students

professional tools at student prices.

i built KERN because the good plugins cost too much and the cheap ones sounded cheap. that problem is even worse when you are a student. so: 50% off everything.

for students + teachers

50% off. permanent license. yours forever.

if you are enrolled in any music, audio, media, or sound design program, or if you teach at one, you get 50% off every KERN plugin and the bundle. the license is permanent. it works offline. it does not expire when you graduate.

any individual plugin

SMOOTH, WARM, or WIDE

$15

$29

the bundle

SMOOTH + WARM + WIDE

$30

$59

CHECK

mono compatibility analyzer

free

always

how to get the discount

email jonas@kernaudio.io with your student or faculty ID (a photo or screenshot works). i will send you a discount code within 24 hours. simple as that.

for schools + institutions

site licenses for your labs and classrooms.

if you run a music production, sound design, or audio engineering program, i do site licenses for labs and studios. every computer in your facility, one license. no per-seat counting, no iLok dongles, no activation servers. install and go.

your instructors get free personal licenses for all KERN plugins. the tools they teach with should be the tools they use at home.

what is included

  • + all current KERN plugins plus free updates
  • + free personal licenses for all instructors
  • + 50% student discount for personal use at home
  • + no iLok, no online activation, no accounts
  • + CHECK (mono compatibility analyzer) always free for everyone

get started

email jonas@kernaudio.io with your school name, program, and roughly how many machines you need to cover. pricing depends on size, and i keep it reasonable. i will get back to you within 24 hours.

why i do this

i studied media production at DMJX in Copenhagen. during those years i made music with cracked plugins because i could not afford the real ones. i am not going to pretend that did not happen. but it meant i never learned the tools properly, never got support, and always felt like i was borrowing someone else's workflow.

after graduating i kept making music, started patching in Max for Live, then moved to C++, then spent three years reading DSP papers before shipping my first plugin. that path from student to developer is why this page exists.

KERN plugins are $29 because i think professional tools should be accessible. this page takes that further. if you are in a classroom learning to produce, mix, or master, your tools should not be the bottleneck. and if an instructor wants to teach with something, they should not have to justify a $199 license to their department.

every KERN plugin is built on published psychoacoustic research, blind-tested against the established alternatives, and held to a 3% CPU budget. the same standard whether you are paying full price or using it in a lab. no feature restrictions, no "educational edition." just the real thing.