Sonic

Kay performing a Sonic

Sonics are a category of tricks in which the fingerslot transfer of a fingerswitch is fully accompanied by a conical charge. They often, but not always, end in a different slot than the one they started in. Sonics are among the most versatile and common tricks as they are compatible with almost any style and easily integrate with and hybridize with other trick families. They are also a rich source to use as a diversifying tool as they range from being simple to complex and extremely difficult, with more variations yet to be discovered especially in the field of xpxh.

The baseline sonic is a fundamental trick that consists of two fingerswitches between three separate slots, while performing one complete conical charge spin. During the second slot the fingers at the extremities solely hold the pen at the same time.

History

The name ソニック (sonic) was given by Hideaki. Then, Kam added its translation to Pentix. The trick was also discovered independently by others, like sula_la (his name, 雙龍取水, means the twin dragons fetch water) and Szeto, who gave names to three slot combinations.

The Korean name, 계단 (stairs), originated independently from the rest. Names for sonic and its basic variations were used since the beginning of the board. But it wasn’t until the 2005 NX lecture when they were standarized into using the 역 (reverse) and 내 (inverse) modifiers.

Variations

Inverse Sonic

The inverse sonic is mechanically the same, but doing it standalone usually includes a total of 2.0 rotations as opposed to only 1.0 rotations in non-inverse variations. This is due to spinners holding the pen in the same starting position for both tricks despite there being 0.5 rotations of difference in the starting positions if one were to perform them one-to-one. Thus, the initial 0.5 rotations are to achieve the starting position of the inverse sonic, 1.0 rotations are performed for the fundamental mechanic, and the final 0.5 rotations bring the ending position of the inverse sonic to that of the non-inverse variations.

Demon's Sonic

The demon's sonic (or demon sonic) is a baseline sonic interrupted with a twisted sonic. It is not a specific sonic variation but rather denotes one specific linkage with the following notation:

sonic 34-24 ~ twisted sonic 24-12. 

Modifiers are almost never used (e.g. mirrored demon's sonic) as those links are often notated in full.

Angel's Sonic

Interrupting a twisted sonic with a baseline sonic yields the angel's sonic (or angel sonic), but this name is rarely referenced. It is notated as such:

twisted sonic 34-13 ~ sonic 13-12.

Sonic Clip

A term rarely used in practice which denotes charges performed in the intermediate slot while the pen is held by the extremities during a sonic. (e.g. performing charge 13 from a sonic 23-12).

The first time that the name sonic clip is seen is in November 2003, in PenstudioZ. It doesn’t appear on the Pentix trick names table, so it originated some time between 2001 and 2003, but the creator is unknown. The Japanese term スリップトソニック (slipped sonic) may be younger, as it doesn’t appear in any of the trick lists from Crasher (2001).

This trick is used in a minicombo called Rising Fans which was created by Tohlz. He explained it in his website, and he included it inside his signature move HyperSonic 2. The minicombo consists of the following:

charge 34 > sonic clip 34-23 > charge 23> sonic clip 23-12 > charge 12

Moonwalk Sonic

A moonwalk sonic is a sonic with the usual direction of rotation, but with the order of the slots inverted. That is:

moonwalk sonic = sonic 12-23

The name comes from Japanese notation, although it’s unknown who named it. In English, the usage of moonwalk is discouraged whenever the fingerslots can be written. For this reason, the Naming Committee deprecated the trick name in 2008, although it’s still used nowadays.

Side Sonic

The side additive is applied to a sonic variation when the center finger (or at least one of the those fingers) is inverted during execution. It is mostly relevant to baseline sonic and flush sonic variations. Its usage as a modifier outside of those tricks are somewhat disputed.

side sonic nor 23-12 = sonic 23-12 ~ inv sonic 23-12
side sonic rev 12-23 = inv sonic 12-23 ~ sonic 12-23
inv side sonic nor 23-12 = inv sonic 23-12 ~ sonic 23-12
inv side sonic rev 12-23 = sonic 12-23 ~ inv sonic 12-23

Since the main mechanic of a side sonic lies in its in-out motion, variations can be made where such motion can be extended further (in-out-in) within a single rotation, which further increases its complexity.

The first spinner who recorded the trick was Flip. Shortly after, Fratleym also recorded it and gave it the name side sonic.

