Image-Line

Image-Line
Type Software
Industry Computer Software
Founded 1994
Headquarters Belgium
Key people Jean-Marie Cannie
(Founder, CTO)
Frank Van Biesen
(Founder, COO)[1]
Products FL Studio / FL Studio Mobile
Deckadance
EZGenerator
Website www.Image-Line.com

Image-Line is a Belgian software company best known for its digital audio workstation program FL Studio[2] and related audio plugins such as Sytrus.[3] Founded in 1994, in 2007 Image-Line introduced Deckadance, a virtual DJ console application.[2] The company also produces EZGenerator, a template-based web editing program.[4]

Contents

History

Early development

Image-Line was founded by Jean-Marie Cannie and Frank Van Biesen, who after seven years of creating stock market software for Pavell Software, decided in 1992 to branch into video games. Their first product was an adult video game of Tetris, which they then offered on floppy disks in the ad section of Computer Magazine. Around this time CD-ROM games such as The 7th Sense were becoming popular, inspiring Van Biesen and Cannie to begin working with Private, one of the larger producers of adult video games at the time. Private released multiple Image-Line CD-ROM games including Private Prison and Private Castle.[5][6] The company officially adopted the name Image-Line in 1994.[5]

Didier "Gol" Dambrin

Around the time they released the games for Private, IBM launched the "Da Vinci" contest where the first prizes were color laptops. Image-Line, which at the time had little money, won the contest in the multimedia category after reworking one of their game environments to fit the contest criteria.[5][6]

Image-Line took an interest in Didier "Gol" Dambrin, the developer who won the overall Da Vinci contest as well as the Game category. They hired the 19-year-old to work for them, and his first game for the company was the game Private Investigator. [5][6] Dambrin's next project for Image-Line was the platform game Eat This,[7] a shoot 'em up game that involved killing aliens.[6]

Other Image-Line developers created products such as the invoicing program Fact2000 and E-OfficeDirect, a content-based web tool that would a precursor to their later product EZGenerator.[5] Image-Line also topped the Belgian game charts 4 years in a row with their CD version of the Belgian TV game show Blokken.[5][6]

Audio software

In 1997 Dambrin gained an interest in music applications of the time such as Hammerhead and Rebirth 338, and developed a simple MIDI-only drum machine in an effort to merge the two products into a step sequencer that utilized both rows and steps. Dubbed FruityLoops 1.0, the program didn't fit with Image-Lines other product lines of the time. However, the demo version released in December of 1997 became so popular that the number of downloads quickly overwhelmed the Image-Line servers.[5] To gather income to support their servers, Image-Line had Dambrin develop an EJay clone called FruityTracks. Image-Line then served as the program's OEM for Mattel. The program was released as Pro-DJ in France and the UK, and Radio 538 Music Machine in Holland and Belgium.[5]

Image-Line continued to develop the FruityLoops application from a simple drum machine into a large and complex digital audio workstation. FruityLoops was eventually renamed FL Studio for branding purposes and to avoid a prolonged trademark dispute in the United States with Kelloggs.[5] FL Studio is now one of the most popular software production systems in the world, and Image-Line's flagship program.[2] A multitude of plug-ins have been developed by Image-Line to work with FL Studio, including synthesizers such as Sytrus and effects plugins such as Maximus and Edison.[2] In 2007 Image-Line released Deckadance, a DJ mixing program developed by programmer Arguru. Deckadance works as both a stand-alone program and as a FL Studio plugin.

Other software

Beyond audio products Image-Line developed and distributes EZGenerator, a software program for website design and maintenance. EZGenerator has won multiple awards since its release.[4]

Products[8]

