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Sherman Filterbank 2

1. MAX SUSTAIN LEVEL TRANSITION LEVEL 0 wb TIME 4 A D 5 R t SENS Y Aer s gt ag S 9 4 lt 0 gt 4 figure 21 ENVELOPE VOLTAGE TRIGGER OFF MAX SUSTAIN LEVEL TRANSITION LEVEL 0 s 7 TIME TRIGGER OFF LAST EXAMPLE 4 TRIGGER OFF _ ATTACK TIME SPEEDY ADSR The ADSR speed can get up to 4 times faster How Transmit MIDI 35 SECONDS control messages to the Filterbank that affect the Attack Decay and Release speed When the Filterbank is powered up the ADSR speeds are initialised 1 4 of their maximal speed control value 63 This is half of 30 SECONDS an exponential scale see Fig 27 page 46 So if this is your problem just change that initial value to 0 25 SECONDS No MIDI control of envelope modulation amount possible Simply connect ADSR out to FM in and MIDI foot contro will do the job Even negative send MIDI foot control half way value 63 and 205EGONDS anticipate that with the envelope amount knob s until no modulation is heard Sending MIDI foot control above and under 63 will result in positive and negative modulation 0 SECONDS 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ATTACK KNOB POSITION Attack time in function of knob position when midi controller 5 porta time value is 63 default value Not valid for envelope follower 9 EN
2. Avoid using too long jack jack cables for this 8 Check the last part of the video on www sherman be SLAVE SHERMAN FILTERBANK LINK in And so on MAKE A VERY NEAT Set up two FB s Connect the MAIN OUT of the first to the input of the second Make a LINK connection and set the knobs of both F B s as shown in fig 32 Set up a third FB linked in serial mode and FILTER with the same settings and your 72 db filter is ready You can even make a similar stereo triple or quadrophonic setup etc figure 32 INPUT FM TRIG A D gt R SPEED DEPTH TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP qpEFF HI BOOST 7 7 B herman ona qq x f FILTERBANK OFF ov SENSITRIG LIMIT OCTAVE QUINT Link out Audio in M ASTE R Main out Link in Audio in Main out SHERMAN FILTERBANK SHERMAN FILTERBANK HISTORY amp PHILOSOPHY I m not an engineer play guitar for 20 years now but fiddle with electronics for 25 years 18 years ago built a modular system for use on guitar because was not satisfied with the overdrive behaviour of most transistor based gear looked at M arshall amps and studied how they achieved that warm sound measured their curves and frequence responses made over a hundred dance records in the late eighties pioneered with the use of drumloops All the time built gear for myself like e g a short MIDI delay to byp
3. ABUSER S MANUAL BEFORE USING THE SHERMAN FILTERBANK READ THE FOLLOWING SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS USE ONLY THE ORIGINAL ADAPTOR OUTPUT 15V AC 500mA SUPPLIED WITH THIS MACHINE ALWAYS GRASP ONLY THE ADAPTOR WHEN PLUGGING INTO OR UNPLUGGING FROM AN OUTLET TRY TO PREVENT CORDS AND CABLES FROM BECOMING ENTANGLED ALSO ALL CORDS AND CABLES SHOULD BE PLACED SO THAT THEY ARE OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN AND ANIMALS NEVER CLIMB ON TOP OF NOR PLACE HEAVY OBJECTS ON THE UNIT NEVER HANDLE THE ADAPTOR OR ITS PLUGS WITH WET HANDS WHEN PLUGGING INTO OR UNPLUGGING FROM AN OUTLET OR THIS UNIT BEFORE MOVING THE UNIT DISCONNECT THE ADAPTOR FROM THE OUTLET AND PULL OUT ALL CORDS FROM EXTERNAL DEVICES BEFORE CLEANING THE UNIT UNPLUG THE POWER AND UNPLUG THE ADAPTOR FROM THE OUTLET WHENEVER YOU SUSPECT THE POSSIBILITY OF LIGHTNING IN YOUR AREA PULL THE PLUG ON THE ADAPTOR OUT OF THE OUTLET BEFORE USING THIS UNIT MAKE SURE TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS AND THE USER S MANUAL DONOT OPEN OR PERFORM ANY INTERNAL MODIFICATIONS ON THE UNIT THE ONLY EXCEPTION WOULD BE WHERE THIS MANUAL PROVIDES SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS WHICH SHOULD BE FOLLOWED IN ORDER TO MAKE INTERNAL ADJ USTMENTS WHEN USING THE UNIT WITH A RACK OR STAND THE RACK OR STAND MUST BE CAREFULLY PLACED SOIT IS LEVEL AND SURE TO REMAIN STABLE NOT USINGA RACK OR STAND YOU STILL NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT ANY LOCATION YOU CHOOSE FOR PLACING THE UNIT PROVIDES A LEVEL SURFACE THAT WILL PROPERLY S
4. Trigger ADSR speeded up attack F 4 normal trigger ADSR Block audio trigger AR A 4 normal trigger AR G 4 normal trigger both F4 trigger ADSR with speeded up attack Block audio trigger ADSR G4 forced gate off ADSR with speeded up release A4 trigger AR with speeded up attack Unblock audio trigger ADSR B4 forced gate off AR with speeded up release Unblock audio trigger AR MIDI time zero The actual time is calculated by multiplying the setting of the knob with its MIDI controller value 3D vieuw fig 29 When it says speeded up the actual MIDI control value 63 when powered up is TEMPORARILY set to zero E G PLAYING FADE IN S ON THE KEYBOARD k h Lm orb pr 9 If you set the attack time knob of the AR to almost zero and send a high attack time value via MIDI you can program the following in your sequencer send note A 4 a few seconds before the start of the beat so that the volume of the FB reaches its maximum just on the start and use note A4 for quick attacks and speedy percussions in the song Then use note A 4 again in a break etc NOTE For very fast triggering same story as for audio triggering use very short notes because once triggered a trigger light will remain on for a short while MIDI OUT Trigger light action is always sent to the MIDI OUT port as normal trigger notes on channel 16 whatever the source audio
5. these combinations with sync mode 1 5 quint down Try different reso settings and check the difference with parallel mode No doubt you will find combinations giving poor results in serial mode like Hp2 see figs 10 11 and 12 There so many filter curve possibilities that it s impossible to list them all but what you should understand is why eg Hp 1 Lp 2 in sync and in serial mode theoretically let no sound through Because in sync freq 1 gt freq 2 This lesson never finishes you can only get more experienced PAR 4 SER PAR 4 SER 6 PARALLEL SERIAL ases M ONO PSEUDO STEREO 9 WHEN USING ONLY MAIN JACK WHENAJACK IS PLUGGEDIN OUT 1 AS WELL PAR 4 SER MAIN OUT MAIN OUT MAIN OUT FILTER CURVE WHEN FREQ 1 FREQ 2 MAIN OUT CURVE FILTER 1 BP PARALLEL 12db FILTER 2 BP SERIAL 24db FILTER 1 HP PARALLEL 12db FILTER 2 HP SERIAL 24db FILTER 1 HP PARALLEL 12db FILTER 2 HP SERIAL 24db SERIAL IT S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS LOW PASS Only lets tones below the center frequency pass FILTER 2 BAND PASS HIGH PASS Only lets tones around the band of center frequency pass FILTER 1 LOW PASS HIGH PASS Only lets tones above the center This is an example of a situation where NO SIGNAL WILL COME OUT IN SERIAL frequency pass when the PAR lt gt SER knob is turned completely to SER see figure 7 and when freq 2 is equ
