Image-Line Software (commonly known as simply Image-Line) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

company best known for its

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pro ...

program

FL Studio FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is avail ...

and related

audio plugin An audio plug-in, in computer software, is a plug-in that can add or enhance audio-related functionality in a computer program. Such functionality may include digital signal processing or sound synthesis. Audio plug-ins usually provide their o ...

s such as

Sytrus Sytrus is a software synthesizer included in the digital audio workstation FL Studio. Image-Line also released VSTi and DXi versions. Overview Features Sytrus uses a combination of subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, FM synthesis and ...

and

Harmor Harmor is a software synthesizer created by Image-Line Software for the music production program FL Studio. It is available as a demo version within the software; however, it must be purchased separately (or bought in the FL Studio "All Plugins ...

. Image-Line was founded in 1994. In 2007, Image-Line introduced

Deckadance Deckadance (often referred to as DD) is a DJ console and mixing tool developed by Image-Line software and acquired in 2015 by Gibson. Initially released in May 2007, it operates on Windows and Mac OS X, and comes in a House Edition and Club Edit ...

, a virtual DJ console application. The company also produced

EZGenerator EZGenerator is a web design program created by Image-Line. The program is intended to be accessible to users with no experience in code such as HTML or CSS, and displays results in a WYSIWYG manner. EZGenerator is available for Windows operating ...

, a template-based web editing program.

History

Early development

Image-Line was founded by Jean-Marie Cannie and Frank Van Biesen, who after seven years of creating

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

software for Pavell Software, decided in 1992 to branch into

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

. Their first product was an

adult video game Sexual content has been found in video games since the early days of the industry, and games featuring sexual content can be found on most platforms and can be of any video game genre. The inclusion of sex in games has been subject to varyi ...

based on ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the approp ...

'', which they then offered on

floppy disks A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

in the ad section of ''Computer Magazine''. Around this time

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

games such as

The 7th Guest ''The 7th Guest'' is an interactive movie puzzle adventure game, produced by Trilobyte (company), Trilobyte and originally released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in April 1993. It is one of the first computer video games to be released only ...

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''. The company officially adopted the name Image-Line in 1994.

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. 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.'' Dambrin's next project for Image-Line was the platform game ''Eat This'', a

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

game that involved killing aliens. Other Image-Line developers created products such as the

invoicing An invoice, bill or tab is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction and indicating the products, quantities, and agreed-upon prices for products or services the seller had provided the buyer. Payment t ...

program Fact2000 and E-OfficeDirect, a content-based web tool that would a precursor to their later product

. Image-Line also topped the Belgian game charts 4 years in a row with their CD version of the Belgian TV

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

Blokken ''Blokken'' (''Blocks'') is a Belgian quiz show based on the video game ''Tetris''. It is broadcast by één and hosted by Belgian television personality Ben Crabbé. The show is the longest running quiz show on Belgian television, with 22 seas ...

.''

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 MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

-only drum machine in an effort to merge the two products into a

step sequencer A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open Sound Cont ...

that utilized both rows and steps. Dubbed FruityLoops 1.0, the program didn't fit with Image-Line's other product lines of the time. However, the demo version released in December 1997 became so popular that the number of downloads quickly overwhelmed the Image-Line servers. To gather income to support their servers, Image-Line had Dambrin develop an

EJay ''eJay'' is a series of musical arrangement software, and video games, primarily for Microsoft Windows. The first edition, ''Dance eJay'', was released in 1997. It supports eight tracks of audio and, as with its successors, permits the arrangemen ...

clone called FruityTracks. Image-Line then served as the program's

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

for

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

. The program was released as Pro-DJ in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the UK, and Radio 538 Music Machine in The

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Image-Line continued to develop the FruityLoops application from a simple drum machine into a large and complex

. FruityLoops was eventually renamed

for branding purposes and to avoid a prolonged trademark dispute in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with

Kelloggs The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...

. FL Studio is now one of the most popular software production systems in the world, and Image-Line's flagship program. A multitude of plug-ins have been developed by Image-Line to work with FL Studio, including

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

such as

and

effects Effect may refer to: * A result or change of something ** List of effects ** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality Pharmacy and pharmacology * Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug ** Therapeutic effect, a ...

plugins such as Maximus and Edison. In 2007 Image-Line released

, a DJ mixing program developed by programmer

Arguru Juan Antonio Arguelles Rius (November 2, 1978 – June 3, 2007), also known as Arguru (sometimes Argu), was a prolific music software programmer and electronic musician, producer and songwriter, responsible for such applications as NoiseTrekker ...

. Deckadance works as both a stand-alone program and as a FL Studio plugin.

Other software

Beyond audio products, Image-Line developed and distributed

, a software program for website design and maintenance. EZGenerator has won multiple awards since its release.

Products

References

External links

*
FL Studio websiteDeckadance websiteEZGenerator website
{{Authority control Software companies of Belgium Belgian companies established in 1994 Companies based in East Flanders