If you’re looking to develop new software with a focus on sound and audio, SAE’s BSc (Hons) Audio Software Engineering could be a great fit for you.
This new SAE degree has been launched to help aspiring audio plugin developers with a penchant for music tech and the latest audio software take advantage of a burgeoning creative space, driven by an increasing appetite for digital content, streaming, AI integration, and accessible home music production technology. As a result of this, markets for Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), plugins, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) audio processing are all seeing strong demand and projected expansion.
The global audio software plugin market was valued at approximately $697.03m in 2024 (£517m) and projected to reach $1.23bn by 2032. The number of audio startups operating in this space has also increased significantly – over 450 music tech startups have raised funding since 2020, according to statistics from Water and Music with a new demand for those skilled in audio plugin development.
For those interested in developing their first plugin, they will require programming knowledge using frameworks like JUCE or visual programming tools, skills that can be honed via the various learning resources as part of our degree. Our blog will explore the market, new creative tools and why there are so many opportunities for creatives wanting to make a difference and shape the future of this exciting sector.
Looking to join our course? Then contact our team to learn more now.
DIY Audio Plugins
As we’ve seen, the size of the opportunity surrounding audio technologies is rapidly growing – market size statistics show how it is expected to reach $1.23bn by 2032 and innovative tools are a lot cheaper to access as they can be found from a laptop. This way, the power of domestic computers can easily enable ideas and technical expertise to create new opportunities within sound design and other fields of audio.
Market Opportunity and Trends in plug ins
Production tools have become increasingly affordable and accessible due to more indie music producers and creatives. Home studios are prevalent and these users account for almost half of total plugin license sales every year.
As of 2024, over 6.1 million independent artists globally use plugin-based production tools, a near 40 percent increase from 2022. More than half of these creators rely exclusively on virtual instruments and effects for composing, mixing, and mastering tracks.
Another major trend is the integration of AI and machine learning into plugins for automated mixing, mastering, and content generation. Investors and venture capitalists are seeing gold in the world of audio, investing $6.6bn in voice AI startups in 2025, a significant increase from previous years.
Since 2022, venture capital firms have contributed over $310m across 120 funding rounds globally with almost half of this devoted to AI-powered audio software tools.
Elsewhere, there has been a huge increase in the amount of audio content published – as of September 2025, there are approximately 4.52 million podcasts indexed worldwide. This has had a knock-on effect on the demand for user-friendly audio production software, plugins and audio tools for use by a diverse set of content creators with a variety of skills.
Key Tools and Methods in Audio Plugin development
Studying a course surrounding audio software engineering will give aspiring professionals an advantage in this field. Our SAE degree provides students with a great grounding in the essentials including:
JUCE Framework | This is the most widely used open-source C++ framework for cross-platform audio application and plugin development. It handles the complexities of different operating systems and plugin formats, letting developers focus on Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and user interface.
Students have the chance to delve into audio effects and creating processing plugins that will become the foundation of a portfolio.
Programming Languages | C++ is the standard for high-performance audio plugins. This is used across audio software development and our students are expected to utilise this in various projects, taking part in coding challenges and exploring a diverse range of integrated development environments (IDEs).
Audio software for enhanced sound design
The audio technology startup scene is vibrant, with many new companies focusing on AI, stem separation, and innovative music creation tools to help music producers enhance how they approach each job. Alongside hardware, these digital tools, soft synths and DAWs such as Ableton Live can help producers tweak their music until it is of sufficient quality for release.
There are different startups leveraging AI to assist in music creation, mastering, and sound design. Many have online forums or supportive communities around them to make it easier for those looking to experiment with these technologies to find the latest advice and insights.
Audialab focuses on ethical AI audio plugins including Emergent Drums to offer users new variations on their drums or inspiration for fresh sounds.
Korus AI was a release by Pixelynx, a company created by electronic music producers Richie Hawtin and Deadmau5 and is an interactive in-browser music-making tool.
It features a range of music creation tools including LayerMosiac, an XY pad of performance effects, and an AI stem player that generates music in each new project on the fly.
eMastered is an online service that helps music creatives master their tracks for free by applying studio processes including compression, EQ, saturation and more. It uses machine learning to improve with every song it masters, building a custom master with its functionality tailored to the unique features of each song across different genres.
Audioshake is a stem separation tool used by a range of labels, apps, film studios and more. The separation function enables users to isolate dialogue, effects and other musical elements in a track.
Lemonaide Music provides AI generative music tools that integrate with DAWs. This tool enables users to get fresh ideas and inspiration on demand by generating MIDI and audio samples, then instantly dragging and dropping them into their DAW.
Why become audio plugin developers
There are various motivations for wanting to embrace opportunities in audio plugin design. By focusing on your own ideas, you will be able to come up with your own unique sound and style, developing effects that are only accessible by you.
It also gives you the chance to enhance workflow efficiency via creating simple plugins for complex tasks (like lo-fi effects or specific saturation) that normally require chaining multiple plugins.
Studying a degree can help equip you with a deeper understanding of DSP so you can build tools to fix specific frustrations, such as an unsatisfying stock clipping or harmonic effect.
Instead of being limited by presets, you can start with a clean creative slate. This gives you the opportunity to embrace creative freedom to craft exactly the sound you envision.
Study Audio Software Engineering at SAE
If you are excited by the creative space where sound meets coding, then SAE’s Audio Software Engineering degree could be perfect for you.
With demand for audio software engineers growing, this course will enable you to explore programming through an audio lens and give you a unique learning experience balancing the technical with the creative.
