I teach audio recording and this is the patch bay video I’ve been looking for. The animations are incredibly helpful for illustrating the signal flow to-and-from the connections. Thank you!
Very well done! So happy I came across this video after going down the youtube patchbay rabbit hole. Best video for folks who need a refresher or are new to patchbays. Great visuals, pacing, and explanations.
Best explanation I've seen showing the 3 modes for patch bays. I dug out some old Neutrik patch bays which I could never utilise correctly and I am now ready to connect my old analogue mixer to my Apollo 8 interface with 8 direct out from my mixer along with 8 returns from my Apollo and finally my outboard gear will utilise the remaining 8 available slots on the Patchbay using the half normal mode. Thank you so much for a brilliant tutorial. Regards Alan
My studio operations professor showed our class this video this break down patch bay normally and it is immesely helpful. thank you for such a clear and concise video on the topic
Wonderful job, I do believe after watching this. That other people people videos I should see purposely make it look like it’s hard complicated. Thank you so much for showing us much appreciated and it is the best video I’ve ever seen.
Awesome! Visual representation as you've made it is just the best way to learn patch bays. Many videos out there lack some clarity. You've nailed it. Thanks so much!
Excellent explainer, so much easier than wrapping my head around static diagrams. The close-up footage of the jacks is great too. The humble patch bay is a pretty clever invention really!
This is by far the best patchbay explaination on the entire internet! Thank you! Like and subscribed! I just set up my all my old rack gear with a Samson S-Patch Plus 48 Point Balanced Patchbay, and this video helped tremendously!
I have a couple of Switchcraft patchbays I got for free but the cables were just brutally cut so I have to figure out how to solder them. This video helps a lot to figure out what I want and how to do it. Thank you!
Unreal, spent a good 3 hours on gearspace summing up all the possibilties of how these works. This summed up my conclusions so aptly. Wouldve been good t o go into the problem areas of a patchbay and how it can damage gear .
It may have already been stated, but be aware that 1/4 TRS cables do not allow 48 volt phantom power to pass through, so you can't use phantom from the preamp to the mic over a TRS to XLR cable.
There is nothing preventing phantom power from passing through TRS cables. Whether or not it's a good idea is a separate debate, but it will work just fine. Both XLR and TRS have 3 conductors, and electrically speaking they are identical.
@@TheHithirteen Like I said, they are electrically identical, only difference being connectors. There are dangers associated with plugging and unplugging TRS cables which have phantom power turned on, due to the connector creating a short circuit when not fully plugged in. (This is why XLR has 3 separate pins). These dangers are likely why manufactures say it will not pass phantom - they don't want to be liable for broken equipment. Just to be clear, passing phantom through TRS is not standard practice nor is it recommended, but it will work. I have done it.
Thx for amazing tutorial video, however I do have a doubt somthing not clear for me, whatever outboard gears let's say I have one type of compresor and aslo eq, only I can get connections from the out puts from and can't do input as well, which mean not allowed to make in and out each simultaneously. I hope me question is cleared.
The input impedence when running two or more pieces of gear in parallel will be lowered, but input impedence of these devices is normally so high it doesn't present an issue. As long as you aren't splitting the signal 10+ times, you should be just fine. Do note that you shouldn't be be splitting the raw mic signal, only the line level signal post-preamp. Mic and instrument levels are so low to begin with that splitting them isn't a great idea.
I wonder if its possible - I think is not - to connect the "combo ins" of an audio interface, via some sort of "cable patch" (if this would even exist) or something like it or whatever other method, in a way that said combo jack in its connected separately into two inputs of a Patchbay, making this way available for separate both ins connection, a microphone and a line connection in order of not having to reach behind the interface fitted into a rack, as needed?
I have thought about this myself a lot actually. The interfaces with combo jacks process the signal the same regardless of weather TRS or XLR is plugged in, so you could get identical behavior by, for example, always using TRS, and plugging microphones in via an XLR to TRS adapter. The issue with doing that or your idea is phantom power. It's never a good idea to run phantom through TRS, even though it would technically work. (This isnt only because phantom isnt expected over TRS, but also due to the fact that you can short circuit phantom power when plugging or unplugging a TRS connector - there is a good reason why XLR is 3 separate pins) I think the best way to go is to divide up your inputs based on what you for see yourself needing. If you mic everything, only leave one or two TRS inputs accessible on the front of your patchbay. If you're recording 5 synths at a time direct in, then you probably want most of your inputs to be TRS and only a leave a few XLR.
