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.

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).

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.

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.

Swivel

See also: Swivel

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'. Two variations of the trick exist where one is done by simply holding the pen using the fingers only where another variation is done by holding the pen between a finger and the back of the arm.

False Sonics

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

Neo Sonic

See also: Neo Sonic

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.