ABUSER'S MANUAL 1 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. DO NOT 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 ADJUSTMENTS.) WHEN USING THE UNIT WITH A RACK OR STAND, THE RACK OR STAND MUST BE CAREFULLY PLACED SO IT IS LEVEL AND SURE TO REMAIN STABLE. IF NOT USING A 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 SUPPORT THE UNIT, AND KEEP IT FROM WOBBLING. AVOID DAMAGING THE ADAPTOR CORD. DO NOT BEND IT EXCESSIVELY, STEP ON IT, PLACE HEAVY OBJECTS 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 IMPACT. (DO NOT DROP IT!) DO NOT 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. 2 BEFORE YOU START MAKE SURE THE ADAPTER VOLTAGE COMPLIES WITH THE VOLTAGE OF YOUR AC POWER SUPPLY AVOID EXCESSIVE FORCE ON THE JACK 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, I 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 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. I'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. 3 INTRODUCTION 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 & 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 you 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 b parts. Note there is no power-on switch. The FB consumes less power than an average answering machine, and most music set-ups & studios have a general power switch. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 START ........................................................ BASICS - EXPLORING FILTER 1 ............... SYNC MODE - FILTER 2 ........................... OUT 1 - COMBINING THE TWO FILTERS... LFO - LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR ...... AR - VOLUME MODULATION GENERATOR ADSR - ENVELOPE FOLLOWER ................ FM - FREQUENCY MODULATION ............. 6 8 12 14 20 22 24 36 8 9 10 11 12 AM - AMPLITUDE MODULATION.... TRANSPOSE - TRACKING ............... EXTERNAL INPUTS ........................ MIDI ................................................ LINKING MORE FILTERBANKS...... HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY .............. TROUBLESHOOTING........................ MEMORY NOTATION SHEET .......... 38 40 42 44 52 54 56 57 Warning Tip Caution Idea Trick Important Repeat 5 0 START ABOUT THESE LESSONS... Make yourself comfortable with this manual in front of you, your 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 main output to your sound system. Notice the knob in the right top corner called BYP <> EFF, it sets the balance between the incoming signal and the processed signal. Using this knob you can always compare the original signal with the processed signal. Turn it completely clockwise during the lessons. blue Filter frequency ABOUT THE KNOB COLOURS... COLOUR RELATES TO yellow ADSR generator green Volume orange If no sound appears, check your input signal source, jack cables, make sure the trigger indicating lights are working, set the attack on the AR generator to zero and adjust the frequencies. Didn't you send a MIDI volume message ? It can mute the outputs. On the website www.sherman.be you can find a section "manual sound examples" as well as an illustrative video. 6 Resonance/Power white Balance red Anti-phase correction figure 1 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 ] Vertical front 45° front Horizontal front preferred position 7 1 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. 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. 8 Don't 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 lights 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 & High pass (fig.4) figure 2 HOW AUDIO TRIGGERING WORKS Amplitude of trigger (*) input signal Trigger level Time Trigger Indicator light 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. 9 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-Effect knob. HI BOOST 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 ! The 3-way switch on the input stage allows Hi boost (effective at low in ...