6. 0 31 63 95 127 MIDI CONTROLLER VALUE 6 SECONDS 5 SECONDS 4 SECONDS 3 SECONDS 2 SECONDS 1 SECONDS 0 SECONDS This is an example of how the attack time of the ADSR can be speeded up and slowed down while it s running You can do similar on the fly time changes with the decay release and attack release of the AR generator too In these examples M IDI controller 5 is drawn in a Sequence program ADSR output curve attack zone MIDI controller 5 constantly on 63 default ADSR output curve 3D VI EW OF THE RELATION TIME KNOB SETTING MIDI CONTROL Actual time 1 127 Init 63 Midi controller 10 5 Knob position A D R A R Try now to make a melody with pitch wheel Set the knobs as in the figure shown below Set freq 1 to an acceptable start note for the desired melody Now draw or give in e g in sequencer grid edit zero middle pitch wheel modulation on the start time Now draw the second note on a later time and let one bar loop to hear the pitch variation Now adjust pitch of the second note e g in grid edit changing VALUE 1 AND 2 A MIDI pitch wheel message consists of two 7 bit bytes one for coarse and one for fine tune Only when the Second note is in tune you may build further your melody Leave the Freq 1 knob in its original position it could change the tuning intervals for producers once you have tuned the filters this way br
7. but think it has a fair price for it s features Herman Gillis designer Special thanks to the following people for supporting me all the way my wonderful partner Mieke Fr re J oel Cordier Daan Stuyven Luk Page The staff amp artists of R amp S records and last but not least all abusers TROUBLESHOOTING 99 of all broken Sherman Filterbanks are due to bad potentiometers Please take the effort of measuring all pots of the FB before sending back the whole inner board for repair Anyone who has a bit experience with soldering can replace a pot There are different 3 types of pots in the filterbank 20 K Twenty thousand Ohm FREQ2 1 One million Ohm A RESO1 RESO2 100K Dual Hundred thousand Ohm with middle click LFO SPEED LFO DEPTH INPUT LEVEL SUSTAIN PAR SER BYP EFF L B H 1 CORR1 L B H 2 CORR2 ADSR DEPTH 1 ADSR DEPTH 2 3 3 Take a simple Ohmmeter put the potmeter to test yes while it is mounted in the Filterbank in middle position E G M easure the resistance between PIN 2 and 1 of a 100K pot If the resistance is a lot more than 50K Ohm then the pot is certainly BAD BECAUSE a 100K LINEAR POT in middle position should measure around 50K In full CCW counter clock wise position you should measure maximal 40 Ohms between pin 1 amp 2 and between pin 1 and 2 TOP VIEW In case you have find facilities to do the repair
8. discrete resistor the same as an SMD resistor the SM D is 10 times smaller Most manufacturers use DSP digital signal processing now because it s so cheap to develop To make a filter they just have to implement a formula in the DSP A DSP based machine sounds too perfect and has too low dynamics to equal analog gear in power amp liveness Digital processing generally has the disadvantage of losing information in the process of digitizing and calculating With DSP overdrive simulation you can just reach the limit of your 64 bit number So overdrive must be programmed but still sounds dead Why A car crash is always different in the same circumstances on the contrary a computer simulated car crash is always the same Thats why real analog sounds more live than a bunch of routines trying to simulate analog circuits Thanks to noise crossover distortion and influence on power fluctuations temperature aging pot s all those thing that we tried to avoid an analog gear has character A 909 bassdrum is never the same because there is a small analog synth in the 909 generating the bassdrum A sampled 909 bassdrum has never the punch of the real Why D A converters are limited in frequency response and dynamics Fortunately some manufacturers such as Studio Electronics Tube Tech J omox stay in to analog which unfortunately costs a lot more because every circuit has to be tested and adjusted The Sherman FB is such gear
9. filtering and Limit which leaves the filters more breathing room for self oscillation if the input stage is extremely overdriven In low frequency settings a weak high eee sound can occur This is perfectly normal and typical for the Filterbank Don t worry it s not broken It s mainly audible as as crossing over between both filters When the harmonics switch is not in the free position the eee sound in filter 1 caused by freq of filter 2 can be avoided by increasing the frequency of filter 2 a bit as this filter 2 setting is not significant anyway If you want to work in this sub bass range the eeee can be easily suppressed by turning down the hi eq on you mixing console LOWEST FREQUENCY RANGE Our warning Dangerous frequency range is not a joke Speaker coils can actually burn when they move too slow and have lack of ventilation This can happen at high volume and unhearable low frequency The FB can easily produce frequencies below 1 Hz The bottom frequency can change in different environment temperatures This is a disadvantage of this analog system the price to be payed for an extreme range By inside adjustment this bottom frequency can be changed To do this you must open the Filterbank and look for the trim holes marked F1 an F2 With a tiny screwdriver you can re adjust the bottom frequency of each filter to your needs Please don t touch any other trim holes SENSIT
