PI is an innovative, Multi-channel phase interactions mixer plug-in engine.

http://www.soundradix.com/products/pi/



Alloy 2 Multi-band Transient Shaper, Multi-band mode: you can then independently shape mix elements that coexist within a broader frequency range.

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mixing-mastering/alloy/



iZotope Dynamic EQ, The Dynamic EQ module lives and breathes with your music.

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mixing-mastering/ozone/



Melda Production, Professional audio software.

https://www.meldaproduction.com

 

I haven't counted, but it seems to me that so far the most mentioned 3 bits of software are Fruity Loops, Reason, and KontaKt.

 

Reason only has two mentions.

 

I used to use Arturia Storm (before Reason).

 

Regarding samplers and Kontakt, v2 was the real game changer because it introduced the first really powerful version of their KSP scripting language, allowing to make complex VSTi's using only Kontakt in a time when every sample based virtual instrument developer had to develop his own VSTi.

 

Interesting, I had no idea Arturia had been around that long.

 

those 2 were exceptional, really loved them, rubber duck sounded awesome and i thnk i even made a full song using just stomp

a big gamechanger for me before we even had vsts was the upgrade of FastTracker to FastTracker 2, 32 channels, multisamples, it was amazing

 

Last edited: Jan 12, 2016

Yes!!!! 2.0 and 3.0!!!!

 

I got 2.0 for like $70 (clearance), and activated it within the window that allowed a free upgrade to 3.0. They even sent me new 3.0 discs and a manual lol.

 

CUbase 1 on my old Atari 520St

 

Lots of good mentions here.

Cubase on ATARI; rock solid MIDI sequencing at an affordable price.
FastTracker 2; brought high-quality digital sampling/sequencing to anyone with a sound card.
Power Technology DSP-FX bundle; first comprehensive all-in-one DSP package, really. DirectX based.
Gigastudio; killed the hardware sampler.
Sonic Foundry ACID; ushered in the age of tempo based loop stretching & mashing up stuff based upon music key.
Rebirth; amazing quality for a virtual instrument at the time, especially since it was multiple instruments that gelled together.
Native Instruments FM-7 & Pro-5; some of the first high-quality emulated VSTi that could import sysex from real hardware.
Antares Auto-Tune; needs no explanation.

Anything past that I consider modern era.

 

Last edited: Jan 13, 2016

i spent 3 years making one tune on it lol it was the best tune i ever made then droped the playstation
on the 8mb memory card and lost the tune forever it still hurts to think about it

 

I must say I agree with this. Despite the flack it gets, Fl is probably the most revolutionary DAW. I would have never gotten into music if it wasn't for everyone of my friends having a copy of it. The great thing Image Line did was make it really simple for beginners to get started. It will always be my first recommendation to anyone starting even though I no longer use it myself. Eventually as your skills grow, you may desire more/other things from your DAW that FL doesn't provide. I'm not on Studio One 3/Logic, but FL will always hold a part of my heart. Man I miss that Piano roll (best in the biz)...

 

Ableton Live!
I remember version 1.5, it was totally bare-bone compared to what it is today, no MIDI at all, but nonetheless it was a revolutionary concept that invited to get playful with AUDIO snippets in a way not seen before. There were similar concepts like triggered MIDI patterns or the Roland "RPS" sequences, but not audio.
What's interesting: The concept and even the look of the GUI and controls has not changed over the many generations.
All the power it has today is still hidden behind a simple UI.

 

It was a revolutionary moment when I bought myself a PC [autumn 1996] and installed Cubase VST... alas, I soon found out about the MIDI timing issues I didn't experience with Atari. :/ It took them and me [and a Midex MIDI interface] a long time to somehow get the timing kinda right. Kinda right. Never as good as it was on Atari.

Cubase SX was pretty revolutionary IMO. At about that time the whole VST "thing" took off on a general scale and started to look more serious.

Cheers!

 

Last edited: Jan 14, 2016

still have this working on any of your boxes kwiss? It was on the way out by the time I started trying vst,
never could get it to function...

 

Make sure to get the "Internal" versions, the initial releases of Steinberg apps of that era aren't as compatible with modern systems. In other words, they improved the emulator quite some time later.

 

I usually reserve the term "revolutionary" for ambitious things that had a ripple effect throughout the industry. Since we're talking about plugins and virtual instruments (Not DAWs):

ReBirth: First virtual instrument to really capture the audio world by storm.

VST SDK: This changed everything... for obvious reasons.

Reason: It might seem quaint now, but at the time there was nothing like it. A modular, virtual instrument rack for the masses. It wasn't a DAW back then.

Kontakt: With its advanced scripting capabilities this redefined the modern sampler and still rules supreme.

FM7: The first nearly flawless emulation of a hardware synth I can recall that could even import SYSEX dumps from the DX7 for patch import. It was a benchmark synth for a quite a while.

impOSCar: One of the significant, big leaps forward in filter quality that blew everyone away at the time. It was so good that Spectrasonics licensed their filters for Atmosphere/Stylus/Trilian and now Omnisphere.

UAD-1: Set a new benchmark for what we could expect from virtual effects plugins, especially compressors, and some still believe to be the gold standard.

Waves L2: Love it or hate it, this and its predecessor L1 had a profound impact on all modern music... in loudness. And boy did it get abused.

Antares Autotune: Here's another love to hate plugin that is so ubiquitous that it has achieved that rarified status of almost being a verb in the english language like Photoshop or Google. Ever since that Cher tune, vocals have never been the same.

I'm sure there are many more, but I can't think of them at the moment. Fun thread!

 

Excellent list!

 

I'll leave history to the older fellows.
In my opinion, based on my personal experience, the 2 softwares that marked a revolution were Garritan Personal Orchestra and Reaper. Pursuing different ways they both tried to reach the low-end of the market (penniless composers like me) and allowed tons of people to hear the c*ap they were writing on paper.