Superbooth 2017: New Compact Sherman Filterbank 2 Revealed

Sherman Filterbank is a powerful analog filtering and distortion unit. The new compact version 2 is set to make its debut at Superbooth 2017 in a few days time.

Here's what we know about it so far, thanks to MatrixSynth and the Sherman Filterbank website:

Independent low pass, band pass and high pass filters with resonance, frequency and ADSR (positive - negative) controls 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

From the Sherman Filterbank website:

WHAT'S NEW ABOUT THE SHERMAN FILTERBANK 2:

Sherman Filterbank 2 Compact.

There are 5 extra switches and 2 extra LEDs, and on the back panel there's one pedal input jack. A reworked front-panel lay-out and the grey metal color.

• The pedal input allows foot control of freq1and bypass/effect switching. You can rewire an old wah (because they have a switch on board) as shown by te diagram in ‘extra stuff’.
• A 5mm big green LED indicates "Effect on" on the FB 2
• A 3-way switch on the input stage allows Hi boost as well Hi cut (both boosting high frequencies at input)
• Another 3-way switch allows "Sensitrig" (which makes the triggering twice as sensitive for, e.g. clean string pad filtering) and "Limit", which leaves the filters more "breathing room" for self-oscillation if the input stage is extremely overdriven.
• A 3-way switch has 2 general transpose functions : +1 Octave and + Quint which works nice with monophonic signals, and has a specific dirty character.
• A 3-way switch for 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 extra switch activates the "tracking" in a normal or deep "track low" position, with stunning basses as result.

• The "revolutionary" aspect of this function is that never before any similar system enhances "on the spot" harmonics and creates new harmonics with fat analog circuits.
• An extra white LED indicates when the tracking system is "locked on".
• At last there is an 3-way function switch in the LFO section, allowing sawtooth wave shape OR AR retrig : this forces an LFO restart from the AR trig with pumping grooves as unavoidable result. If you want to receive a new brochure, please ask your dealer first.

The Sherman Filterbank is now also midi controlable via kenton control freaks
(a small portable hardware console, including sliders)

All the finger-tip MIDI control you need, instantly to hand. Forget your mixer maps and do it all in real-time. An ideal solution for the gigging musician, or the musician who likes to save time & settings. The Kenton Control Freaks are made in the U.K., by Kenton, and are preprogrammed with profiles for the Sherman Filterbank as well. Hundreds of additional profiles are available for download FREE from the Kenton website.

We'll have more news and videos direct from Superbooth...