Sherman Filterbank help

Yesterday my trusty ol’ FB2 stopped recieving signals from the A4 (CVAB). I’ve worked with a simple setup where the A4 simply triggers the ADSR thoigh a standard jack cable. This has been working fine for months, but as of yesterday the LED next to the TRIG (next to the ADSR section) is constantly lit, as opposed to before when a trig on the A4 resulted in the ADSR trigging (and the light only blinking while the trig is active). As a result the FB2 is creating a sustained “on” effect at all times, regardless of trigs sent to it.

I’ve gone though the A4 settings, switched cables, turned each machine on and of several times but the problem persists. Now I’m hoping someone here can point out what tin but important thing I am overlooking, or worst case tell me the FB2 is not functioning correctly.
I really really miss the rythmical goodness that was going on between the A4 and the FB2…

Halp?

What happens when you remove the cable from the TRIG input and let the audio signal trigger the ADSR?

Hm, so out of nowhere trying again today and now it works fine again. Did not change anything just let the setup rest for a night and now it works. Odd stuff :stuck_out_tongue:

Fb2 is a strange beast. I’m currently looking to sell mine as I’m just not using it much. Fun, but very hard to tame.

Indeed a strange beast, but I love mine just for that… Definately not an all-around filter as much as a resonant distortion box with an envelope and LFO :slight_smile:

That is bizarre. Any chance it was getting MIDI? Shoulda stopped on power down though.

I went back and forth on the filter bank - great sound - felt impossible to keep track of how everything was interacting.

Then I started using MIDI to block the audio triggers and sequence it from the octatrack. :imp: Any of elektron boxes will work though. :joy: Now I want to get a dual rack version. :dizzy_face:

Hey all,

Apologies for the necrobump. I just got a second chance ebay offer on a Sherman Filterbank 1 being sold as non working - the price is around half of what they’d usually go for.

According to the seller:

"When I turn the effect knob towards bypass, it should let thru the input signal only, instead there’s some low feedback like pulsating loud sound. When I turn that knob towards effect, the filters work, but very soft.
The LFO oscillator, the ADSR, and all other functions seem to work fine so it could be a simple fault, but it’s too hard for me.
I suspect one or more potentiometers need to be replaced, but I don’t know which one.

I’m sure Herman from Sherman would be able to help out."

I checked and he’s using it with the original 15v PSU - are there any Filterbank owners who have encountered similar issues? Is there an easy fix or would I be blowing my money?

Thanks!

Hey all, another try to bump this thread ^^

Has anyone been lucky with an e-mail to sherman? I am desperately waiting for an answer from their info mail, really want to replace some encoders…
Or asked differently: does anyone have the specific part no. of the three types of encoders?

Herman was able to send the part, in my case a pot. Email correspondence worked for me.

(edit) looking at my emails there is mention of ‘1m’ for my replacement reso potentiometer, maybe that helps (/edit)

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I used to have an MK1 and Sherman sent me replacement pots free of charge. This was ~10 years ago though. The thing was a nightmare to own. Pots kept breaking and eventually I was happy to get rid of it. I also had the same problem as the OP with the Envelopes not always triggering.

yeah, some of my encoders are going quite nuts, LP of the second filter is to be found on the CW HP setting and some potis have their highest resistance on center pos whereas CW is somewhere closer to 0 instead of 100k/20k/1M
Was firstly wondering if I cannot wrap my head around this thing, but I guess it’s rather bad potentiometers

yeah, I basically tried to order a whole set of potis, replacing them should not be too much of an issue.
If I would know the part numbers I could also order them by myself, but I am hesistant, as I do tend to pick potis with wrong diameters even if I know the resistance I need ^^

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I’ve heard a lot about shotty QC with the Sherman and its really unfortunate

My FB1’s FM pot is busted, it doesn’t work properly if you bump the pot. Didn’t realize the issue was so widespread. Otherwise it’s a very fun little box

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Does anyone know if this is endemic to the FB1?

I have a FB2 rack and I’ve yet to have a component problem like this.

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Is QC really an issue? I don’t see that. Mine is a quarter of a century old and has needed one pot changing :slight_smile: Don’t pots just wear out with use?

They are made tough and tested by hand, by the designer. They’re not easy to work on though.

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My repair guy hates me.

“that thing was a f*cking nightmare but more interesting than fixing hoovers and TVs”
—Repair Guy

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Bumping this thread again - turns out the input pot was dead, so Herman sent me a replacement at cost price and I only just got around to soldering it in yesterday. It’s a little fiddly to get the main board out but it was a relatively easy fix otherwise and now my FB1 is working perfectly as far as I can tell. Wonderful, savage machine.

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Hi - bumping this just to check if anyone could recommend a uk type plug for this - seems difficult to fine online!

I’m based in Ireland and can find one supplier in the UK who make one which seems correct, but won’t deliver here, so if anyone has any idea where I could source one would appreciate it!