A touring bike will have a much longer front-centre measurement and much longer rear end resulting in a slow handling, slow accelerating bike. The Trucker is a dedicated touring bike, as much as the Commercial Drive crowd likes to talk up how great a commuter it is. For anyone who doesn't have a real tour planned (or likely), we steer them away from such a slow bike.
A classic cross bike will have a head angle of ~72-73º, a fork atc of ~400, a BB drop of ~65, and a rear end of 430 or shorter. (135 spaced rear ends necessitate a longer rear end; I'd prefer a 420 chainstay if I had the chance to be picky.) Brodie has the aluminum Ronin, which uses the same frame as the Romax AL but with a steel fork.
The Kona Honky Inc does appear to be a good option, though I would have to see the fork atc to know if it really is a cross bike and not a road disc bike. ***EDIT the fork is 401 atc, so that bike would indeed qualify. The Traitor Ruben is another road disc option, but it doesn't have much clearance for bigger tires and fenders.
I agree the vestigial canti mounts on the Soma DC are a bummer, but some people like that flexibility. Possibly out of budget, but Brodie also does have a Ti Romax with discs (if you can snag one) and Lynskey has two Ti disc cross bikes.