Build Digital Guitar Pedals With No Coding Required

Maybe you've known what you wanted for years. Maybe it was a delay that doesn't lean on a noisy bucket brigade chip and a little luck, or a reverb that has 2 usable sounds, or even pitch shifting that actually tracks instead of warbling out. So at some point you went looking for how to do it digitally.

That's usually where it falls apart, and most people walk away feeling like it's an impossible feat.

Every tutorial assumes you've already got a "complete development environment" set up. The forum threads answer one question and give you three new ones to try to figure out. You find a GitHub repo with forty files in it and no clue which one to even open first. Maybe you tried getting AI to write the code. It gave you something that looked right, you had no way to tell if it actually was, and when it didn't work you had nothing to go on.

Here's the part nobody seems to mention much. Every one of those resources was written by somebody who already knows how to write firmware. None of them were built for the person who knows exactly what a great delay sounds like but has never opened a C++ compiler in their life, and being honest, isn't trying to learn how to be an engineer. They just want to be creative, make some cool sounding effects, and have fun doing it.

If that's you, this is exactly what you've been looking for.

Lesson 01 • Introduction

Lesson 02 • Course Roadmap & Final Goal

Let's be honest, we're all musicians here. What we really want is not to learn a bunch of math. We want to figure out new ways to be creative and make cool stuff. So here's how my system works.

Think of any effect that you want and describe it in any way that you want. While we do use an LLM, there's a special series of prompts and a special way to prompt it with additional documents to get exactly what we're wanting from this. Our LLM, trained with our special tooling and prompting, will write the code for you, and then you'll drop it into your browser, play guitar through it, and sample it.

If there's something you don't quite like, you describe what you don't like and what you do want, and play through it again.

When it sounds right, you flash it to the hardware and it now lives inside your pedal. In the course, Sascha describes a delay in one sentence and has it playing through his amp about eight minutes later. But that doesn't mean you have to create simple effects. The fun part here is that you can create anything you can dream up. This used to take a team of developers to do, and it no longer requires that.

You're doing the same thing you already do with analog. Build it, listen, change something, listen again. The code part just gets handled for you instead of you grinding through a stack of 800-page textbooks to learn it first.

Enroll Now: $189 or 3 payments of $67

You get one piece of hardware that runs as many effects as you can describe.

You're not designing a new circuit for every pedal anymore, unless you want to. You're not limited. You describe a new effect, regenerate the code, and flash it, all on the "built for guitar effects" platform called the Daisy Seed. What you can build out of it comes down to what you can dream up.

AND IT DOESN'T STOP AT THE PEDALBOARD

Let's be a bit blunt here. We're musicians. We don't just play through a pedal or two. No, we love gear, and we love recording gear too. We've got a DAW open half the time and a folder full of plugins we paid good money for, because we wanted those sounds in our sessions, not just on the floor in front of us.

This EXACT same workflow does that too.

The exact DSP file you built for your pedal converts easily into a plugin for your DAW. It builds as VST3 for Reaper, Cubase, and Ableton, and as Audio Unit for Logic and GarageBand, all from one automated build script that runs on Windows or Mac. You build the effect once and you've got it in both places: on the board when you play, in the session when you record.

And a plugin isn't boxed into a pedal enclosure. Since you're not limited by space and how many knobs you can actually put on a metal box, you can get incredibly creative here. You get stereo in and out, as many controls as you want, and "toggle switches" to flip effects on and off. Morph controls, character changing parameters - whatever you can think of, you can make it. In the course, Sascha builds one simple plugin that chains an overdrive into a flanger into a delay, each with its own switch, its own knobs and sliders, a dry/wet mix, and a master output. And since it's a plugin now instead of a guitar pedal, you can use it for vocals, keys, drums or anything else running through your DAW, not just guitar. And even better - you can share these with friends, post them in your reddit or discord group, or maybe even offer them to your bandmates.

That's the part that hardware physically can't give you. You build the effect once and it runs on your board and in your sessions.

What You Will Learn

Hear It In Minutes

Hear your first real effect through your amp in your first session. No programming background needed to get there, even if you're an absolute beginner we can teach you.

Design By Description

Design any effect you can describe, from a simple tremolo to a phasing "Grand Canyon" sounding stereo reverb complete with volume-swelling high octaves for a cool shimmer, using the prompt method instead of writing code.

Wire The Hardware

Wire a full breadboard pedal from scratch: input and output circuitry, three working knobs, live guitar signal. You've done most of this on the analog side already.

Recreate The Classics

Recreate a commercial pedal, then push it past what the original could do, and make it do what you always wished it was capable of.

Master The Workflow

Get from DSP code to working hardware every single time, without fighting the toolchain or guessing why something won't run.

