properly search
for the information I was missing! All I knew was Google. And guess what?

I made several rookie mistakes that are unacceptable in plugin development work.
And I didn't find out that I had made them until several years later! Why is that?

The main problem of learning audio programming, in my opinion, is the learning

resources. There are too few of them, and they are scattered in books, Internet blogs,
forums, courses, YouTube videos, and, frankly, informal talks between developers.
The knowledge is out there, but it's not organized into a form that's easily digestible.

In contrast, this course provides a step-by-step, in-depth understanding of how audio

plugins work and how to create them.
The content is organized with complete beginners in mind, ensuring a gradual
introduction to increasingly advanced topics with detailed explanations and hands-on
exercises that allow you to apply the knowledge immediately.
The course is here to smooth your learning curve and save you time you would
otherwise spend looking for information on the web. And to help you avoid beginner
mistakes that you wouldn't even realize are mistakes. All you need to know about
audio plugin development in a single, convenient location.

But this course isn't just knowledge: we designed the experience to be as much
hands-on as possible. You will practice what you learn at every step of the way,
creating and improving your own audio plugin throughout the entire course.

This course has "JUCE C++ framework" in the title, true, but the course covers much
more than this. The goal is not just to teach you a framework: the goal is to provide
you with a thorough understanding of what, why, and how of audio plugin
development. Trust me, some lessons, don't mention JUCE at all!
At the same time, the course does teach you JUCE, because we believe that it's the
best tool for audio plugin developers, professionals, and beginners alike. If you are
here solely to learn JUCE from ground-up or merely to solidify your understanding of
JUCE, you're in the right place.
JUCE framework developers are experienced audio plugin developers. The course
has been thoroughly curated, reviewed, and approved by them.

If you don't know what JUCE is, it is a C++ framework created by Jules Storer to
facilitate the development of cross-platform audio plugins and audio plugin hosts,
including digital audio workstations. It has become the de facto standard for audio
plugin development. It is currently owned and developed by Raw Material Software
Limited from the UK.
"JUCE" stands for "Jules' Utility Class Extensions."

After completing the course, you will be able to develop your own plugins, even if you
have no prior knowledge or experience in plugin development. You will understand
the ecosystem and what constitutes a successful plugin. You will learn the tools for
the job. You will learn to process sound with your own code. You will create a
beautiful custom user interface to accompany your plugin. And finally, you will learn
how to share your plugin with others and provide updates with new functionality.

Here you can see what lies ahead in our journey. In module two, you will set up your
environment for audio plugin development, and you will learn the basics of VSTs,
AUs, and AAXs. In module three, you will start processing audio in your plugin, and
you will make it real-time-safe. In module four, you will add parameters to your plugin
so that the user can control it in real time. In module five, you will create the graphical
user interface of your plugin. In module six, you will check if you have made any
mistakes along the way, and you will fix them. In module 7, you will prepare your
plugin for release and share it with others. The last module shows you how to
progress further on your audio programming journey

In the next lesson, I will detail what you need to install on your computer to get
started. Afterward, I will share with you some amazingly effective strategies to make
learning easier and more effective.

Good luck on your journey to become an audio plugin developer!