This is a great visual representation for those of us who need to be shown rather than told, thanks! However, as I try to wrap my head around this still I have a stumbling block… In your second “normaled” example you have the IN of COMP 1 going to a blank row next to it on top, and picking up two spaces later on the OUT side. How does that IN of comp one skip over a space in the bay to the out of comp 1 without any patching? The same applies to the spacing between comp 2. I thought I had this understood until I saw this. It looks like In “normal” mode all connections between devices need to be zigg-zagged but this threw me off and now I’m confused again 😂
The Comp 1 IN & OUT may look like 2 separate units in the animation, but in reality they are the input and output of the same compressor. The INs and OUTs represent a cable connecting the IN or OUT of the outboard gear to the back of the patchbay at that location. Where you see an IN in the animation, that signal is being passed into the compressor. The compressor processes the signal, which is returned to wherever the OUT is plugged into the back of the patchbay, which could be anywhere. There is nothing special about where each piece of gear is plugged into the bay. In these examples, the signal generally flows left to right, but it could just as simply flow right to left, or zig zag back and forth depending on where each piece of gear was connected. The patchbay only controls connections between vertical pairs of INs and OUTs. There are no internal connections made between adjacent columns. Hopefully that helps.
@@TeDubbs I think I’m 90% there, I’m sure when my PB shows up I’ll botch something getting confused at least once or twice but I got a diagram drawn out so hopefully I’ll get it right haha. I have a pretty simple chain for now so should be good, thanks again for this it wound everything down in a much more concise way 👍🏼👊🏼
Just to clarify, is a “non-normal” connection the same as a “thru” connection? As far as I am aware there are three connection types: normal, half normal and thru so I am guessing thru and non-normal are the same (but would like to know for sure). That makes sense to me. Great video. Clearly explains how to use the different configurations and why you would want to. Patch bays seem so simple (and I guess they are) but it’s taking me a while to nail it down and get my head around it properly. They are incredibly useful and exactly what I’ve been looking for to make my outboard gear more accessible.
Yep, you're right; thru and non-normalled refer to the same thing. The connections are wired straight thru, front panel to back, without using the normalling switches on the jacks. The initial setup can be daunting due to the sheer number of options available, but once you settle on something it really does improve the workflow. Much less energy needs to be spent changing signal routing around.
@@TeDubbs - Excellent. Thank you. Just about to have another go at deciding how to route everything with my new patchbay. You’re right, deciding how I want it by default is the trickiest part. However, I will be able to change it if something isn’t working for me. So handy and I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing this earlier.
Is the out/in swapped on the rear panel? Like the output coming FROM the microphone is feeding INTO the top on the back side, making it technically the input? In the case of the norm/hnorm are you getting the OUTPUT of the connected mic from the bottom and feeding that cable into the preamp input? (still from rear of patchbay?)
Yes you can think of it like that. The outputs vs inputs do get a bit confusing, but it sounds like you have it right. The 'outs' on the front panel have something plugged in to them on the back. The 'ins' on the front have a cable run from the back to the input of something else.
Excellent visuals! I've always wondered though, what the case is with phantom power when using TRS patchbays? In this example we're talking about a mic out going into a patchbay (as it's a very very common example seen everywhere), but I find mixed opinions and views on wether or not patchbays are able to carry phantom power and if using 48V through a TRS connection rather than an XLR one is in some way dangerous or not recommended. Thoughts? Cheers!
That's a great question. Electrically speaking, TRS and XLR are identical. They both have 3 conductors (wires), and so can both carry the same signals, including phantom power. However, because on TRS connectors, all contacts are axially aligned, the possibility exists for a short circuit when plugging or unplugging the connector. This isn't a problem on XLR because each conductor gets its own pin, and there is no possibility of plugging a pin into the wrong socket or bridging two sockets with the same pin. Phantom power should be off when plugging or unplugging any connected gear, which means this wouldn't be a problem in a perfect world. But since we aren't perfect and sometimes forget to turn off the phantom power, it's best to only use XLR cables to transmit.
@@TeDubbs thanks for the quick response, you’re awesome! yeah, that’s how I imagine it too… so the patchbay itself isn’t the problem, but rather the danger or messing up when patching things in the front of the patchbay with phantom power on, right? In that case it’s probably okay to have a bunch of XLR to TRS cables (XLR end for the mics, TRS for the back of the patchbay) conected at all times for easier routing so long as one doesn’t change the signal path on the front of the patchbay whilst having 48V engaged? Or would you just recommend an XLR patchbay and how would you incorporate that in conjunction with a TRS one for the rest of the line level gear patching? Cheers!
Just one quick question. When connecting microphones to the patchbay, presumably you would have to use some kind of XLR to balanced TRS cable/adapter if so, how would this allow the use of phantom power?