Make It Permanent

Box it up into a permanent pedal on stripboard, with links to PCB options if you want a cleaner long-term build.

Turn It Into A Plugin

Turn that same effect into a plugin for your DAW, VST3 or Audio Unit, with one automated easy build script.

Go Beyond Hardware Limits

Build plugins that go past pedal limits: stereo, unlimited controls, multi-effect chains, and effects for vocals, keys, drums, or anything else, not just guitar.

Unlimited New Effects

Keep going on your own with a structured prompt method for unlimited new effects, plus 25 ready-to-use DSP effect templates so you can start from a working design if you prefer.

Get Unstuck Fast

Get any problems solved quick, with a private forum staffed by Sascha and the support team, plus three AI assistants trained entirely on all the curriculum in this course.

30-Day Guarantee

Buy once, own it for life. 30-day money-back guarantee if you don't LOVE it.

Curriculum

Part 1: Build the Pedal

Section 1

Welcome and Overview

The roadmap, the full bill of materials, and a clear picture of the finish line, so you know exactly what to order before you spend a dollar.

Section 2

Introducing the Daisy Seed

What the board actually is, the pinout, and why it's the right platform for this.

Section 3

Software and Platform Setup

A one-time setup done right, so you never repeat it. Full step-by-step for both Windows and macOS.

Section 4

AI-Driven DSP Creation (The Core Workflow)

The heart of it. The six-step workflow from a plain-English description to working, testable code, including building your first real effect, a tremolo, and learning to refine and troubleshoot as you go.

Section 5

Hardware Setup, Making It a Pedal

Off the browser and onto the breadboard. Input and output circuitry, potentiometers, and getting the Daisy Seed ready for its first firmware.

Section 6

From Code to Daisy Seed

Flashing the firmware, checking your signal and knobs, and hearing your own effect through a real amp for the first time.

Section 7

Recreating Classic Pedals

You'll rebuild the TC Electronic Sub'n'Up Mini Octaver from scratch using the workflow, then learn how to take it past the original.

Section 8

Wrap-Up

Your breadboard build becomes a permanent pedal on stripboard, with PCB options and a clear picture of where to go next.

Part 2: Turn It Into a Plugin

Would you rather make plugins only? No problem. It's the same lessons and the same tools, you just skip around the hardware steps and use your effect as a plugin instead of flashing it to a pedal.

Setup

Plugin Environment Setup

Two more free tools installed and configured, with separate walkthroughs for Windows and Mac, so your machine can build plugins.

Generating plugin code

No Hardware Limits

A prompt template built specifically for plugins, where you drop the hardware limits: stereo, as many controls as you want, knobs, switches, multi-effect chains.

Building the plugin

Automated Compiler

One automated script turns your DSP file into a real VST3 and Audio Unit plugin. No writing plugin code by hand.

Testing in your DAW

Real-time DAW Integration

Load it, play through it, tweak it in real time, and hear the same effect you built for your pedal running in your sessions.

Is This Course For You?

This is for you if:

You've built an analog DIY kit or your own basic circuits and want to add digital to what you can do
Or, you've always wanted to make your own plugins but weren't quite sure where to start
You tried to learn to code your own digital effects, or wanted to, and it looked like way too hard to do, and overwhelming
You want delays, reverbs, pitch shifters, and modulation, and creative sounds that analog can't do at all
You record at home or use a computer to play guitar through, and you want your own effects inside your DAW, not just on your board
You can solder and breadboard a basic circuit (unless you just want to use it for plugins)
You want one platform that runs everything instead of a new board for every pedal

This is not for you if:

You've never soldered or breadboarded yet you want to build the digital pedal. There's analog circuitry in this build. Start with the Complete Beginner's Guide to DIY Guitar Pedal Circuits first.
You want to work at a professional DSP engineering level. This is a musician's, builder's, and creator's course, not an engineering program.
You're expecting finished, store-ready plugins with a polished interface. The plugins work and they sound good, but the interface stays basic. Making one look professional means going into JUCE, learning graphic design and C++ yourself, and that's past what this course teaches.

Meet Sascha Suhr

I've been building and designing guitar pedals for more than 20 years. I don't teach a subject just because I can put my name on it. When I add a course, I go find the person who knows the material cold and can teach it without leaving holes in it.

For the digital side, that's Sascha Suhr. He's got an electrical engineering degree and 40 years of chasing tone as a working musician, and he wrote Tracking Down Your Dream Tone, Vol. 1 and 2, which a lot of people in the DIY community already have on the shelf. He also teaches the LTSpice course here on the site. He understands this stuff at the level where he can actually make it simple for you, and that last part is what most people can't do.

