JUCE
More info
- Creator
- Julian Storer
- Type
- C++ framework
- Owner
- PACE Anti-Piracy
- License
- AGPLv3 / commercial
- Source
- github.com/juce-framework
The C++ framework underneath a large share of all audio plugins and quite a few DAWs.
Julian Storer wrote the library as the foundation of his own DAW, Tracktion, in the early 2000s, and later released it on its own. The appeal is writing an effect once and getting VST3, Audio Unit, AAX, LV2 and a standalone app for Windows, macOS and Linux out of it, with GUI, MIDI and audio I/O in the same codebase.
ROLI bought the project in 2014, and PACE — the company behind the iLok copy protection — took over in 2020. The open version is copyleft, so anyone selling closed-source software pays for a commercial licence. If a lot of plugins seem to share the same knobs and window behaviour, that is not a coincidence.