Welcome to our site (last updated 9/2006)

Impulse Tracker III • Pulse MP player • Audio Mate engine • Fire Component system • Outer Visual Engine



Related links

Orcave communication (Pulse MP, Impulser tracker III, ...)


A brief history of Unreal

A long time ago, 'Unreal' group was formed. The roots came from the C-64 scene, somewhere around 1989. The group was formed from 2 existing groups, called 'Area team' and 'Bohemia'. The name had NOTHING in common with Unreal game or demo.

PC production

The first thing after we got our PCs was to connect C64 and make nicer C64 production. After a year, we also wanted to do something more, so, PG got an idea about what we should work on... Game... What else? :o) So. We started to do an audio engine. PMODE 32 bit DOS based of course... After a HDD crash we lost some sources, so we moved to the dull world of Windows 95 and started again. We were testing our audio engine on a small player. We named it "Pulse". As time was pasing and we made few games to make some money, we decided to make a freeware project IT3. Just for fun. Very soon we met some people. Anthony Bisset and few others. They basically offered us to pay for the development, We agreed and started working together.

We worked with one German company, before we met Anthony. We created 'DSPaudio' company, registered com/net/org and and worked together on some stuff. For many reasons, we broke with that German company and let Anthony use DSPaudio name, and make business around it. You know DSPaudio site. At the beginnings, Anthony told us: Hey, I need MAC, BSD, Windoze and few other executables. In different words, he requested 'multi platform' thing and a very professional program, not a 'scene' thing. We told him, if he understands that WE HAVE TO SCRATCH current IT3 sources and start from ZERO. He seemed to understand.

We basically scratched old IT3 project and started from the beginning again. Starting with 'platform independent layer' we named it 'Fire Component'. A big thing was done. It had over ~70.000 lines of sources (don't expect that it's just an enhanced auto configuration). It is really an independent component based on a multi platform core, already ported to BSD systems (for testing purposes). It allows us to make big projects without making different sources. But let's skip technical details for now. For FC we have also done audio and video engine, which makes from the base thing real 'development platform' in the right meaning of the word. The major part of the audio system is finished, we are right now working on visual engine, which helps to cover system differences and makes powerful environment. Don't forget full scripting engine, which allows user to use scripts *EVERYWHERE* in the end product (another ~20.000 lines). In the meantime, due to Anthony's and our business mistakes, we had to work on old project - Pulse player. We had to make install shield, web updating tool, video playback support, playlist database and *many* other things. So in 2 years, we worked on IT3 itself only about 17 months or so. It seems that Anthony never 'understood' what he initially requested.

What happened after?

We get many emails a day, so, we prepared small FAQ to answer your questions about this topic. Feel free to have any more questions and comments.

Q: Is the whole project dead?
A: No, IT3 is NOT dead, we are still working on it. Please be patient with us!

Q: Why did you leave DSP audio?
A: You are right, our team has NO LONGER anything in common with Anthony's team, which has NOTHING common with original team or something. We 'gave' DSP audio name to Anthony. We wish him good luck with FLAW.

Q: What do you think about FLAW?
A: DSP audio started FLAW instead of working 100% on one product. It is NOT based on our platform which we created for IT3. We can't say anything, because we don't know FLAW. Technically (internally) it doesn't bring anyhing new. It is standard one-shot application with 'hard' portable base (autoconf & #ifdef style). On the the other side, it can be pretty nice in audio. IT3 is a bit "conservative" in audio. As we know, FLAW is completely different. We can't say if FLAW will be ever done - it depends only on Anthony and his new team. Good luck. We also don't think, it will be direct IT3 competitor. It is just a 'normal' one-shot application, without any strong background/design. FLAW will not surpass IT3 in features/portability. They are using IT3 internal technology (EP's, IP's, ...), but the technology is used as-is, without "philosophy/technical background". We are sorry about it, but FLAW can't be "soo" different. All core design comes from IT3. We do not care if they will use our technology or not. As far we know, DSPaudio have different structure of writing notes/song.

Q: Will be IT3 freeware ?
A: We will probably have a free version. We will let you know. On the other side, we need to live from something, so, we will focus on professional audio SW. We will publish all details on official pages.

Q: Will IT3 work on Linux/BSD/... ?
A: Our 'portable' core will be probably GPL Open Source, and then anyone can port the whole product anywhere. Porting whole IT3 stuff (megs of binary files) requires only 300Kb of sources to be ported. All other files stays untouched. But nothing of this information is final, wait please for official pages.

Q: Why is there no public beta?
A: More than 100.000 lines were already done for IT3. We had only one programmer who worked for the whole time. Now the team is finally bigger :)

Q: When is it ready, when ?
A: We tried to explain, this is NOT a simple project, we are trying to do something like Maya is in graphics world. We have enough resources and we hope, we will succeed. Keep supporting us, and we will try give you the best. But it will not work without BUSINESS which makes money to do that. We are not happy with living in $ based world, but there is no choice. Please, we are sorry that we had to turn to PROFESSIONAL sphere. It doesn't mean we will not keep track of it2/community, it just means, we have to make money somewhere. All these pieces of information, with dates, products, etc. will be published when WEB site is done. We will keep you informed.

Q: I am coder/gfxer/designer/.. And I want to help. How ?
A: We appreciate any offer. Send us an email with references to some your older work. We will also welcome new members for our team.

Q: What is new goal of the tracker ?
A: We don't change the main goal. We still want to keep our support for the scene.

Q: Where is the official home page of Impulse Tracker III, Pulse player, Audio Mate and other?
A: You will be able to find it on on the web site of big company called Orcave. When the site is ready, we will let you know. The company focuses on hardware, software, solutions, ... Strong enough to make long term projects.

Our thanks

  • Original team, to keep walking.
    Whole Scene... For support, for belief in us.
  • Anthony Bisset - yes, we have no longer been working with you, but we are happy you requested professional product. Thank you for supporting project in early starts. We do not agree with some things, which you did or are doing now, but we do appreciate your contribution to the IT3 project.
  • And our final investor/partner - to keep things going well.

Please, feel free to ask Ray (ray@unreal64.net) any questions. We will try to answer your emails if we are able to. Please, read the questions above carefuly to prevent asking things that are already answered.



This message was written in name of all members of the development team.