Starting My Journey in Building Audio Plugins for Digital Audio Workstations

As a newcomer to software engineering, I’m only just beginning to explore the process of creating plugins for digital audio workstations (DAWs). My goal is to eventually build tools that will help musicians, producers, and sound engineers enhance their music, but right now, I’m in the research phase. This is the first step in what I expect will be a long and challenging journey, and I’m excited to share my learning process here as I go along.

The Inspiration Behind Creating Plugins
My passion for music and technology sparked my interest in developing plugins. When I listen to Afro House tracks, I notice how each sound is crafted and layered. I began to wonder how I could make an impact in the music industry by creating tools to shape sound. With that in mind, I decided to focus my blog on my journey to creating audio plugins, documenting each step so that others can follow along or learn from my experiences.

Exploring Plugin Development Tools
After some initial research, I came across a couple of key tools: JUCE and Xcode. JUCE is a widely-used framework for creating audio plugins, while Xcode is Apple’s development environment for building applications for macOS. I haven’t started using these tools yet, but I’m beginning to understand their role in plugin development. They seem complex, especially since I’m still new to coding, but I look forward to getting hands-on with them soon. For now, I’m gathering as much foundational knowledge as I can to prepare myself.

Building a Strong Foundation
Since I’m in the early stages of my software engineering course, I’m focusing on understanding fundamental concepts that will help me later in my plugin development journey. I’m learning JavaScript and practicing building smaller, simpler applications. My next steps will likely involve diving into C++ since JUCE is based on it, and knowing C++ will open doors to more complex audio processing tasks.

Documenting Each Step
This blog is just the start. Over time, I plan to document each phase of this journey, from setting up the right development environment to learning specific coding techniques needed to create high-quality audio plugins. I hope that by sharing my progress, others who are just beginning can gain insights into the path to plugin development.

Stay tuned as I continue to explore, learn, and eventually build my first plugin!