What I can't seem to find an answer for is where the mic out is sourced from in the case that you need phantom power. Generally, I rely on my interface for phantom power, but in this case, the routing implies the mic should be powered at the point it reaches the patch bay. Do you have to run the mic through the interface and route the signal back out using an output, or are you using a separate source to provide phantom power to the microphone?
That's a good question. The mic preamp would be providing the phantom power, and there is nothing stopping you from running that phantom power through the patchbay to the mic. There is a lot of debate about whether or not this is a good idea, and in my opinion, it really isn't. In practice you would probably just plug the mic directly into the preamp. (Rather than patched in through the bay)
@@TeDubbs gotcha. I suppose in that scenario, I could get an xlr patch bay that connects to my preamp xlr inputs to quickly patch in mics? In that case, i’d still be able to keep the trs connections to the preamps, and patch in a mic when needed. Does that sound right?
Your mic would typically be connected through a preamp, which would accept an XLR input and offer phantom power. Its output would be hooked into the patchbay.
You can, but the level entering the compressor will be very low. Microphones use preamps to boost the very low microphone level output to line level before further processing, as outboard gear is generally designed to operate at the higher line level. That being said, I have used a mic going directly into compressor in a pinch to act as a preamp just to get the mic level signal up to something loud enough to be heard through a PA system.
This deserves a million views. It is by far the best explanation I’ve ever seen on normalling in patchbays.
agree!
same here!
Agree!!
Agreed
The best and easiest explanation I’ve seen, Thankyou
I teach audio recording and this is the patch bay video I’ve been looking for. The animations are incredibly helpful for illustrating the signal flow to-and-from the connections. Thank you!
low key i’m kinda glad this video is underrated because this what basic “producers” will never learn. great information thank you!
Incredible explanation. Great work! Finally makes sense.
One of the best videos on patch bays period!! Please make more content like this. Your page will blow up 🙏
Best explanation I've seen on youtube. Especially the internal mechanism part.
After spending hours reading I bumped in to this video. You just literally saved my live.
The animated-visual representations really helped me out with getting the most out of my patchbay and what the most useful setup of it would be
Very well done! So happy I came across this video after going down the youtube patchbay rabbit hole. Best video for folks who need a refresher or are new to patchbays. Great visuals, pacing, and explanations.
Best explanation I've seen showing the 3 modes for patch bays. I dug out some old Neutrik patch bays which I could never utilise correctly and I am now ready to connect my old analogue mixer to my Apollo 8 interface with 8 direct out from my mixer along with 8 returns from my Apollo and finally my outboard gear will utilise the remaining 8 available slots on the Patchbay using the half normal mode. Thank you so much for a brilliant tutorial. Regards
Alan
Finally I get it ! Well explained. My head no longer hurts :)
This is really, really, really good! I'm learning about this, but this video just clarifies it through great visuals.
My studio operations professor showed our class this video this break down patch bay normally and it is immesely helpful. thank you for such a clear and concise video on the topic
The best explanation of patch bays I have ever seen! in less than 7 mins... Awesome job!
Wonderful job, I do believe after watching this. That other people people videos I should see purposely make it look like it’s hard complicated. Thank you so much for showing us much appreciated and it is the best video I’ve ever seen.
Awesome! Visual representation as you've made it is just the best way to learn patch bays. Many videos out there lack some clarity. You've nailed it. Thanks so much!
Simply the best video out there, when it comes to helping you understand how patchbays work. Thank you!
this was a fantastic video!!! extremely clear explanation, but what sets this apart was the clean, clear and simple graphics. great job!!!
Excellent explainer, so much easier than wrapping my head around static diagrams. The close-up footage of the jacks is great too. The humble patch bay is a pretty clever invention really!
Thank you so much. This was perfect!
Incredible. No other explanation of the topic out there like it, hands down.
This is by far the best patchbay explaination on the entire internet! Thank you! Like and subscribed! I just set up my all my old rack gear with a Samson S-Patch Plus 48 Point Balanced Patchbay, and this video helped tremendously!
I have a couple of Switchcraft patchbays I got for free but the cables were just brutally cut so I have to figure out how to solder them. This video helps a lot to figure out what I want and how to do it. Thank you!
Best video for learning how patchbays work. Thank you!
I have seen many patch bay videos, but this is the best one. Thanks!
Finally! An explanation I can actually understand. Thank you!
I agree, best video for the topic! Thank you.
This video is amazing!! I had no idea what normaling is even with so many videos and peoples explanation. This cleared it up so much
Well done there! This is by far the most informative, clear and super easy to understand explanation on how patchbays work.
Perfect video. Thanks!
