SimpleMBComp Is A Free JUCE Plugin Programming Course

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Matkat Music has launched a new programming course called SimpleMBComp, and it’s FREE! Just use the offer code ‘FreeCodeCamp’ on their website, and you can download this 8-hour long course for free.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to code your own plugins, this is probably one of the best free opportunities you can get.

In this course, Charles Schiermeyer (the man behind MatKat Music) teaches you how to make the SimpleMBComp plugin using JUCE. JUCE is a C++ application framework, which is partially open source. JUCE Education is free without any revenue limits or minimum commitments.

With this course, you get eight hours of lectures split across 34 videos, the VST3 files for SimpleMBComp (Mac and Windows), and a license key for the plugin. The plugin is a three-band compressor with several functionalities:

  • Muting, bypassing, and soloing each of the three tracks;
  • Settings for the attack, release threshold, and the ratio of each track;
  • Compare, undo, redo, and more.

Charles takes you through the setup in the first lecture, which is more complicated than simply downloading Visual Studio Community and JUCE, so pay attention! In the class, he explains the setup in detail for both Windows and Mac users.

He also explains how you can ask him for assistance during the course using a Slack Workspace in case you get stuck with anything.

This course isn’t really suitable for a beginner (like me), and basic knowledge of C++, music, software development, and computers, in general, is recommended.

There are a lot of concepts at play, and 8 hours is too short to discuss all of it from scratch. Be prepared to spend a lot of time fixing bugs and error codes.

To get a quick rundown on C++ from a music software developer’s perspective, consider the PFM::C++ Language Fundamentals course. This might be an excellent first step before you begin making entire plugins from scratch.

Here’s a quick 11-minute overview of the course:

The course is divided into two sections, DSP and GUI. The first section shows you how to code the Digital Signal Processing and create the core functionalities of your plugin. The second section shows you how to integrate your plugin’s functions into a Graphical User Interface.

Charles uses Visual Studio Community as the editing software for the code. Visual Studio Community is free and highly customizable. Even if you already have the editor, it’s a good idea to reinstall it according to Charles’s settings for smooth sailing through the course.

He covers everything from the most important functions and concepts to the finer details like color schemes for your GUI.

Matkat Music also has another free course called PFM::SimpleEQ, which is 5 hours long and teaches you how to build a basic 3-band equalizer.

While this course may be difficult for beginners, it’s a fantastic starting point for aspiring developers to hone their skills and start creating music software that has real-world applications.

If the video tutorial isn’t enough for you, you can buy the written tutorial (which will help you with the coding) for $49 and support the developer!

More info: SimpleMBComp (use code FreeCodeCamp to access the course for free)

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Anshul Jain is a content writer and session guitarist from India. An avid fan of rock and metal, he is 1/6th of the progressive act Black Flower.

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