Tipped Sonic

Sonics performed using tipped charges rather than full charges. They are most commonly performed using a thumb slot.

The trick itself was first done by Korean spinners in PDS. It was first named in UCPSB in 2006, in a thread where a member name Leviathan was asking if it had any name in English. FallenSeraph proposed the name Korean sonic, although he was worried about it creating another annoying dichotomy like the one regarding Weis/Korean backaround. The user grsbmd said that:

“Technically, this spin type has no circular motion. It’s just tipping up,then tipping back down. And it also doesn’t need to use the thumb. If you use other fingers, though, it starts looking a lot like a sonic.”

Thus, he generalized the concept for when the thumb isn’t involved, and proposed the name tipped sonic. He also gave other examples (such as tipped charge) of how the new modifier could be used.

In 2017, OhYeaH! expanded upon the tipped sonic, applying various modifiers to create even more variations and posted them onto Youtube. In that same year, he also submitted a combo comprised entirely of these tipped sonic variations for Pen Spinning World Tournament 2017.

Swivel

See also: Swivel

Also known as a Fingerless Sonic.

I-Sonic

A palm up sonic starting in 23 that stops completely halfway through in 13. When performed starting in the wiper-out position and with the palm facing the camera, the pen is hidden behind the hand, hence, the 'i' in the name which stands for 'invisible'.

Bonkura made a popular variation of this trick in which, while the mod was hidden behind the hand, he spread out his fingers to enhance the illusion of the pen having disappeared. Then, coming back to the initial position, the pen reappears and the trick is finished.

It was called アイソニックを超えるアイソニック (iSonic beyond iSonic) jokingly by Bonkura, but the name was used even a year and a half after that. Since Bonkura attended Kyoto University, it was also called 京大式アイソニック (Kyoto University-style iSonic). Another name was 真パーフェクト·アイ (true perfect I), which later was simplified to the current most popular name, パーフェクトアイ (perfect I)

MISS

Stands for Mirrored Inverse Side Sonic.

In a correctly executed MISS, the wrist shouldn’t turn and the moving finger should stay straight during the first part of the trick and then clearly move to the other side of the hand.

It was first done and named by i.suk in mid-late 2018, who then popularized it as a staple of technical spinning

Cthulhu Sonic

A link containing an inverse tw sonic 12-24 >~ MISS 24-23. When correctly executed, the wrist motion should be minimal.

The name was coined by Nine in 2019 ad it was made popular due to the precise and unusual timing involved. It is also the first "Lovecraftian sonic" ever invented.

Nyarlathotep Sonic

A link containing the following

Pass rev 12-24[2o] ~ inverse side sonic 24-23

Leviathan Sonic

A link containing the following:

West sonic 12-31.24-34 ~ fs34-14.32-12 ~ east sonic 12-13.42-34

Amogus Sonic

A link containing an inv sonic 34-24 to 13-12 with a fingerswitch in between.

False Sonics

These are variations that have the sonic name but do not contain any portion of a sonic trick.

Twisted Sonic

See also: Twisted Sonic

Neo Sonic

See also: Around#Neosonic

Flush Sonic

See also: Flush sonic

East Sonic

See also: East Sonic

These variations differ from the baseline sonic as they require four fingers minimum and those on the extremities never solely hold the pen at the same time.

Devil's Sonic

A palm down twisted sonic followed by a shadow.

Although nhk_9 claimed that this was his own trick and name, Penstudioz and Pen Spin Sector attribute it to Kam.

The trick is also used in a Devil's Conversion where it consists of a devil sonic, and while the pen is spinning over 12, change from PD to PU while bending the fingers and continue doing a knuckle spin, without any additional impulse (just the inertia of the pen). A reverse version of this trick was shown by Le0n as Reconversion, however he only performed PU knuckle spin rev ~ PD shadow rev in that video without finishing the devil's sonic rev.

Co Sonic

A charge trick done in 23, partially pushed by bending the index finger, once per rotation.

It was first done by some spinner from Sendai (Japan), who called it コミュ障ソニック (comunication disability sonic). It was just a meme name, only known by other spinners from the area. Malimo discovered independently the charge 23 countered by the thumb and then taught it to Mesi, who developed new variations and showed them in his 2018 solo . Inspired by this, Siva made and compiled eight possible variations, which he then uploaded in 2019 under the censored name co...sonic