Hey folks!

I'm working on an article about the history of audio plugins. The problem in I don't know what I don't know. Here's the list of vendors & technology I've researched and am including so far, I'd love to know if there is anyone I'm missing who you think should be included.

Chronologically:

• Waves (1992)
• VST / Steinberg (1996)
• Native Instruments (1996)
• SoundToys (1996)
• Antares (1997)
• Universal Audio (1999)
• Arturia (1999)
• VST 2.0 (1999)
• iZotope (2001)
• u-he (2001)
• AU v2 (2002)
• FabFilter (2002)
• Brainworx (2005)
• VST 3 (2008)
• Slate Digital (2008)
• Valhalla (2009)
• AAX & ARA (2011)
• Plugin Alliance (2011)
• Xfer (2014)
• Vital Audio (2020)

Obviously I have some big gaps here, particularly in the early 2000s. I'm trying to focus on the vendors that are still active today. Any input at all would be wildly appreciated.

Dave Smith and Seer Systems in 1994, first virtual instrument I think...

KA

There’s some books that cover plugins that were published awhile back. Maybe they have some useful info? Don’t remember them, but I suggest doing a lit review prior to writing anything new.

One I thought of off the top of my head: Celemony and Antares (Autotune)

EDIT: also

Softube
Audio Damage
D16 Group
PSPaudioware
Eventide (not sure when started doing software plugins)
FXpansion (not sure when effects vs instruments)
Imageline (was FL a VST for awhile? don't remember... also other fx)
Krotos
Rob Papen (has fx)
Sugar Bytes ??
XILS Lab

Acustica might be good to include with Nebula and Acqua plugins. They are uniquely different from all other plugins due to the underlying technology. I think they are also the only plugin company around here that has spawned a thread that is over 900 pages long, so they certainly get people interested and talking.

Voxengo is also a historically significant company in the plugin world. Never been big on flashy marketing, but has always made what are amongst the best sounding and operating plugins in the market. I would hazard that there is also likely nobody who mixes or masters using a DAW who doesn't have SPAN.

CREAMWARE TDAT had built in plugins back in the 80s.

How about Sonnox, McDSP

Lol that's all pretty subjective. And I don't think many pros are using Voxengo. And there's plenty of massive threads here on other companies.

McDSP was a pretty early Pro Tools plugin developer. The founder worked at Digidesigns and was pretty dialed into getting things right.

Can’t tell the history of plugins without McDSP, Sonnox, Line 6 (Echo farm/ amp farm), Cranesong Phoenix, Eventide (Clockworks Legacy), TC (TC Tools, etc.), Drawmer Dynamics. See you have Waves and Antares already.

Also, D-Verb and Vari-Fi (record stop sound used in making clean versions forever).

Massey plugins were some of the earliest that I owned.

first i used was Seer Systems' Reality in about 1998-9, at the time (or shortly after) the plugins i used included Timeworx Reverb, Opcode Fusion Filter, Orange Vocoder & the GRM Tools plugins. Mostly used in Sound Forge / Wavelab then imported in VST / Cakewalk 4-6.

I think you should mention a few more formats, as well as frameworks like JUCE and tools like Reaper's JSFX. Also, don't forget plugin-within-a-plugin systems like NI's Kontakt instruments, gear samplers like Acustica's N4 or "universal plugins" like MeldaProduction's MXXX.

There's a lot to cover, good luck!

Pro tools AAX
Cubase VST
UAD Hardware assist

Those three points need to be covered in the history.
Waves was there to create plugs in AAX format for protools, stuff was ported later to VST
BlueCat was in bed with Sonar, they got screwed when that went south.
Most poeple that wanted tools(to make plugs) used VST for a more open PC system, than the closed off Mac Pro tools system.




Each DAW is in bed with different companies.

Yamaha = Cubase
Roland = MIDI drums
Cakewalk = Sonar = Dead, was the first good DAW, MIDI only. think DOS 3.2
Avid (pro) = Presonus/Studio One (consumer line)

Sub plot long ago.....
UAD in bead with Mackie and Roland. UAD gains rights to the Dimension-D plug, start the eco system of DSP on a mixer. They all break up.

Aphex Aural Exciter Licensed to Yamaha for use on synths.
Lexicon licensed out to everybody in a watered down version

MADI makes large system other than TDM work without a hitch.

MIDI 2.0 currently in the works


For MIDI, Roland and Yamaha set the standards long ago(1980's). ---waiting for blast on this....some convention took place that these three people made it happen...or whatever.


Say it's year 2000. ADATs are the tool of the day. Computers used for 2 track only. Soundforge was the stuff.
Or if you have a big place, it was pro tools TDM. The only system at the time that really worked for what was needed at thte time.

By 2005, The Emu Line of converters were the good stuff. People started using PC's for audio, but it was a fight to get any track count. This is when Sonar, Cubase, DP, and many others gain traction.

By 2010, the softsynths started to replace hardware samplers.

Propellerheads were among the first with their rebirth soft synth from 1996/98.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReBirth_RB-338.

Cakewalk sonar is very much alive and kicking with bandlab though.
How is Avid related to presonus?

I have a license of X3 that I have not used in years.

Seconding INA GRM Tools & McDSP & Sonnox & Rebirth. That stuff was omnipresent.

Orange Vocoder memories just gave me a serious case of the feels.

Absynth before he got absorbed into Native Instruments was a whole world for a bit (Rephlex / Braindance!).

Which reminds me of the standalone Metasynth (which is also still around!) I think the original came out around 1998.

Cycling '74's Max/MSP & Pluggo had a pretty large scene and made a lot of crazy stuff. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a lot of modern plugin developers started with Pluggo.

Ohmforce are still around, and that stuff is weird and awesome. (Any Frohmage fans?)

GForce Software made the MTron in I think '03, which was the first hardware emulation instrument I spent a paycheck on. (Their recently released Oberheim is great also!)

Here's a bunch of late-90s players that fell victim of the merciless evolutionary process in this game:

- Arboretum (their Hyperprism collection explored uncharted territories for those times; it offered a handy onscreen x/y real time controller, too);

- Sonic Timeworks (already mentioned above; among other plug-ins, their 4080L was one of the best sounding reverb available in DirectX format);

- Power Technology DSP*FX bundle (again, a beautiful sounding reverb, maybe the best available back then for PC users).

They all bring me fond memories of times when creativity far exceeded computer power...

Seriously, you guys are amazing. So much good stuff in here, my head is spinning.

My plan for this particular article is to keep it as sort of a living document. I know as soon as I put it up, I'll get hit with a million things I missed, so I'll just keep updating it.

But this has given me so much good stuff to chew on. I can't thank you all enough for your time, it is genuinely appreciated.

Plugins I remembered from my early days working in studios around 2003: GRM Tools, TC Powercore, Roger Nichols Digital, Focusrite d2 and d3, Drawmer Dynamics.

There was also DirectX audio plugins.

I am not sure what you mean, but apart from having our plug-ins sold on their webstore at some point (it was just one among many other stores), we have never had any particular business relationship with them. We have always been a completely independent company, and there was no particular impact for us when they changed owners.

97/98ish
Seer Systems Reality
VAZ Synths VAZ Modular
BitHeadz Retro AS-1
BitHeadz Unity DS-1

Antares Autotune was introduced as a Pro Tools TDM plugin way back in 1997.

I'd say IK Multimedia is missing. Their T-racks software was one the the 1st plugin suites I know of.

Was mention earlier, but TC Electronics Spark XL was the 1st that gave me a chance to destroy my master mixes LOL!

These both may be almost 15 years ago.