Imagine Plugins: Build VST3, AU, and AAX audio plugins without code

Not at all. Imagine Plugins is a completely visual, no-code environment. We handle the complex C++ code generation in the background.

No. Imagine Plugins is a drag-and-drop plugin creation platform. No prompting, no AI in the experience, no AI in the DSP. Every block in the library was built by professional DSP developers. You pick the blocks, build the signal chain, shape the GUI. The same decisions a plugin developer makes, just without writing any code.

Your imagination is the limit. We sourced and developed a rich library of high-quality DSP. This toolset includes the building blocks of nearly every effects plugin or chains you can think of. From bread and butter effects, creative DSP, advanced routing utilities, and classic analog modeled components - developed in-house and licensed from the industry's best DSP developers. All of which can be routed, chained and served in flexible ways. Offering an environment for serious, quality plugin development.

Nope. Imagine Plugins is a fully browser-based plugin builder. This includes creating DSP chains from our high-quality DSP code blocks, auditioning the sound of your chains and settings, designing a GUI from our themes and GUI elements including knobs, faders, and meters, connecting the GUI elements to parameters in the DSP blocks, and finalizing the project to receive your plugins.

We support the industry standards: VST3, AU and AAX for Windows macOS (Intel & Silicon).

Absolutely. We provide you with ready-to-distribute plugins (binaries) that you can sell. This is a professional tool designed for creating professional quality plugins that can be sold. SoundBetter offers a Storefront and plugin marketplace where you can sell your plugin if you wish.

No. Our pricing is based on a per-plugin creation fee. If you choose to sell your plugin on SoundBetter's Storefront or plugin marketplace, there is a small fee for these sales.

One build fee is flat and we never take a cut and includes 1,000 licenses. Past 1,000 sales you can buy more licenses in packs, which get cheaper with volume. If you want custom graphics that aren’t part of our library integrated as interactive components into your plugin, we can accommodate that for an additional fee. Custom static images (logo, plate, background shapes) can be integrated by you into your plugin design for free.

We have a small handful of very limited spots for top tier producers/mixers/artists to collaborate on signature co-branded plugins. If you fit this description, are an industry ‘household name’, and want to discuss building your signature plugin/s together, please contact us.

We have experienced plugin developers and graphic designers you can hire at an hourly or per-project fee. Contact us with your questions or needs.

You can download a limited demo to test in your DAW before you pay (currently VST3 and AU Mac only). Final, sellable plugins for Mac and Windows wrapped in installers still go through our review for quality, and you receive them in VST3, AU, and AAX after approval.

Yes. Every plugin you build now includes licensing and copy protection. Every plugin includes a 14-day free trial for your end users. You get 1,000 license codes and a dashboard to see activations and manage licenses.

Yes. You can add images to plugins. As a logo, a background, etc and make it your own.

You can add a variety of meters to the plugins you create. Visualizers are coming soon.

Every plugin includes a preset manager. After you receive the plugin files you can load them in your DAW, create and save presets, and include those presets with the plugin files you distribute.

Yes.

Yes. Plugins exported by Imagine Plugins will be signed, which means they should be scanned by DAWs and load without warnings or errors.

You can tweak your project as many times as you want before submitting for a build. Note that you can audition the plugin sound in the browser, or in your DAW using the free ‘demo’ feature (currently VST3 and AU, Mac only). After you submit your plugin for review and full build, you can go back and revise your plugin 3 times and re-submit. Revisions must take place within 60 days of the original submission, can include unlimited tweaks and produces one new build. Revisions are intended for refining your plugin - they must retain the same plugin name and general DSP architecture as the original submission. Building a substantially different plugin requires a new build fee.

SoundBetter is the team behind Imagine Plugins. SoundBetter is the world's leading marketplace of music production professionals, having delivered over $120M to the creative pros on the platform. SoundBetter also created Butterfly Effect and Halo Effect used by top industry mixers, producers and composers. The founders of SoundBetter previously worked at Waves Audio and Apple. We also licensed audio DSP for Imagine Plugins (including Analog Models) from the industry's best developers.