Sonalksis TBK

[kl3in]

If anyone is looking for more opinions on this thing, there's a thread over at OSX Audio about it which contains some interesting points and some amusing anti-KVR sentiment

As much as I love KVRaudio, I really can't blame them. Some people here are generally quite negative, others sometimes appear downright hostile. One thing I've noticed is that people have a tendency to hail fellow KVRians' music, but slag off big names that do anything remotely mainstream. Reading between the lines, you can almost make out "the bigger success the more they can go f**k themselves".

As for TBK, I guess I'm one of the few KVRists who were really impressed by this filter. $200 is a bit much, sure, but there's something about the way it sounds I haven't heard in a digital filter before. It's also very easy to use, quick to open and start writing automation properly, light on the CPU, and apparently very stable. I will most likely buy TBK.

[snooky]

OSX audio..haha..I'd like to see how many freebies they get over there..they're so envyous at us..and what's more, anything and all that has even a hint of a polished interface has to be good..after all, Mac's look good and they rule supreme...right? aaaw, gawd.

[Muff Wiggler]

i'm only rude when someone tries to insult me with something that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand

[geekboy]

... people have a tendency to hail fellow KVRians' music

Funny, and true.

[shamann]

s much as I love KVRaudio, I really can't blame them. Some people here are generally quite negative, others sometimes appear downright hostile. One thing I've noticed is that people have a tendency to hail fellow KVRians' music, but slag off big names that do anything remotely mainstream. Reading between the lines, you can almost make out "the bigger success the more they can go fcuk themselves".

Sure, there's hostility here, but I don't think that is unique to this place. It takes all kinds, and for every gentleman like ew, there are the more abrasive types, like that on display in snooky's above post. There are a lot of folk here. I think you're right, there are louder praises for less mainstream musics here, but that's likely a by-product of: a lot of us who favour obscure things have encouraged others like us to congregate here; the louder those who favour the obscure get, the more reticent the mainstreamers probably are; and there are already lots of places to say that stuff in the Top 40 is great.

[chagzuki]

We need to filter out the hostility.

[snooky]

I can't be arsed to be all touchy-feely all the time...

[Muff Wiggler]

me neither, especially when you factor in the blatently stupid, uneducated and patently false opinions which are thrown around this place so frequently.

[chagzuki]

Filter sweeping is the greatest pleasure known to man.

[shamann]

I can't be arsed to be all touchy-feely all the time...

I don't think you should, either.

Now about this filter, anyone else find the clipping on Rude strange?

[original flipper]

HI

Just cut yourself off from it.

And ...

Roll over frequently.

Flipper.

[chagzuki]

Yeah, let it pass.

[chagzuki]

I finally got the oportunity to turn the big knob.

I love the Sonalksis EQ and comp, but I'll have to pass on this one.

[Uncle E]

In case you guys missed it, cutoff is controlled by mod wheel & the other functions are controlled by note value. This is a pretty bad implementation since note to cc ends up changing other parameters, I've tried limiting note range using TrackFX after note to cc but it still doesn't seem to work right. Is there something I'm missing here? Also, can anyone recommend a good envelope to cc midi plug-in?

I tested the TBK against about a dozen other filters, including Fab Filter, Frantic Filter, CamelPhat, Naive, Bi-Filter, etc., as well as the filters in Minimonsta & the Powercore Virus. Love it or hate it, I think anyone who does such a shootout will agree that the TBK doesn't sound like any of these other filters. The real surprise for me is Frantic Filter, it was my favorite of the bunch.

[fgimian]

If they (Sonalksis) are trying to emulate analogue filters, they definitely have failed, but that may not be their aim I think.

However, the thing I hate most about this filter, is when using it with the highest 2 resonance values, and sweeping the cutoff frequency, there are some frequencies which sound EXTREMELY nasty, sounds like digital clipping is occuring, and at other frequencies it sounds ok. Also, even at the steepest slope, it doesn't quite sound that steep, running a 24 db/oct filter should be pretty harsh, 48 should be brutal, but it just isn't with this filter ... which makes it even more confusing.

Of course, the other problem is lack of envelopes, LFO, finely adjustable resonance .etc.

I think the concept of adaptive resonance is a good one, higher resonsnaces at lower cutoffs and lower resonances at higher cutoffs n stuff like that, but this filter just sounds plain bad to me. Just uninstalled it ... I really thought very highly of Sonalksis up until now but this is definitely not encouraging for their future direction.

Their analogue modelling technology was much much better and they really should have continued to create vintage effects like their Gate, Tape Saturation, Delays, Choruses ... and maybe create a few more modes on their compressor (like a heavy crush mode to smash transients) which the Sonalksis can't do at the moment, I always get popping with even the fastest Attack / Release times which is why I bought the Marquis instead, in T3 mode that thing can crush and smash VERY well, likewise the Kjaerhus GPP can do the same.

Also, I think the posts at OSX were grossly inaccurate, especially since most of us spend so much cash on plugins here at KvR (I know I did). IF this plugin was truly worthy, I'm sure KvRians would buy it.

Cheers
Fots