Software Release Notes
FL Studio 1998-present Image-Line's flagship digital audio workstation. The most recent version is FL Studio 10, released on March 29, 2011.[9]
FL Studio Mobile 2011-present Released June 21, 2011, a version of FL Studio for iOS[9]
Deckadance 2007-present A DJ console and mixing tool, similar to Scratch LIVE and Traktor. Version 1.9.3. is the most recent release.[10]
EZGenerator - A template-based web editing program, and a natural progression of their earlier E-OfficeDirect program, EZGenerator has won numerous software awards.[4]
Fact2000 - An invoicing and contact management program. No longer sold.
FruityTracks - A track mixing program. No longer sold (was integrated into FL Studio).
Video Games Release Notes
Porntris 1992 An erotic version of the popular Tetris game.[11][12]
Private Investigator 1996 Awarded 1996 Best Interactive Game at the AMEE Award Show in Las Vegas.[13]
Eat This 1998 A side-scrolling "run and gun" shooter computer game that involves killing aliens with machine guns. While the original release was 2-D, the later version had 30 minutes of 3D animated video.[7]
Blokken 1998-2001 A CD-ROM equivalent to the Belgian quiz show released in Belgium. The game topped the Belgian game charts 4 years in a row,[14] and was released in four versions. It has sold over 50,000 copies.[5]
Virtual Effects Release Notes
Gross Beat - A time-, pitch-, and volume-manipulation effect.
Maximus - Maximus is a multi-band audio limiter and compressor for mastering projects or tracks. It also serves as a noise gate, expander, ducker, and de-esser,[15]
Hardcore - A multi-effects suite of plugins designed to resemble guitarists' stompboxes.[16]
Juice Pack - A collection of Image-Line proprietary plugins ported to VST format for use in other music hosts. The contents of this pack has changed since its release; at the time of this writing it includes the Delay, Delay Bank, EQUO, Flangus, LovePhilter, Multiband Compressor, Notebook, Parametric EQ, Parametric EQ 2, Spectroman, Stereo Enhancer, Vocoder, Wave Candy, and Wave Shaper plugins.
Edison 2007-present[17] A wave editor in VST format that also function as a standalone program.
Vocodex 2009-present[17] A digital vocoder developed by Didier Dambrin.[16]
Fruity Stereo Shaper 2009-present A stereo processor with a mixer for left/right channels and their inverted equivalents, and controls for channel delay and phase offse[16]
Virtual Instruments Release Notes
Sytrus 2003-present[17] A hybrid, semi-modular synthesizer combining subtractive, additive, and FM synthesis.[17]
DirectWave 2005-present[17] A software sampler that provides sample recording, waveform editing, and DSP effects.[16]
SliceX 2008-present[17] A beat-slicing sampler for processing and re-arranging recorded drumloops.
Harmless - Simplified additive synthesizer with a unique signal chain.[18]
Harmor 2011-present Advanced Version of Harmless along with waveform views, envelopes, LFOs, and modulation mappings from Sytrus.[19]
Toxic Biohazard - A virtual FM synthesizer similar to Sytrus.
Sawer - A vintage-modeling synthesizer; Sawer attempts to emulate old Soviet Union-era subtractive synthesizers.
Morphine - An easy-to-program additive synthesizer.[18]
PoiZone - An easy-to-program subtractive synthesizer.[18]
Ogun/Autogun 2009-present[17] Ogun is An advanced additive synthesizer specialized in creating metallic timbres, while Autogun - A free version of Ogun limited to semi-random preset generation.[18]
Sakura 2009-present[17] A physical-modeling synthesizer designed to emulate string instruments.
Drumaxx 2010-present Percussion synthesizer.[20]

Staff

Management
Support
Developers
External Developers
External staff

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Our Team". Image-Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/team.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  2. ^ a b c d "Image-Line to Show FL-Studio 10 and other projects". Musikmesse. 2011. http://synth.me/music-gear/musikmesse-2011-image-line-show-fl-studio-10-and-other-products. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  3. ^ "Sytrus". Image-Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/sytrus.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  4. ^ a b c "EZGenerator Award Gallery". Image-Line. http://www.ezgenerator.com/documents/awards.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Image-Line: A company history". Image-Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/ilhistory.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  6. ^ a b c d e "Interview with Jean-Marie Cannie". IMSTA. 2008. http://imsta.org/members/jmc_interview.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  7. ^ a b "Eat This". Image-Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/eat_this.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  8. ^ "Image Line Harmor". Image Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/harmor.html. 
  9. ^ a b "What is FL Studio?". Image-Line. http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/what.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  10. ^ "Deckadance History". Image-Line. http://deckadance.image-line.com/documents/history.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  11. ^ "KVR: Forum Archive - try the new sytrus". KVR Audio. http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/archive/instruments/2004-04/40643.php. Retrieved 2008-11-17. 
  12. ^ "Porntris Review". Classic PC Games. December 1, 2006. http://www.classic-pc-games.com/pc/adult/porntris.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  13. ^ "SEC Info - Private Media Group Inc - 424B3". SEC Info. http://www.secinfo.com/dSq2u.7211.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-06. 
  14. ^ "Blokken". Image-Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/blokken.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  15. ^ "Maximus". Image-Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/maximus.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  16. ^ a b c d "Editions". Image-Line. http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/editions.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h "Version History". Image-Line. http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/history.php. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  18. ^ a b c d "Plugins". Deckadance. http://deckadance.image-line.com/help/html/DDFD/web/documents/plugins.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  19. ^ "Image Line - Hermor". Image Line. http://www.image-line.com/documents/harmor.html. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
  20. ^ "FL Studio Features". Image-Line. http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/features.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  21. ^ a b "FL Studio Features". LoopKing. http://www.loopking.com/FruityLoops_soundkits.php. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 

External links