diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f118980a..0c653e66 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@ jobs:
       apt:
         packages:
         - clang-tidy
+        - wget
+        - unzip
         - libsndfile-dev
-    install: skip
+    install: .travis/download_vst_sdk.sh
     script: scripts/run_clang_tidy.sh
 
   - name: "Linux amd64 tests"
diff --git a/.travis/download_vst_sdk.sh b/.travis/download_vst_sdk.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e1233c71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.travis/download_vst_sdk.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -ex
+
+vst_sdk_archive="vst-sdk_3.6.14_build-24_2019-11-29.zip"
+wget "https://download.steinberg.net/sdk_downloads/${vst_sdk_archive}"
+mkdir -p vst/external
+unzip -ouq ${vst_sdk_archive} -d vst/external