10. is fed directly to filter 1 and filter 2 The output of the two filters is mixed and fed through the main out VCA If you connect a jack to the out 1 however the output of filter 1 will disappear from the main output In this case the main out VCA only has filter 2 as input The output of filter 1 always goes to out 1 This means that you can separate the output of the two filters completely Check this out by connecting out 1 to your sound system as well and by panning OUT 1 and MAIN OUT stereo fig 8 Now set the harmonics switch to free and toy around with the two filter frequencies Try different resonance amounts as well as different harmonic switch settings SERIAL Turn the PAR lt gt SER knob completely clockwise Disconnect the jack from OUT 1 The input signal goes to filter 1 only The output signal of filter 1 goes to filter 2 Filter 2 goes to the MAIN OUT vca Obviously if one of the filters doesn t pass the signal on nothing will appear at the MAIN OUT If filter 1 and filter 2 are tuned equally this is very easily done by setting filter 2 to sync mode 1 the filter effect is stronger Two 12 db filters in series provide a 24 db filter fig 9 Get familiar with the output combinations for both filters in serial mode Start by using identical settings e g 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 Bp2 Hp1 Hp2 and so on fig 9 Check these settings also with different reso positions Now repeat
11. or MIDI This is useful for recording with a sequencer Only F 4 and A 4 are sent out E g the audio triggering of a drum loop can be recorded via MIDI out and these patterns can then be used with another audio signal by feeding back the recorded notes in the FB s MIDI in Dont forget to block the audio sensitivity Add some pre delay with AR attack to obtain a sucking gate effect Note This is the only thing that is sent out MIDI THRU The FB is equipped with 3 MIDI thru ports They act like a normal MIDI thru box with the MIDI in Note If you experience MIDI problems do not panic right away Test the unit by connecting the MIDI out of a synth directly to the MIDI in of the FB Check the pitch wheel response of the cutoff frequency filter 1 and find the MIDI trigger notes Avoid MIDI loops and too many devices in one MIDI chain Some may give bad MIDI thru Avoid too long MIDI cables LESSON 12 LINKING TETE FILTERBANKS You can chain the FB s endlessly with the link Input Output LINK in S LAVE specially provided for this purpose 110 31 The first master FB in the chain s filter 1 will act as master over the filter 1 of all the slaves Filter 2 of each FB will act as always free or in sync with Freq 1 of the master in this case Try out different harmonic switch settings on the FB s in the chain to form chord intervals LINK in SLAVE SHERMAN FILTERBANK
12. the filterbank 2 all over noise is reduced significantly not removed Some die hard old FB freaks will regret the loss of this lo fi others will hear different new things m tired of defending the noise behaviour of the filterbank Every newer design has it s own specific sound which is to my feeling the best so far with this kind of technology to use in music My definition of music is very personal but nevertheless everybody that considers buying the sfb2 should know by now that a clean 24 bit DSP filter nor any plug in has anything in common with this dirty hardware box E g it is normal that filter 2 produces more clock noise than filter 1 in the low freq settings As with the model before filter2 has more resonance than filter1 FCC WARNING This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions manual may cause interference to radio communications It has been tested and found to comply with the limits for Class A computing device persuant to Subpart J of Part 15 FCC Rules according to EN 55103 1 standard which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interference when operated in a commercial environment Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause interference in which case the user at his own expence will be required to take whatever measures may be required to correct the interference INTRODUCTIO
13. time A Sens R output voltage Envelope follower output with SHORT ATTACK time and LONG RELEASE time LESSON 7 FM FREQUENCY M ODULATION FM equally modulates the frequencies of both filters Set the knobs as shown in fig 14 page 25 but without ADSR modulation Send a low monophonic tone to the FB Increase the FM amount firmly and then turn it down slightly Work with different sound sources like bass organ sawtooth and square wave Check FM with different freq 1 settings and input levels The reso settings also play an important role here Now insert a jack cable in the FM input You will notice that FM doesnt work internally anymore Now you can try a different sound source with this input 8 e g take another synth or sampler output and experiment with this source playing the same melody as the processed melody but now try different tuning intervals between input and FM source NOTE The FM input also accepts DC voltages from e g a cv gate output a modular system s Ifo or ADSR the voltage output of any analog sequencer any pedal or device that provides a variable voltage or signal output You can use the FM amount knob as a common ADSR amount knob for both filters by connecting ADSR out to FM in You can produce subharmonic FM as follows Connect MAIN OUT to FM in Route only OUT 1 to your sound system Set both RESO controls to maximum First try parallel mode afterwards serial Now try ou
14. 34 Octave switching via 44 External coser cer ox eter rre rid 43 1 15 36 OVERVIEW back cover Harmonic SWITCH 12 PARALLEL lt gt SERIAL nete 15 History 52 18 Hem Are you serious 7 Rack mountigggg 7 Introductio 4 Resonating 2 47 LPB p 11 Second noc eR DRE 24 Hip 20 Setting examples 58 Link Systems 50 Sync ZZZZe blue ZZZled sese 13 HERE 15 22 Memory notation 57 Mire 40 44 Troubleshooting 56 SHERMAN PRODUCTIONS STATIONSWIJ 73 B 3272 TESTELT BELGIUM WWW SHERMAN BE EMAIL INFOG SHERMAN BE DESIGNED amp DEVELOPED BY HERMAN GILLIS VISUALS amp LAYOUT BY DAAN STUYVEN
15. 7 FREQUENCY 2 GREEN GREEN FREQUENCY 1 FREQUENCY 2 GREEN GREEN Aa nm lt RED RED gt 4 RED LESSON 5 AR VOLUME MODULATION GENERATOR This generator equally controls the OUT 1 and MAIN OUT s Play a sound with a slow attack e g a string sound M ake sure that the ar trigger light goes on and off Get familiar with the attack release settings starting from minimum and with their influence on the output volume You can also experiment with drum loops 8 Setting attack and release to minimum produces a rhythmic gating effect By doing so you might experience a slight loss of attack punch This is because of the limited speed of the attack You can speed up the attack by sending MIDI controller 5 value 0 to the FB The default power up value of controller 5 is 63 halfway 127 if this is not fast enough record the AR triggers via MIDI and play them back with a slight amount of pre delay TB303 TIP Here a way to achieve the sequencer behaviour of a Roland 303 with MIDI Make your source glide as you like to hear it on a track Make a ghost copy track of that in your sequencer Give a negative delay and another MIDI channel to that ghost track e g a program on the main MIDI channel with the desired sound square sawtooth polyphonic whatever Put this in the FB s ADSR or AR trigger input Make a copy of that program on the
