Sonic Academy Kick 3

[swilow11]

This is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking that customer loyalty matters in Sonic Academy's customer service—you'll be sadly disappointed.

I recently purchased the KICK 3 upgrade just four days before they lowered the price for Black Friday. I contacted them to ask if they could refund the difference, but they told me there’s nothing they can do.

Seriously, there’s NOTHING you can do?

Sonic Academy can easily review my purchase history and see all the transactions I’ve made, along with their dates.

You’d think that as a software company, trying to retain your customers would be essential to your business—especially with the growing competition in this niche market. These new competitors offer better workflows, more competitive pricing, actively listen to customer feedback, and are engaged in forums.

Looking back, I realize I should have chosen one of their competitors instead of continuing to do business with a company that doesn’t even value me enough to check my purchase history.

Anyway, KickNinja or Kickdrum by Audija are great alternatives to KICK 3.

not sure what's happened there because that is not our policy, and we deeply value our loyal customers, could you dm me your username on the site and i'lll look into it?

Yes, you do value loyal customers in the sense that you've taken more money from them then from new customers.

[Mr D]

One thing i'm not getting is the lack of a release control in the Kick 3 envelopes.

A kick is either one shot, or stop on release (gate=on).....but there's no control over the release time.

But it must have a non-zero release time hard-wired, because the click isn't as bad as a 0ms release would be. But then why didn't they give us control over the release length?

Any ideas? I can't imagine this isn't possible, can anyone point me to the right place in the interface to set the release?

[bryansonic]

One thing i'm not getting is the lack of a release control in the Kick 3 envelopes.

A kick is either one shot, or stop on release (gate=on).....but there's no control over the release time.

But it must have a non-zero release time hard-wired, because there's no click. But then why didn't they give us control over the release length?

Any ideas? I can't imagine this isn't possible, can anyone point me to the right place in the interface to set the release?

gate release is implemented - it will be in the 3.1 which we are working on releasing shortly

[Mr D]

gate release is implemented - it will be in the 3.1 which we are working on releasing shortly

Great!

Please also give us release in the pitch envelope (could be interesting).

One other feature request: it's great that the envelope points are exposed for modulation, but a bit weird that if you move one point in "configure" mode in Ableton, they all (envelope points) send a message and get exposed. It would be nice if you could somehow prevent this.

AND! .... please also expose the curve slope for automation!

[bryansonic]

gate release is implemented - it will be in the 3.1 which we are working on releasing shortly

Great!

Please also give us release in the pitch envelope (could be interesting).

One other feature request: it's great that the envelope points are exposed for modulation, but a bit weird that if you move one point in "configure" mode in Ableton, they all (envelope points) send a message and get exposed. It would be nice if you could somehow prevent this.

AND! .... please also expose the curve slope for automation!

will check out that issue with all the points exposing themselves.

there is no release in the pitch envelope - when you have gate on, the gate release time is just how quickly the amp dips to zero to avoid a digital click. - the pitch envelope will continue to follow the envelope shape you have set.

[Held]

At the moment, the sustain node seems to be the last of the pitch-tracked nodes. Since the pitch oscillates around that node, the actual pitch of the played sound is out of tune.

kick3_sustain_detune.png

If you put a pitch-tracked node in front of the sustain, it helps, but I'd also like to have one after the sustain.

In short, please let me chose which node is used for the sustained pitch.

[EfreetiSultan]

Luckily kicks are so quick that "out of tune" doesn't exist since there's not enough time to form a note

[Phil Sonic Academy]

Luckily kicks are so quick that "out of tune" doesn't exist since there's not enough time to form a note

Trap kicks, 808s, Psy trance kicks tend to be long enough to form a note.

[EfreetiSultan]

Luckily kicks are so quick that "out of tune" doesn't exist since there's not enough time to form a note

Trap kicks, 808s, Psy trance kicks tend to be long enough to form a note.

Trap kicks are short. 808s are actually bass notes with a pitch decay not really kicks, psytrance kicks are usually 1/16th, so roughly 100 - 400ms. The "note" they create is very negligible, and so short in time it's really really hard to even put "pitch" and "kick" in the same sentence

[Held]

Luckily kicks are so quick that "out of tune" doesn't exist since there's not enough time to form a note

If you want to make quick kicks, you wouldn't need a sustain option in the first place.

I was having fun making sustained instruments with some really cool transients when I noticed they were going out of pitch quite drastically in higher registers.

[EfreetiSultan]

Luckily kicks are so quick that "out of tune" doesn't exist since there's not enough time to form a note

If you want to make quick kicks, you wouldn't need a sustain option in the first place.

I was having fun making sustained instruments with some really cool transients when I noticed they were going out of pitch quite drastically in higher registers.

Correct, sustain creates bass notes with a pitch decay i.e 808s. For actual kicks, sustain is indeed not needed

[Phil Sonic Academy]

I mean 808s are literally from a kick section of a drum machine… they can be used as basses but they are kicks

[bryansonic]

At the moment, the sustain node seems to be the last of the pitch-tracked nodes. Since the pitch oscillates around that node, the actual pitch of the played sound is out of tune.

kick3_sustain_detune.png

If you put a pitch-tracked node in front of the sustain, it helps, but I'd also like to have one after the sustain.

In short, please let me chose which node is used for the sustained pitch.

Not sure I totally follow.
You select which nodes are key tracked (and sustained) with the selection tool.

So use it to pick whatever node you want to sustain

Edit :
Think i understand now, u want sustain and selective key track separated. It’s something we’ve discussed internally already, so it’s in the list of requests

[Held]

Not sure I totally follow.
You select which nodes are key tracked (and sustained) with the selection tool.

So use it to pick whatever node you want to sustain

It seems my description wasn't clear, so I've included a screenshot with multiple key-tracked nodes. As you can see in the screenshot, the sustained part is at the end of the nodes and bends downwards.

kick3_sustain_detune_multi_node.png

I would like it to be at the center of the key-tracked nodes.

Edit :
Think i understand now, u want sustain and selective key track separated. It’s something we’ve discussed internally already, so it’s in the list of requests

That would nice as well, but I don't mind activating key-tracking if I want sustained nodes.

[andymcbain]

Really enjoying this update! The GUI feels much nicer to use.

I may have mentioned it in a previous post but I'd love a delay to offset the start of the sub layer from the click. The old Vengeance Metrum has this - it's called "OSC start delay" and you can adjust it in 0.1ms intervals. When you're adding a sample on top, a tiny amount of delay between the two layers can really transform the kick.