A field guide to the JUCE C++ framework

Learning JUCE

JUCE is how a lot of audio software gets written: plug-ins, hosts, and standalone apps in C++ that build for every major platform. It is a big codebase with its own vocabulary. This site is a map of it.

It is written from reading the source, and every claim cites the file or page it came from. Module diagrams are generated from the module headers, so they follow the code. Where a chart is computed from a formula rather than measured, the caption says so.

Get oriented. What JUCE is for, and the five ideas behind it.
See how it fits together. Layers, threads, and how a plug-in is called.
Learn by doing. Tutorials and a staged learning path.

What is JUCE?Module map Tutorials

What this shows: one call to processBlock(). A signal enters the audio thread in fixed-size blocks (blue) and leaves processed (pink), here with a gentle low-pass that softens the fastest wiggles. The signal is synthetic and the 48 kHz and 512-sample figures are typical values, not measurements. See the audio thread.

The big picture

What JUCE is for, what it gives you, and the five ideas that explain most of the rest.

Architecture

The module layers, the two threads, and how audio and GUI events travel from the sound card or host into your code and back.

Interactive module map

All 24 modules, generated from their headers. Select one to see what it depends on and what depends on it.

Anatomy of a plug-in

How one AudioProcessor becomes a VST3, AU, AAX, LV2, or standalone app, and the order in which a host calls it.

Glossary

JUCE classes, audio jargon, and plug-in formats in plain English, linked back to the guides.

History

From the Tracktion DAW's utility code in the early 2000s to JUCE 9, and why the codebase looks the way it does.

Tutorials

Fourteen condensed guides adapted from the tutorials on juce.com, from a first window to plug-ins, DSP, and OpenGL, with code updated for JUCE 9, plus three original guides on Box2D physics and music.

Learning path

Six stages, each pairing a concept page with an example from the repository and a small exercise.