16. N WHAT IS THE FILTERBANK AND WHAT CAN YOU USE IT FOR It is a versitale filter effect box with tube sound overdrive 12 parameters of it are MIDI controllable Any sound source live or in studio can be used but it s obvious that you won t get far without an external sound source It s a smart decision to buy this thing because it is not based on processor calculation speed it will keep it s value for many years APPLICATIONS INCLUDE Live performance of music amp dj s Expansion module for modular synthesizer systems Mix effect or specialised equalisation in studio Enhancement of dull sounding digital gear Guitar overdrive effect box ALL SOUND SOURCES ARE USABLE ON THE INPUT E G Synth Sampler Guitar Bass Guitar Microphone CD Player Any headphone output those are often free and accessible Drummachine Effect Send Rhodes Piano Hammond Organ Saxophone This is a crash course for all you musicians who hate wasting time reading manuals However it s a good idea to understand the actual function of a certain knob in order to produce a sound that you have total control over It is easier than it looks don t worry The sherman filterbank FB from now on is a musical instrument you need to practice with if you want to release its full potential Soon you will find the FB an excellent and reliable live instrument The 11 lessons in this booklet must be performed one by one only skipping to the next one if y
17. OVER 3 3 d a a FILTERBANK A SENSITRIG amp mem S EFF e o 5 uM 8 m B B LH WE B B LH TRACK LOW EXAMPLE SETTINGS FORMANT VOCAL only main out SPEED DEPTH TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP V mo 6 o BS OS amp 9 show n ue Sokol id B LH WE B B LH BASSDRUM RANDOM BASS LINE only main out SPEED DEPTH TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP B 4 NORMAL SENSITRIG s A B S 8 TRACK 1 lt Ve v B LH only main out SPEED DEPTH TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP Ma 38 B LH INDEX ghteeee 2 QUE u m 51 ADS 24 MIDI cite tacto eras 46 38 51 masina 22 MIDI 45 Addio trigger 9 46 Block unblock audio trigger 40 50 EE 50 BYPASS anan 6 rund eb 17 Correction KNOD cep 11 Notch filter 8 Envelope follower
18. RIG o at ut 4 2 ed V 9 m HIGH PASS CURVE B LH mm From instrument TRIG A SPEED RESO1 HARMONICS FREQ2 p T g BP o BAND PASS CURVE BP e e B LH B LH mix desk amp Power adaptor 5 TRIG 456 BYP 8 0 o B B LH m LOW PASS CURVE B LH LESSON 2 SYNC MODE FILTER 2 Turn down the output of filter 1 bp bp Set the PAR lt gt SER knob to par Set the harmonics rotary switch to free Try out the settings of filter 2 it behaves in a similar way as filter 1 Now set the harmonics rotary switch to 1 The blue light will light up indicating that filter 2 isin sync with filter 1 This means that the full frequency control of filter 2 is taken over by filter 1 In sync mode the frequency and ADSR amount knob of filter 2 have no function at all and it s best to set them at minimum fig 5 LEARNING HARMONICS Set reso filter 2 to maximum select Bp and tune filter 2 via the filter 1 frequency knob so that a high tone resonance can be heard Now check the lower harmonics by turning the rotary switch to the right In order to get a better idea of these harmonics mix filter 1 on too correction knob at middle position bp with its resonance setting to maximum as well Check the har
19. UPPORT THE UNIT AND KEEP IT FROM WOBBLING AVOID DAMAGING THE ADAPTOR CORD DO BEND IT EXCESSIVELY STEP ON IT PLACE HEAVY OBJ ECTS ON IT ECT A DAMAGED CORD CAN EASILY BECOME A SHOCK OR FIRE HAZARD NEVER USE AN ADAPTOR AFTER IT HAS BEEN DAMAGED REPLACE IT WITH SMALL CHILDREN AN ADULT SHOULD PROVIDE SUPERVISION UNTIL THE CHILD IS CAPABLE OF FOLLOWING ALL THE RULES ESSENTIAL FOR THE SAFE OPERATION OF THE UNIT PROTECT THE UNIT FROM STRONG IM PACT DO NOT DROP IT DO FORCE THE UNIT S ADAPTOR TO SHARE AN OUTLET WITH AN UNREASONABLE NUMBER OF OTHER DEVICES BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL WHEN USING EXTENSION CORDS THE TOTAL POWER USED BY ALL DEVICES YOU HAVE CONNECTED TO THE EXTENSION CORD S OUTLET MUST NEVER EXCEED THE POWER RATING WATTS AMPERES FOR THE EXTENSION CORD EXCESSIVE LOADS CAN CAUSE THE INSULATION ON THE CORD TO HEAT UP AND EVENTUALLY MELT THROUGH BEFORE USING THE UNIT IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY CONSULT WITH YOUR DEALER OR QUALIFIED SHERMAN PERSONNEL BEFORE YOU START MAKE SURE THE ADAPTER VOLTAGE COMPLIES WITH THE VOLTAGE OF YOUR AC POWER SUPPLY AVOID EXCESSIVE FORCE ON THE CONNECTIONS OR KNOBS BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR SPEAKERS AT HIGH VOLUMES THE FILTERBANK CAN PRODUCE EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCIES READ THE SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS PREFACE ON VERSION 2 First of all want to thank everybody who appreciated and bought the original FB All the positive feedback is a welcome support that encourages us to carry on On
20. VELOPE FOLLOWER A SENS R ATTACK SENSITIVITY RELEASE An envelope follower basically creates an output voltage that follows the level of its input signal fig 23 Set the toggle switch to its downwards position Now the ADSR generator becomes an envelope follower Set attack and release to zero Plug in a dynamic sound source like a bass guitar piano organ with swell pedal drum loop or any other device providing volume variations Adjust sens in combination with the envelope modulation amount knobs of the filters for good response Watch the ADSR indication light it should flash yellow when the envelope follower is active weak red when there s no input signal Try the envelope follower with different modulation amounts of filter 1 filter 2 in sync Repeat these exercises with filter 2 free running in parallel mode experiment also with the envelope modulation amount knob of filter 2 NOTE The trigger input of the ADSR here becomes the envelope follower input You can plug in another signal source in this input and use its volume variations for filter modulation Try it NOTE Decay has no function in the envelope follower and attack and release of the ADSR generator are not MIDI controllable in envelope follower mode HOW THE ENVELOPE FOLLOWER WORKS HERE IN ENVELOPE FOLLOWER MODE DECAY IS NOT APPLICABLE THE SUSTAIN KNOB FUNCTIONS AS SENSITIVITY Envelope follower output with SHORT ATTACK time and SHORT RELEASE
