Sherman Filterbank

It is easy to use but it WILL take some time to really learn it. It's an instrument! I love the "no saving patches" aspect of it because it's new everytime!

This instrument is not for the faint of heart...It is noisy, but that's part of the character...The distortion will curdle milk...It's really easy to mess up sounds with this unit...being subtle isn't a Sherman's style....

I have a feeling I could drop it a roof and it'll still work...It's built like a tank!

Super people...They remember who you are...

I mostly do instrumental stuff...Not dance...As for sound design, I know I can always go to the Sherman. I still feel I have much to learn about it....

Extremely easy to use this device. NO MENUS!! Yes!! Just work it over and find your sounds. Its like an instrument unto itself.
I never read the manual or looked at any of the specs, but this wonderful thing feels natural in my hands.

The sonic qaulity is very high. I dont want the sounds of my favorite artists, so Im lucky there I guess, but this little box just oozes quality flavors all over the place. It would be a real challenge to make it sound bad, unless you crank it up to high or get the thing overloaded with oscilations, then of course you go into distortion chaos, but you learn how to keep it curbed a bit.

Hey its built like a Sherman bank, filterbank that is. Very solid.
The knobs are solid and do exactly what you want them to, although there are many surprises, and because its all analog circuitry....its also full mystery.

dont know about that

I play all kinds of different stuff....from ambient to dance / techno and jazz. I run drums, keys, guitar, vocals, and samplers thru this baby and it always beefs up my sound as well as giving me colors that I never heard before. I really cant compare it to anything else I own (and I own at least 6 other filters) this one stays. It will probably out-live me. One of the most creative assistants I have ever found.

The Sherman Filterbank will take some time to get into. But be warned you will not ever be the same afterwards. It distorts very easily,but once you tweak it a little you will find bliss

The sound quality is top of the line. You cannot find better. I am mainly using a Korg Triton Pro as my keyboard. It takes the digital edge off it SO WELL. I also use it for guitar and vocals. Everything now goes through the Sherman. Guitar distortion that will scare Satan

This unit is SOLID. It is the center piece of my studio.

The people at Sherman are the best there is. You will NEVER find a more user-friendly company. E-mail them and find out. This actually deserves a number greater han 10. Super Friendly!!!!

The Sherman Filterbank is top of the line. There is no better. A little expensive,but very well worth it. I will never go without my trusty Sherman. It can be so much fun to tweak those knobs and freak your sound. ENJOY!!

I'll be the first to admit that I understand very little about synthesis and filtering even though I own about a dozen synths and a few different analog filters (Filterbank and Mutronics Mutator). How these things work, I don't know, I have never really bothered to take the time to learn the theory behind them. However, I do know how to operate them. I can tell you, the Filterbank is easy as can be to operate. There are no patches or anything, just knobs (lots of them). I guess you do need a basic knowledge of filtering terminology (frequency, resonance, cutoff etc...) in order to quickly get a useful sound out of this thing.

I plugged in one synth and about 30 seconds later had an amazing new tone coming out of it. Couldn't be easier.

I think the sound quality is excellent. It has a knob on the far upper right which allows you to adjust just how much of the signal from the Filterbank you're getting in your mix. So, if you're getting too much Filterbank, crank it down a bit. It doesn't affect your tone unless you want it to. What more can you ask for in an effects unit?

Had mine about a year, never had one single problem.

Can't say, never had a need to contact them.

I play breakbeat/trip-hop. Personally I can't say that I use this thing ALL the time, but I do give it a good workout. If you want a good analog filter that can do EVERYTHING, this is the way to go. I used to think my Mutator was nice (and I still do) but this thing blows it away.

I'll agree it is tricky to use. Being analog, things do not sometimes work as expected.

Very, very, unique sound

Very noisy. Sherman agrees with this and claims it is due to the filter design they are using.

Excellent!

Tricky to figure out. But at least there's no stupid ass menus.

9 out of 10 world superstars can't be wrong. If it's good enough for bjork, it's good enough for me.

The thing sounds... um... expensive... yes... expensive. :o)

Don't these guys also build tanks?

Yes, it's reliable. It's all analog. I just wish they made a back back version.

I play live techno. It's awsome for this, but there's no doubt that I'll be using this box for the rest of my musicall carreer.

This is a complex beast, I fiddled with it for a few hours but wasn't able to get anything good out of it. Some noises were OK but it takes a (long) while to master....

The resonance is thin and harsh, I don't like it at all. Although you can use the filterbank for subtle applications, it's mean and likes to make ugly noises.

The filterbank is sturdy, it won't pass out on you the first couple of years.....

Don't know - The filterbank receives on MIDI channel 1 I think, but if you order one, you can specify if you want it to receive on another channel.

It's Okay but if you want a more comfortable approach, check out the Electrix Filter Factory, it'll save you some headaches.

2 independent low pass, band pass and high pass filters with resonance, frequency and ADSR (positive - negative) controls.
These are switchable between parallel or serial.
The second filter has a 6 octave switch, and is synchronizable with the first filter.
1 ADSR generator for these filters with an external output for use with more filterbanks or modular systems, triggered by the incoming signal, by a second sounds source, or by a gate.
1 FM input for the filters, internal or external audio, LFO or CV.
1 VCA overdrive with AR generator also.
1 ring modulator input, internal or external audio, LFO or CV.

each function has its own dedicated knob. (ok, almost) so the use is fairly easy. although because of the complexity and the possibilities one sometimes forgets about the theory and starts just turning the knobs to make the filterbank just sound good. and that's what sound is about, isn't it? ;)

MIDI controllers are recognised for all functions. but no storage of settings in the filterbank.

external connectors in some cases are connected to internal sources when no patch cord is connected into the socket. thats nice. as long as you dont connect the external connections to a patch bay for a better access to the sockets. in this case the internal connection is interrupted no matter if an external cable is plugged into the corresponding socket on the batchbay. that's a pitty in my opinion.

filterbank rox da haus. no noise, the sound character is on the hard and aggresive side. dont expect any smooth silky filter settings, be ready for harsh sounds just being taken out of an acid shermanic treatment.

the possibilities go very much behind a usual LP filter. filterbank has so many external connections it can be almost used as an instrument by itself.

it also has knobs instead of discrete switches unlike other filters. so how about a blend (with a pot, not a switch) between the different filter characteristics (LP-HP) or other functions?

check the sound examples @ www.ping.be/sherman

looks very sturdy. metal case, SMD technique (the filterbank is said to have more elements than a whole minimoog), will probably last forever? pots give a god feeling, switches too. sockets are well attached. no complaints so far.

internal power supply would be nice.

"shermans" are about 3 ppl in belgium.

if they remember your name because you asked them something about 1 year ago (and of course got an answer the same day)... what i can give more then a "10"? ;)

its sound character is unique and not everybody will like it.
the movements of the knobs are not sent out of the midi port, they are just recognised when coming in (from a PC/faderbox/...) would be nice to have. but in spite it's so analog i can live with that. a question of $...
patching and external modulation possibilities make it very flexible and abusable. ;)

if you're into industrial, rough sounding tunes, go for it. if you are bored with the limited possibilities of most other filters, this box is for you. it's probably a secret weapon of all creative sound destructors around the world. :) or how else could you explain the list of famous abusers at www.ping.be/sherman ?