sherman filterbank or akai mfc 42 filter?

[Scott Kemix]

Which one of these puppies would you guys go for and why?

[Patrick DSP]

i went with the mfc42 because it's cheap (discontinued) around $300.
and every part of it can be controled via MIDI CC's but it's still analog.

and for that price i couldn't go wrong. but it's getting hard to track down since akai really exist anymore.

[Jimfish]

theyve relaunched it in blue and put the price up again on it i think..

[messyfuture]

i have both, and they both have their own sound to them

the sherman can be very aggressive while the akai is alot smoother sounding but you can still create madness with the akai too.

i would probably go for the akai first and the sherman when you have a bit more money

i think there is a akai on the sound on sound readers ads at the moment
bout £150

[messyfuture]

http://www.soundonsound.com/readersads/Search.php?session=2fc8eb5a3ad1085e62fa472d38e7411 b&ProdDesc=akai&Cat=12&Manufacturer=0&ManufName=&N oDays=30&OrderCat=1&OrderDatAZ=2

[RDR]

i have both, and they both have their own sound to them

the sherman can be very aggressive while the akai is alot smoother sounding but you can still create madness with the akai too.

i would probably go for the akai first and the sherman when you have a bit more money

i think there is a akai on the sound on sound readers ads at the moment
bout £150

AKai everytime. for the price and fun factor - its hard to beat. huge knobs!

fnarr fnarr...

[gumpy green]

got the akai and it is very very good.........nice sound to it..

i use it with deks and live.......gret when used live as it syncs to the midi clock but for decks the bpm tap function is shite. Also no level indicator for input but that dont affect me using it really...once you learn the right levels to set your input to you are fine.....lights would make it quiker tho.

so with decks i usually just use it manually or use the manual envilope function and trigger it manually.....

all in all id defo recommend this baby but i have no idea what the sherman is like so dunno whats best.......the akai is certainly very good.

id give it 8.5/10.

its up to £250 now.....bit of a shock ther when i looked......i got mine maybe a yr and a half ago for 160 quid from turnkey....... :eh: (plus it dont look as nice in the blue IMO)

http://www.turnkey.co.uk/tkweb/stockdetail.jsp?sku=AKAI-MFC42&context=WEB

[auditory hallucinations]

Really depends what you want the filter for I think mate. I can't comment on the Akai but I do have a Sherman 2, for about a year now. If you check out www.sherman.be you'll find a lot of people find the noise it generates off-putting. I've never had that problem with it though, in fact I think the noise is wicked.

I do think though that it works best when filtering into a "pure" analog signal ie if you've got any analogue synths etc. That might not be strictly true, just my observation tho. I couldn't get anything good out of it for ages - but you need to keep going with it. Think of the Sherman not so much as a filter, rather it's like a small analog synth without an oscillator (so you use whatever sound source you want as the oscillator). I personally feel it's a pretty involved bit of kit and you really need to learn how to play it, but once you get the hang of it you'll be smitten - it really is more than a filter. If you're near London, I'd be happy to show you it if it'll help make up your mind.

One really cool thing about the Sherman is all the triggering it can do (the akai might do aswell?). I've got my tr909 sending a signal to trigger the AR of the filter, what this means is I can run a hardware synth or drumloop from the pc through the filter, then just trigger it into a pattern from the tr909, which is pretty incredible and suits what I do perfectly.

[Scott Kemix]

cheers all for the suggestions ;)

[Komplex]

Think of the Sherman not so much as a filter, rather it's like a small analog synth without an oscillator (so you use whatever sound source you want as the oscillator). I personally feel it's a pretty involved bit of kit and you really need to learn how to play it, but once you get the hang of it you'll be smitten - it really is more than a filter.


Spot on. The sherman is definatley for sound design. I'd say the Akai would be more of an "effect" filter.

To answer the original question, if you have the money get both. I have my eyes on the Akai now as well. The Sherman is great but it's not something for general filtering. Its mono too.

[Debroglie]

I have the Akai and agree that its a bit more of an effect filter and the Sherman is more suited for sound design.

Does anyone have problems with "unwanted" noise leaking into there Akai?