21. al or higher than freq 1 THIS COMES NEARER TO REALITY FILTER 2 HIGH PASS HIGHER FILTER 1 LOW PASS Due to overlap of the 2 filters if freq 1 equals FILTER 2 HIGH PASS freq 2 in fact you create a weak band pass filter It grows stronger and wider the more you shift freq 2 lower and or freq 1 higher See page 58 for a setting example of variable bandwidth FILTER 1 LOW PASS PARALLEL In PARALLEL the signal of both filters is simply added In the situation shown below you create a small drop in the frequency range It will become deeper and wider the more you make freq 2 higher than freq 1 8 Modulating such a drop e g with the LFO amount knob to the right will give a phasing like effect See page 58 for the setting example PHASING 1 a RESULT _ FILTER 1 LOW PASS FILTER 2 HIGH PASS LESSON 4 LFO LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR Feed a stable signal to the FB e g organ strings Keep in mind that the trigger lights indicate when the FB is active Connect out 1 and main out to your sound system pan them in stereo and set the PAR SER knob to parallel Set the harmonics switch to free and filter 1 and filter 2 to high reso around the same frequency Now turn the LFO amount knob from zero to the right Both filters should react equally to the LFO Notice the two colour indications of the LFO This helps to locate the progression of very slow frequency wa
22. an green Volume always compare the original signal with the processed signal Turn it completely clockwise during the lessons Resonance P ower If no sound appears check your input signal source jack cables make sure the trigger indicating lights are working set the white Balance attack on the AR generator to zero and adjust the frequencies Didn t you send a MIDI volume message It can mute the outputs red Anti phase correction On the website www sherman be you can find a section manual sound examples as well as an illustrative video RACK MOUNTING The 2 rack mount hooks can be screwed on the sides of the unit as shown here Leave some space above the unit or put on top in order to reach the connections on the back Fit the plastic nuts as shown above THE 6 DIFFERENT WAYS TO MOUNT YOUR FB 19 Inch Rack 19 Inch Rack 19 Inch Rack 45 front Horizontal front preferred position Vertical front LESSON 1 BASICS EXPLORING FILTER 1 Send a continuous signal from the signal source e g a sawtooth wave or a similar sound containing enough high harmonics to the input jack Connect only the main output to your sound system 6 Dont turn your sound system up to its maximum volume yet Turn up the INPUT level just high enough to make BOTH trigger indicating lights react to the signal source When a continuous tone enters the FB these lig
23. ass the delay of my louzy prophet 3000 operating system tube preamps to overdrive synth sounds compressors amp noise gates to use on a spring reverb a programamble bunch of guitar pedals an air scratcher at that time you couldn t buy those things at reasonable prices Once made a sampler of an apple by swapping it s memory with Ibanez delay 7 years ago decided to use all my experience and started to design a commercial manufacturable modular synth with mouse drawed envelope curves M oog filters a complex modulation matrix and a real time mouse drawable arpeggiator sequencer That monster is still not ready and probabely never will be Because many people asked me for started to make a filter box which i equipped with all the functions would like as a musician not just another Curtis chip based box with one lowpass filter and a reso knob No wanted something much more powerful than anything on the market but for a reasonable price The first model of the Sherman was hand built but after 40 pcs realised that it was too difficult to keep building that by hand 50 developed the Filterbank like it is now smaller with SMD surface mount device components easy to assemble by a machine cheaper because of less printboard space use but more functions MIDI controllable but still analog Allthough it is small it contains more parts than say M inimoog thanks to this SMD technology Electronically seen is a
24. ator light fe deo PHO SEO DEO Off On Off On Off When no jack is plugged in the trigger input the input signal is used as trigger signal See figure 24 page 43 Suppose you want all frequencies to pass Lp Bp Hp set the Lp Bp Hp balance on Bp and the correction knob halfway Bp LpHp This gives following calculation Bp 0 5 Bp Lp Hp Bp 0 5Bp 0 5Lp 0 5Hp 0 5Bp 0 5Lp 0 5 Hp 0 5 Bp Lp Hp You can make up for the weaker output with more input Fiddle around with these knobs until you know what to expect from them By turning the input level up the sound will start to distort with more harmonics being added at the input stage Always remember that too much input can push away the resonance peaks giving you the impression that the resonance knobs don t work properly Try it out it s one of the features you should be very familiar with on the thin line between producing an over the top distorted racket and a noisy sound with low dynamics the FB works best It s up to you to find the right equilibrium Keep in mind that you always can adjust the balance between the processed signal and the original signal or compare them with the Bypass E ffect knob The 3 way switch on the input stage allows Hi boost effective at low input level as well as Hi cut effective at high input level The 3 way switch m allows Sensitrig which makes the triggering twice as sensitive for e g clean string pad