— Brian Wampler

Newest Reviews

"This truly opened up a new world."

A very practical course that lets you create new sounds and experiment with pedals that would be costly or impossible to recreate otherwise. Sascha's step-by-step explanations were great. Gives you a solid grounding to go and build on your own.

Giorgio Marfella

"Excelente."

A great course, especially for starting to experiment with digital effects.

Edel Carrillo

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

$189

or 3 payments of $67

The full course, every video lesson, both the pedal build and the plugin workflow
Lifetime access. Buy it once and own it for good.
A private community forum with direct access to Sascha and the GuitarPedalCourse.com support team
Three custom AI assistants, one each for Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini, trained only on the content in this course. These aren't general-purpose tools. They know this exact workflow, this hardware, and this method. Anybody who's followed a regular AI down the wrong path for an hour before realizing it was dead wrong knows exactly why that matters.
25 ready-to-use DSP effect templates: EQ, compression, de-essers, pitch shifters, flangers, reverbs, rotary, delays, and more. Load them straight to hardware, study how they work, or use them as a starting point for your own.
30-day guarantee: love it or get a full refund. No questions asked.

Enroll Now: $189 Enroll with Payment Plan: 3 x $67

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to build a physical pedal, or can I just make plugins for my DAW?

Either one. The two halves of this course stand on their own. If you want a real pedal you can stomp on, you build it on the Daisy Seed. If you just want custom plugins for your recordings, you can skip the hardware entirely. There's no soldering, no breadboard, and nothing to buy. You design the effect in a free browser tool and the plugin builds straight from it. Plenty of people come for one or the other and end up doing both, but you don't have to. You follow the same lessons either way. The plugins-only path uses the same tools and the same effect creation, you just skip the hardware parts.

Do I really not need to know how to code?

Correct. You describe the effect you want in plain English, the AI writes the DSP code using our framework, and you shape it by ear until it's what you heard in your head. It's the same way you've always worked with analog: change something, listen, change it again. The code just gets handled for you. If you've ever swapped a cap and listened to what it did to the sound, you already know how to do this.

What if I actually want to learn to code it all myself, by hand, with no AI?

Then this isn't your course, and I'd rather tell you straight than take your money. This course is about being creative and making effects fast, with the code handled for you. If your real goal is to learn C++ from the ground up and write every line yourself, that's a legit path, just a different one. Go get the the 1,300-page Stroustrup, the book the language's own creator wrote, and dig in. It's a real undertaking, and if that's the road you want, it's the right place to start.

Do I need to buy expensive software?

No. The browser tool you design effects in is free, and so is the rest of the toolchain. If you're only making plugins, that free software is everything you need, there's nothing else to buy. If you want the physical pedal too, the only things you buy are the Daisy Seed and the basic components for it, and the full parts list is in Section 1 so you know exactly what to order before you spend a dime.

Does this work on Mac?

Yes. There are full, separate setup walkthroughs for both macOS and Windows, on the pedal side and the plugin side. Both are tested.

Will the plugins work in my DAW?

If your DAW takes VST3 or Audio Unit, yes. That covers Reaper, Cubase, Ableton, Logic, GarageBand, and most others. One thing to know up front: this builds VST3 and Audio Unit, not native Pro Tools AAX. There are third-party ways to load VST into Pro Tools, but that setup is outside what the course covers.

I already build analog pedals. Is the hardware side going to be too basic for me?

Your analog background is the advantage here. The wiring around the digital module is stuff you already know: inputs, outputs, power, knobs. The course moves through it quick and spends its time where the new skill actually is, describing effects, generating the code, and hearing what comes out the other side. That's where you'll spend most of your time too.

What if I get stuck?

You have two ways out. The private forum gets you Sascha and the support team, people who know this build and can actually troubleshoot with you. And at midnight when you just want an answer, the three AI assistants are trained only on this course, so they know your exact workflow and where it usually goes sideways, instead of the generic answers that run you in circles.

You have likely thought about doing this for a long time, but weren't really sure how. Let me help you create and build it.

Enroll Now: $189 or 3 payments of $67

Reviews

Awesome - This truly open up a new world

Giorgio Marfella

This is a very practical course that gives the opportunity to custom create new sounds and make and experiment with pedals that would otherwise be very costly if not impossible to recreate with analogue or even digital means. I reaaly enjoyed the step by step explanations that Sascha gives. It would have been good to expand a bit with stereo and rotary switch options, but there's probably another course in sight, I hope. In any case this gives a good grounding to go and now learn on your own.

Read Less

Excelente

EDEL CARRILLO

Un gran curso. Sobretodo para comenzar a experimentar con efectos digitales (In English: "A great course. Especially for starting to experiment with digital effects.")

Read Less