Logic is terrific to mix in. Usually my process is something along the lines of coming up with a basic beat, laying down a bassline and melody, adding in any kind of "atmospheric" samples and little drops, then track everything through the 8 outs to Logic. That way I get the benefit of plugins for compression, etc, that far outperform my outboard compressors. They're DBX compressors, but only the 266XLs, and while they sounds pretty damned good on drums, they're not really all that for most things I record. I have to keep at least one of them around, though, because the output from the Sherman is MAD spiky and unpredictable. The compressor at least smooths out the peaks. It's REALLY REALLY easy to smoke a pair of good monitors with the Sherman, too.....have to watch the subbass. I have smaller driver monitors, so I don't get a ton of low end (I've just gotten used to the level the bass should be at, like any other monitors), but I did see the cones moving slowly once in and out from the Sherman's output, like it was at like 15 Hz or something trying to play through 5 1/4" drivers. NOT good. The monitors still sound great, though.....I DID blow out the tweeters in some hifi speakers before I had the monitors though. The resonance on the Sherman is SICK. You can go anywhere from adding a subtle edge to sound to mangling it WAY beyond recognition. I sometimes run the output from the Sherman into an Ibanez tube screamer distortion stomp box, and it gets even dirtier. I'm sick like that though.....I LOVE grimy beats....
The other "trick" I came up with is to run the Sherman's output on one mixer channel (it's mono) and then run the original signal alongside it at a higher volume, with the Sherman set to just MANGLE sound. I leave the Sherman's level really low and it just adds the greatest grit. Kinda like a really dusty record combined with distortion and envelope followers on each filter channel. Anyway, if any of you see a Sherman for cheap on Ebay or something (not TOO likely), and you like REAL grit to your beats, definitely cop one. I have the version two Sherman, and it's a lot more versatile than the version 1, but the version 1 has a fairly different sound, so they're both great. The next thing I really want to add to the rig is a Nord Modular. I might have to sell off some of my lesser used gear to do it, but I want some modular synthesis, even if it IS virtual, and I've always been partial to the kind of "half digital, half analog" sound of the Clavia filters. I suppose on the modular I could take that a lot of steps further, too......anything on your "wish list" for gear that you might be picking up soon? I always like to hear real user reviews of ish instead of the magazine reviews where basically every product they review is "amazing" and "revolutionary"....
Peace,
MANiK