25. d on OCTAVE The 3 way switch gt lt has 2 general transpose functions 1 Octave and Quint and has a specific dirty character Quint works only with pure monophonic signals Open the FM knob a bit to activate Quint It works like a kind of octaving submodulation Tracking works only with clean notes Yes if you want clean tracking With more complex signals tracking will keep searching for the most explicit harmonics and this can be useful when you put the reso s low This way the unstable tracking will generate a random cutoff in the neighbourhood of the dominant harmonics of the incoming signal Smells like grunge schht 8 Your good ol original filterbank can also make use of tracking just link it up to the FB2 EXAMPLE OF USING TRACKING EXTERNAL 89 MONOPHONIC KEYBOARD SOUND TO TO PLAY THE DESIRED FILTER PITCH p R OC S S THE LOUDER THE FILTER RESONANCE COMING FROM THIS KEYBOARD THE MORE LIKELY TRACKING IS GOING TO FOLLOW THAT FILTER TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP B B LH TRACKING ON LESSON 10 EXTERNAL INPUTS PEDAL Take a look at fig 24 for an overview of the internal routings practice lesson FM AM ADSR and AR with a second signal source connected to the relevant input Make sure this signal is strong enough to make the triggers work lesson 5 amp 6 or to hear sufficient modulation lesson 7 amp 8 For the triggers lesson 5 amp 6 a drum mac
26. eat these exercises with different and positions of the modulation amount knob of filter 1 filter 2 is still in sync Repeat these exercises with filter 2 free running in parallel mode experiment also with the envelope modulation amount knob of filter2 At this point you should be familiar with the ADSR knobs ANOTHER EXERCISE Run a sixteenth note repetitive sequencer or arpeggio pattern with a short or percussive sound A djust the input level to make the ADSR trigger follow the sixteenth notes Set the ADSR as in the last example in fig 21 page 32 Now try adjusting the attack time so that the ADSR indication light turns red with each sixteenth note Slowly increase the attack time so that the ADSR generator misses every other trigger pulse The ADSR now makes an eight note cycle Continue increasing the attack time slightly so that it misses two out of three trigger pulses This produces triplets Repeat this exercise with e g a drum loop Oru can turn the ADSR generator into a second LFO by making a jack connection from LINK OUT to the ADSR trig in Set freq 1 to zero the ADSR amount of filter 1 to negative and the sustain to maximum Using attack and release you can change the waveshape and speed This weird LFO can be modulated with the normal LFO MIDI pitch wheel Unknown Control 5 and so on The disadvantage is that filter 1 will go too low to be usable unless you insert a volume pedal between LINK OUT and ADSR
27. ghost s MIDI channel P ut this signal in the FB audio input In case you have a CV out e g SH101 connect it to FM in This way you can obtain key follow Otherwise you can use envellope follower as key follow RESULT The notes will start gliding to the next notes before the gate fully opens the VCA also adjustable with pre delay in smaller amount than the ghost track and thus before the quantize of the song A real bassplayer does similar things Figure OUTPUT AMPLITUDE IN FUNCTION OF AR KNOB POSITIONS Off On Off Off On Off Off On On ODEO DE OPE ODE ODEO DH ODEO DEO Amplitude LESSON 6 ADSR ADSR ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE Set the toggle switch to ADSR upward Set harmonics to sync 1 filter 1 and filter 2 to max reso serial mode as shown in fig 14 Set the AR generator to zero attack and maximum release Turn the envelope modulation knob of filter 1 slightly clockwise from the middle position This way you have a high resonant filter that provides a clearly audible indication of the ADSR generator output bi colour yellow red light right next to the release knob always gives a visual indication of the ADSR generator s activity Now slowly play the keyboard or use a sequencer to have your hands free to explore the ADSR generator Make sure the ADSR trigger light flashes in a slow and regular manner Now try out the following exercises figs 15 to 21 SEQUENTLY Now rep
28. hine should do the job For AM and FM any line level signal e g a synth sampler or headphone output is ok a microphone to weak If you want the triggers to work very fast use very short input pulses or sound bursts Note that the trigger inputs also work with gate signals from e g a CV Gate output You make jack connection from ADSR out to the AR trigger in When the ADSR hasa slow attack the AR trigger will be delayed The amount of this delay depends on the attack time For the FM amp AM inputs an organ or bass signal is excellent Note that these inputs also work with DC signals e g an external LFO ADSR CV Dont be afraid to try different external connections the inputs cope with a lot You may also short cirquit join with a jack splitter two outputs of 1 or more filterbanks if you want e g mix two filterbanks or ADSR out with the audio OUT 1 to AM in However this doesnt mean that YOU so dont even think about making any kind of direct connection with dangerous voltage sources like tube amp speaker outputs tv sets ac mains power plants toasters lightning rods or ufo s The pedal input we will deliver a footpedal separately allows foot control of Freq 1 and Bypass Effect switching This footpedal will also be especially designed by Sherman For now any regular footswitch will do for Bypass Effect switching Effect on is indicated by the big green LED right on fron
29. hts must light up continuously too fig 2 Now look at fig 3 and set the marked knobs to the indicated positions Start getting familiar with the following knobs 1 Frequency see also page 10 2 Resonance 3 Low pass Band pass High pass fig 4 4 The correction knob Band pass 0 Band pass Low pass amp High pass fig 4 The idea behind this knob was to overcome the limitations of the Lp Bp Hp balance knob You may ask yourself why not three knobs one for Lp one for Bp and one for Hp Simple suppose you turn the Lp Bp Hp balance knob quickly from left to right and back Now imagine trying to achieve the same effect with three separate knobs Beginners can leave this correction knob in the 0 mid position now set Lp Bp Hp on Bp mid position Try to minimize the filter 1 output by turning the correction knob to the left This way you can turn down the filter output to almost zero because a simple calculation learns that Bp Bp 0 When you turn the knob to Bp HpLp and turn down reso the same as above happens with the Bp it is turned to zero but now Lp Hp are present making a so called NOTCH filter Changing the frequency provides a kind of phasing effect This notch filter can be used for suppressing a very small part of the frequency range e g an ugly harmonic in a snare drum or even hum HOW AUDIO TRIGGERING WORKS Amplitude of trigger input signal Trigger level Time Trigger Indic
