AES Student Competition: MATLAB Hackathon

NEW INFORMATION  FOR 2025

10:00 AM US EST,
December 12, 2026

Entries Open

2:00 PM US EST,
December 13, 2026

Entries Close

December 14, 2026

Judging

around December 15, 2026

Winners announced

The competition is a Hackathon format, through online submission.
The coding task will be announced by an industry or research partner nominated by the AES. Participants will be provided access to supplemental materials such as test data, code baselines, or reference papers at that time.

To indicate your interest, receive exclusive information and materials, and to enter the competition, please complete the form below:

AES MATLAB Plugin Student Hackathon 2026 – Signup Form

 

We strongly advise that students familiarize themselves with the following examples in preparation for the Hackathon.
  1. Developing Audio Plugins
  2. Bibliography

    • [1] D. Giannoulis, M. Massberg, and J. D. Reiss, “Digital Dynamic Range Compressor Design—A Tutorial and Analysis,” J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 60, no. 6, pp. 399–408 (2012 Jun.).

    • [2] F. Floru, “Attack and Release Time Constants in RMS-Based Feedback Compressors,” J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 47, no. 10, pp. 788–804 (1999 Oct.).

    • [3] J. S. Abel and D. P. Berners, “On Peak-Detecting and RMS Feedback and Feedforward Compressors,” presented at the 115th Convention of the Audio Engineering Society (2003 Oct.), convention paper 5914.

    • [4] E. Gerat, F. Eichas, and U. Zölzer, “Virtual Analog Modeling of a UREI 1176LN Dynamic Range Control System,” presented at the 143rd Convention of the Audio Engineering Society (2017 Oct.), convention paper 9852.

    • [5] J. Najnudel, R. Müller, T. Hélie, and D. Roze, “Power-Balanced Dynamic Modeling of Vactrols: Application to a VTL5C3/2,” in Proc. 26th Int. Conf. Digital Audio Effects (DAFx-23), Copenhagen, Denmark (2023 Sep.).

    • [6] J. Chowdhury, “Developing a Signal-Dependent Envelope Follower,” Medium (2023 Nov. 23). [Online]. Available: https://jatinchowdhury18.medium.com/developing-a-signal-dependent-envelope-follower-9cb5b89f9595

MathWorks and AES invite you to challenge both your signal processing skills and creativity! Design a new kind of audio production VST plugin using MATLAB Software and your wits

Dr. Christoph Thompson
Professor at Ball State University
Chair, AES MATLAB Competition

MATLAB Hackathon, Rules + Info

Sponsored by MathWorks, the MATLAB Plugin AES Student Competition is an international contest for aspiring audio developers. For participating students, it constitutes an opportunity to learn, make connections with the industry, receive feedback from technical experts, and become an active part of the AES student community.

The competition will be in the form of a Hackathon. Contestants may participate through an online submission.

The coding task will be announced at the event by an industry or research partner nominated by the AES. At that time, participants will also be provided access to any supplemental materials such as test data, code baselines, or reference papers. Participation in-person is strongly encouraged but not required.

To participate, you must:

    1. Be a current Student Member of the Audio Engineering Society.
      https://www.mathworks.com/academia/student-competitions/aes-matlab.html
    2. Be enrolled in a student program related to audio engineering or software design at the time of the event.
    3. If submitting on behalf of a team, this should be indicated during submission and it is assumed that all team members are in agreement.
    4. For team projects, all members must be enrolled students affiliated with a university audio program, verified through their respective faculty advisers. All team members must meet the eligibility criteria to present. Non-compliance will result in disqualification.

Participants will upload their code and all required documentation to a secure server. A submission link will be provided at the time of the competition.

Submissions will be evaluated based on:

  • Fulfillment of coding challenge criteria.
  • Technical merit.
  • Degree of innovation and originality.
  • Creative value.
  • Execution and code quality.
  • First Prize: $2,000
  • Second Prize: $1,000
  • Third Prize: $750

An in-depth technical feedback session with judges and finalists will occur online after the competition.

Winners will be celebrated at the next AES convention after the competition.

Winners will receive a one day all-access pass to the next European or US Convention after the competition, to participate in the awards ceremony and present a poster session.

Signup for Hackathon:

For more information and to express interest in participating, complete the signup form linked near the top of this page.

MathWorks provides complimentary software and self-paced online training for the AES Student Hackathon. If your team is participating in this competition and needs software, or access to online training fill out the software request form here: https://in.mathworks.com/academia/students/competitions/hackathons/matlab-plugin-aes.html

Get Updates regarding the competition and related resources will be shared with registered participants via e-mail. For any queries, please contact christoph.thompson@aes.org