Yes, vintage software exists! The DSP Archive hosts a number of old DSP software programs that would have otherwise been lost to time. These programs were used frequently on 90s and early-mid 2000s ambient, IDM and experimental music of all sorts, with many of them pre-dating the advent of modern commercial plugin solutions that run in a standardized DAW environment.

As the website's about section reads:

"This site was founded to file and preserve DSP (digital signal processing) audio software and resources. The programs listed below offer tools for composition, editing, synthesis and complex processing of digital audio, principally outside of the typical DAW realm.

Please note that many of these applications were written in 32 bit/PowerPC architecture, and therefore may not function under modern operating systems. However, some programs may be successfully emulated in a virtual machine."

So unfortunately, getting these programs to run on a modern machine may not be trivial — but if you are interested in exploring different workflows, the effort might be worth it. Most of this software is/was free and/or open source, so it tends to be more idiosyncratic than most commercial software products, with design decisions that can make for an interesting creative environment.

However, even just Googling and researching these various programs will definitely take you down an interesting path, showcasing the pioneering era of popular music computer that is often overshadowed or forgotten!

Check out the DSP archive here.