30. ing please contact us for spare parts info sherman be SOUND NAME Sherman FILTERBANK OCTAVE MEMORY NOTATION SHEET COPY THIS PAGE FOR UNLIMITED USE DEPTH TRIG PAR 4j SER BYP qpEFF Hi Boost 7 SENS gt q Sexo o 07 OO 2 9 2 9 5 1050 SENSITRIG MIT plu QUINT SOUND NAME Sherman FILTERBANK L I DEPTH TRIG 4 SER BYP r 4 gp SENSITRIG plu OCTAVE QUINT SOUND NAME Sherman FILTERBANK O L I NORMAL Mi Boost log INPUT TRIG A 2 TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP 4 OFF OVER SENSITRIG AR TRIG HARMONICS OCTAVE QUINT O EXAMPLE SETTINGS VARIABLE BAND WIDTH only main out SPEED DEPTH TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP e X hy B LH only main out SPEED DEPTH TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP 4 cs Ey Sherman 2 0 aN TRIG O ON 2 amp hoo _ WZ B B LH TRACK LOW PHASING 2 TWO NOTCH DIP S only main out INPUT FM TRIG A D 5 R 2 SPEED DEPTH AM TRIG PAR 4 SER BYP lo y gt Ey A Sherman 6 amp 0 6 6 99 32 vas 1 OFF
31. ing down the resonances and filter instruments in your mix to make them resonate along with the music in a subtle way It gets even more interesting in parallel with different harmonic switch settings Link up lesson 11 a second FB for stereo processing or more harmonic intervals N FM TRIG A R SPEED DEPTH TRIG PAR 4 SER y SENS 7 IR ns 0 72 5 N RESO1 m pce 48 A a Q ME 5 9 masts MIDI TRIGGER NOTES TRIGGERING If you want triggering to happen exclusively via MIDI you can block the audio triggering There are two software toggle switches Plug in the MIDI out of a keyboard to the MIDI in in the FB Their function is to block the AR and ADSR audio of the FB set the transmit channel of the keyboard trigger sensitivity so that MIDI triggering does not interfere with to 16 and play the triggers from the keyboard triggering by the audio signal You can toggle these switches by sending the following MIDI note messages Forced gate off AR speeded up release C4 unblock audio trigger ADSR C 4 block audio trigger ADSR Normal trigger AR D4 unblock audio trigger AR Trigger AR speeded up attack D 4 block audio trigger AR Normal trigger both Power up unblocks the audio triggers Forced gate off ADSR speeded up release Normal trigger ADSR The actual MIDI triggering is done by sending following MIDI notes
32. monics once again and get familiar with the typical sound of the different harmonic intervals while sweeping with the freq 1 knob HARMONIC FREQ2 MUSICAL DESCRIPTION free freq 2 free independent freq control 1 freq 1 C equal tuning 1 5 f1 1 5 f1 1 quint down 2 f1 2 c1 1 octave down 3 f1 3 f2 2 quints down 4 f1 4 c2 2 octaves down 5 f1 5 g 3 minor 6 f1 6 f3 3 quints down 7 7 13 2 semitones above 3 octaves down 8 f1 8 3 3 octaves down 9 f1 9 a 4 2 semitones under 3 octaves down 16 f1 16 c4 4 octaves down see fig 6 for comparison with keyboard keys O See also video on www sherman be fores WHAT IS SYNC 1 equal tune 15 1 quint down 2 1 octave down Q uh 3 2 quints down When the harmonic switch is in the free position the two filters work independently GEAR BOX 4 2 octaves down 5 minor 6 3 quints down 7 2 semitones above 3 octaves down 8 3 octaves down 9 2 semitones under 3 octaves down 16 4 octaves down When the harmonic switch isin SYNC filter 1 controls filter 2 via the gear box where you can choose 11 gears Freq filter 1 harmonic of freq filter 2 LESSON 3 OUT 1 COMBINING THE TWO FILTERS The difference between serial and parallel There are two fundamental ways to route the signal through the filters fig 7 PARALLEL Turn the PAR lt gt SER knob completely anti clockwise The input signal
33. o the AR generator for controlling output dynamics simply connect the ADSR output to the AM input Also this way in envelope follower mode you create an expander An expander is the opposite of a compressor IMPORTANT internal AM needs enough input signal amp high reso setting of filter 2 to have significant effect once familiar with the kind of effect you can use it in a more subtle way THE PRINCIPLE OF AMPLITUDE MODULATION LESSON 9 TRANSPOSE TRACKING TRACKING or Harmonic searcher The 3 way switch O acti vates the really powerful and quite revolutionary Tracking function a monophonic pitch follower that tunes filter 2 to the incoming pitch and makes filter 1 slave of filter 2 via the harmonics switch E g in position 2 filter 1 will be pitched one octave higher than filter 2 but still following the pitch This switch activates the tracking in a normal or deep track low position with stunning basses as result Please note that tracking is not quick enough to handle supersonic guitar solo s therefore we advice quint which has no latency at all Open the FM knob a bit to activate tracking and quint and adjust FM to get the best tracking You can over modulate tracking with all frequency controls so we advice strongly to start off with freq 1 on minimum and later to search overtones by overmodulating the tracking A white LED indicates when the tracking system is locke
34. ou feel fully familiarized with it But in fact lesson 1 to 8 is all you need to start working As a beginner it s better to skip the 8 parts Note there is no power on switch The FB consumes less power than an average answering machine and most music set ups amp studios have a general power switch YN Ui FP U N SYNC MODE FILTER 2 OUT 1 COMBINING THE TWO TABLE OF CONTENTS ILTERS LFO LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR AR VOLUME MODULATION GENERATOR ADSR ENVELOPE FOLLOWER FM FREQUENCY MODULATION 906060 Warning 12 14 20 22 24 36 Caution Idea 10 11 12 Trick AM AMPLITUDE MODULATION TRANSPOSE TRACKING HISTORY amp PHILOSOPHY 5 MEMORY NOTATION SHEET 9 Important Repeat 38 40 42 44 52 54 56 57 ABOUT THE KNOB COLOURS START COLOUR RELATES TO ABOUT THESE LESSONS Make yourself comfortable with this manual in front of you your blue Filter frequency setup and the FB powered on Set all knobs as indicated on the front panel drawings whenever it is required in a lesson Feed a signal source to the input e g a synth or a sampler Connect the yellow ADSR generator main output to your sound system Notice the knob in the right top corner called BYP lt gt EFF it sets the balance between the incoming signal and the processed signal Using this knob you c
