KVR Audio

xalama qo · Post by **xalama qo** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:50 pm

I rediscovered Sonalksis plugins earlier this week. Downloaded the demos and really liked what I heard, especially with the low CPU. I emailed their sales team/person to ask about license transfer policies etc, but no response yet.

Just wondering if anyone is still using these? I'm looking at them as perhaps not particularly characterful but good compressors and EQs that you can use all over the place without worrying too much about CPU strain. They use State-Space modeling technology, which I think is the same term Presonus use for their modeling technology. Is Sonalksis/Sienda involved with Presonus development perhaps?

Would love to hear opinions/knowledge from you guys, because they really fell off my radar for many years.

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:59 pm

Sonalksis hasn't been active in what, ten years now?

dionenoid · Post by **dionenoid** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:09 pm

I haven't heard anything new come out from Sonalksis in 10 years or so. If i'm not mistaken a lot of Sonalksis stuff is made by Dave Gamble, the man behind DMG. DMG is in my opinion the best brand in plug-ins nowadays, maybe it's worth trying some of their stuff.

xalama qo · Post by **xalama qo** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:15 pm

Ok, a Dave Gamble connection. That's interesting. I should probably reacquaint myself with DMG too, as you say.

xalama qo · Post by **xalama qo** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:16 pm

Sonalksis was bought by Sienda, and now they seem to be into hardware broadcast solutions, ethernet interfaces etc.
I don't know if that's current and on-going or also kinda faded.

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:27 pm

Afaik formerly AMS Neve guys and Dave Gamble a formerly Focusrite developer.. Gus, an ex AMS-Neve DSP guy wrote the code for the SV315 (Dave Gamble, better known as the founder of DMG Audio stated this was a model of a hardware prototype).
It seems they stopped further development, the latest I can remember are 64Bit updates.
The SV 315 Mk2 is still my main compressor and I use it a lot, because I like this smooth compression behavior.

xalama qo · Post by **xalama qo** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 9:26 pm

Thanks for the info 4damind. Good to hear you use the SV 315 Mk2 a lot still. It may be old, but it still sounds very good, and suppose it was somewhat ahead of its time sound-wise...hence the hefty price tag when first released. They're still not exactly cheap, but a lot more affordable than they used to be, and if bought with the intention of using them as your go-to's it seems like a decent investment.
Do you use MaxLimit at all? Any impressions on that? Does it stand up to more recent maximizers? I admittedly have never gone deep-diving into all the various maximizers and clippers etc out there, but MaxLimit seemed really smooth and uncoloured to me, which I liked. And a no-brainer to use.

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:10 pm

When Sonalksis first released the Compressor and EQ, I fell in love with the two plugins. But they were really expensive and I only bought the compressor later. The gate-plugin was also very good and the TBK plugins are interesting. I didn't like the Mastering Suite.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:27 pm

Yes, I also use SV-315 MK2 quite a bit. I didn't like MaxLimit but I do use StereoTools.
I got a lot of use from CQ-1 in the past but I haven't used it recently (mostly because I don't use multi-band processors as much as I used to).
I'm glad that these plug-ins are still working with my current setup but I keep an old OS setup, just in case these (or any of my other old favorites) stop working.

mike_the_ranger · Post by **mike_the_ranger** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:34 pm

I loved them. But they never came up with AAX version for their plugins which made them pretty useless for me.

Cooker · Post by **Cooker** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 11:26 pm

They were good but can't imagine something comparable and up-to-date option isn't out there.

pinki · Post by **pinki** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 12:07 am

SV315 ..use it everyday as my go to compressor..track or master, love it to bits. Support is still there if you get a new computer etc

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 1:34 am

I really like the creative big knob plugins. they sound really good to my ears. the filter, grimebox and compressor.

codec_spurt · Post by **codec_spurt** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 1:59 am

Sonalksis seem like good guys.

I bought a small plugin off them that I couldn't get registered after their long winded authentication process.

I'm sure if you paid for expensive plugins from them it would have been viable. But it wasn't worth their time or mine.

I have to say though they were on the ball and got back to me straight away and were very very helpful.

I'd be happy to buy off them again.

Would be good to see them do new stuff.

They seem to have a very good attitude, at least in my experience.

Anyone that gets back to me within 24 hours and genuinely helps me to solve my problem is a good guy in my book.

Just my limited experience with them.

I know that others have different opinions.

xalama qo · Post by **xalama qo** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 9:47 am

@Cooker, I'm sure there are tons of comparable or "better" plugins available now, probably cheaper too, but the Sonalksis ones still seem to sound great in 2019, and they're really light on CPU due to their age. So as a workhorse go-to compressor, EQ, gate (which also immediately gave me the results I was looking for, also midi-triggerable) this seems like a great little bundle to learn inside out, and use mercilessly all over the place knowing that it won't mess with your CPU or your sound...for example a lightweight side-chainable comp or EQ or gate to put on a reverb bus, or in between insert effects per track.

I'm not trying to twist anyone's arm here

I just rediscovered them this week, and 10 years of other compressor experience later my ears recognize what's good about them. I'm also in the process of doing a plugin folder overhaul, kinda less is more, but with a few character pieces. So to me these guys look like a great non-DAW-specific set of processors to consider as my go-to gang.

Sonalksis plugins in 2019 :)