35. s MIDI IN First get familiar with the controllers MIDI MESSAGE FILTER BANK FUNCTION POWER UP VALUES Pitch wheel fig 25 Cutoff freq filter 1 tine resolution 4096 zero Channel pressure fig 26 Resonance filter 1 0 M odulation wheel Cutoff freq filter 2 0 Breath control Resonance filter 2 0 Foot control FM depth 0 Main volume VCA bias 127 Expression AM ring depth 0 Unknown Control 5 Attack time ADSR 63 U C 16 Decay time ADSR 63 U C 17 Release time ADSR 63 U C 18 Attack time AR 63 U C 19 Release time AR 63 figure 25 WHAT HAPPENS FREQ 1KNOB MOVED BY HAND FROM 1 TO 10 WHEN MIDI CONTROLS COME IN wb INCOMING MIDI PITCH WHEEL E G Filter 1 Frequency Freq 1 knob position actual MIDI Pitch wheel ADSR modulation frequency 2 ACTUAL FREQUENCY FILTER 1 modulation 9 filter 1 ASSUMING LFO ADSR NOR FM MODULATION FM input N BEP As E G Resonance filter 1 actual Reso 1 knob position resonance MIDI channel pressure filter 1 RESO 1 KNOB MOVED BY HAND FROM 17010 4 INCOMING MIDI CHANNEL PRESSURE 44 ACTUAL RESONANCE FILTER 1 414 As you see on the graphics resonance go to maximum using MIDI while the reso 1 knob stays on minimum Attack time in function of MIDI controller 5 porta time value when attack knob in position 3 AT 127 60 SECONDS
36. t ANY MODEL FOOTSWITCH INTERNAL ROUTING OF THE ACKS TRIGGER ADSR TRIGGER AR gt PLUGGING A J ACK AUTOMATICALLY OUTPUT FILTER 2 DISCONNECTS THE NORMAL INTERNAL ROUTING LESSON 11 MIDI The basic power on channel is always 16 You can change the receive channel by sending a program change any number on the actual channel 16 on power up The channel on which the first following MIDI message any type is sent becomes the new receive channel The MIDI out channel always remains 16 If you have two or more FB s in the SAME MIDI chain and you want to assign different receive channels to them proceed as follows power on the first FB in the MIDI chain Change it s receive channel Power on the next FB in the chain Change it s receive channel and so on The last in chain you can leave at channel 16 The modulation wheel is also used for a special function in sync mode when set to 127 it pitches the whole machine exactly one octave up Try this out with high reso settings this octave switching can be musically very interesting It makes the FB operate in ultra high frequency ranges so mind your tweeters Leave the modulation wheel on 0 if you don t use it values between 0 and 127 can cause strange things in sync mode Unknown control 5 porta speed See also figs 27 28 and 29 for the influence of MIDI on the attack speed of ADSR A similar effect applies to decay and release timing
37. t different harmonics also free with different FM amounts THE PRINCIPLE OF FREQUENCY MODULATION Time Original resonating filter wave Time Frequency modulation signal or control voltage at FM input Time Resulting resonating filter wave LESSON 8 AMPLITUDE MODULATION AM equally modulates both OUT 1 and MAIN OUT VCA s AM modulation is the key to warm fat and extremely aggressive sounds Set the knobs as shown in fig 14 page 25 but without ADSR modulation Send a monophonic sound to the input Increase the AM amount firmly and then turn it down slightly Work now with different pitches sounds and input levels Because this modulation is working on the VCA s the AM signal is multiplied with the processed signal ust as in maths multiplication can make big numbers out of small ones so mind your speakers Also note that AR can be overruled by AM NOTE when there is no jack plugged in the AM input the output of filter 2 is used as an AM source so reso 2 will have more influence than reso 1 Now insert a jack cable in the AM input You will notice that AM doesn t work internally anymore Now you can try a different sound source with this input 9 e g take another synth or sampler output and experiment with this source playing the same melody as the processed melody but now try different tuning intervals between the input and AM source o You can use the ADSR envelope generator in addition t
38. trig in START Ls ac ad POSITION FOR THE ADSR EXERCISES ARE THE ENVELOPE OUT VOLTAGE oF IN THIS GAME YOU T YES T TRIGGER ON TRIGGER ON REACHED GO TO SUSTAIN LEVEL WITH DECAY SPEED IS TRIGGER EXAMPLE TRIGGER OFF o START HERE Play the ADSR really very slow and see how it works ENVELOPE VOLTAGE TRIGGER OFF MAX SUSTAIN LEVEL TRANSITION LEVEL 3 TME 5 9 G A D 5 R YELLOW ENVELOPE VOLTAGE TRIGGER OFF t MAX SUSTAIN LEVEL TRANSITION LEVEL w m 4 0 4 0 4 ENVELOPE VOLTAGE t t t TRIGGER OFF MAX SUSTAIN LEVEL TRANSITION LEVEL wb TIME RS A D 5 R v ie 9 E D 5 SENS R T s e C O 4 Ses ee 05 A D 5 ROT ENVELOPE VOLTAGE TRIGGER OFF MAX SUSTAIN LEVEL TRANSITION LEVEL mb TIME x lt A D s R 2 SENS R Y ENVELOPE VOLTAGE TRIGGER OFF MAX SUSTAIN LEVEL TRANSITION LEVEL wb TIME 4 figure 20 ENVELOPE VOLTAGE TRIGGER OFF
39. ves Check different LFO frequencies with the speed knob From the left to the middle click position you get a normal LFO frequency range From the middle click position to the right the LFO becomes an audio range oscillator Leave the LFO at a nice slow cycle frequency Turn the LFO amount to the left it will produce the opposite modulation for filter 1 fig 13 try this with different L FO speed settings The LFO can be retriggered restarted over MIDI Toggling from unblock audio trigger to block audio trigger restarts the L FO It works a bit random wich is an advantage and occasionally can retrigger with very loud input nothing to worry about You do this by sending MIDI note C 4 preceeded by C4 the notes that are also used for blocking and unblocking audio trigger of ADSR From instrument To mix desk or amp Left Right Power adaptor A 3 way function switch in the LFO section allows sawtooth wave shape or AR retriggering this forces an LFO restart from the AR trig with pumping grooves as unavoidable result Try this in low pass filter setting with LFO modulation AR Triggering sine LFO with AR Triggering Time LFO without AR Triggering HOW THE LFO DEPTH KNOB WORKS EFFECT OF THE POSITION OF THE LFO DEPTH KNOB SPEED DEPTH D 2 SPEED DEPTH 6 FREQUENCY 1 b FREQUENCY 2 LED COLOUR GREEN GREEN FREQUENCY 1 m

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