I've seen plenty vids on patchbays, but this one is superior, thank you!
best audio and video explanation, i have ever seen
This video was extremely helpful, your way of illustrating the signal flow was very clear. Thank you
Thank you, this is very helpful.
This is so fantastic.. Revealing & Demystifying the normalling concepts. Thank you
One of the best explanations! Well done, thank you.
This video was very appreciated! Thanks!
This was incredibly informative thank you
Excellent video. I wired 96 way normalised times 7 bays many years ago, I remember all that soldering lol
Best patchbay explanation I've found so far! thanks!!
Amazing explanation. Thank you. 🎉
Great examples! Great video
There is no better video explaining how a patchbay work. 👍
Very thorough!
Nicely done and you have great potential as a voice over artist or this is the best computer AI voice thing I have ever heard. :)
THANK YOU!!! So well explained!
Best video on the subject by far.
That random dolphin cracked me up 😅. Great explanation 🎉
Nice explanation, thanks.
Perfect thank you very much for such easy explanation
A proper visual aid. Well done
You helped me so much, the explanation with this animation made me learn how it works, cuz sume times a book isnt enough, u got a new sub
This is insane !! thank you so much !
best explanation on youtube... thank you.
Very well done, it was a joy to follow your explanations.
Unreal, spent a good 3 hours on gearspace summing up all the possibilties of how these works. This summed up my conclusions so aptly. Wouldve been good t o go into the problem areas of a patchbay and how it can damage gear .
Best Patchbay Video! Thank you so much for this!🔥🔥🔥
Thank you very much for these explanations and illustrations!
Brilliantly explained! Hats off to ya!
Thanks thanks thanks!! The best explanation about patchbay
Thank you so much for making this video!! The animations are top-notch! Will be sharing this with all my fellow newbie audio engineers :)
Thank-you! You are a true master of explanation.
Fantastic explanation WITH animation!
Now I finally understand lol.Great video!
Thank you very much.
Really well done!
Thanks very much! This is the best video I've seen!
Great visuals.
Amazing thank you, really clear!
Great work!
It may have already been stated, but be aware that 1/4 TRS cables do not allow 48 volt phantom power to pass through, so you can't use phantom from the preamp to the mic over a TRS to XLR cable.
There is nothing preventing phantom power from passing through TRS cables. Whether or not it's a good idea is a separate debate, but it will work just fine. Both XLR and TRS have 3 conductors, and electrically speaking they are identical.
I can produce $100+ worth of TRS to XLR cables that won't pass 48 volt and the manufacturer said that they do not let it pass through.
@@TheHithirteen Like I said, they are electrically identical, only difference being connectors. There are dangers associated with plugging and unplugging TRS cables which have phantom power turned on, due to the connector creating a short circuit when not fully plugged in. (This is why XLR has 3 separate pins).
These dangers are likely why manufactures say it will not pass phantom - they don't want to be liable for broken equipment. Just to be clear, passing phantom through TRS is not standard practice nor is it recommended, but it will work. I have done it.
Great video!
Great information
Great video!!! Thanks for the examples 🎉
Thankfully thanking you
Wow amazing work
top video -super easy explanation!
Thank you!
Thx for amazing tutorial video, however I do have a doubt somthing not clear for me, whatever outboard gears let's say I have one type of compresor and aslo eq, only I can get connections from the out puts from and can't do input as well, which mean not allowed to make in and out each simultaneously.
I hope me question is cleared.
AWESOME 👍🏼
Thanks a lot!
Some people patching half normal to output, essentially using it as a mixer. In my opinion crazy as you in theory can damage your gear.
This video it´s not helpfull, in fact this is THE definitive guide to patchbays. And the illustrations... OMG, what an amazing job.
@TeDubbs Thanks for the great video. What about the impedance when using half-normal (splitting the mic signal into two)?
The input impedence when running two or more pieces of gear in parallel will be lowered, but input impedence of these devices is normally so high it doesn't present an issue. As long as you aren't splitting the signal 10+ times, you should be just fine.
Do note that you shouldn't be be splitting the raw mic signal, only the line level signal post-preamp. Mic and instrument levels are so low to begin with that splitting them isn't a great idea.
@@TeDubbs Thanks!
I wonder if its possible - I think is not - to connect the "combo ins" of an audio interface, via some sort of "cable patch" (if this would even exist) or something like it or whatever other method, in a way that said combo jack in its connected separately into two inputs of a Patchbay, making this way available for separate both ins connection, a microphone and a line connection in order of not having to reach behind the interface fitted into a rack, as needed?
I have thought about this myself a lot actually. The interfaces with combo jacks process the signal the same regardless of weather TRS or XLR is plugged in, so you could get identical behavior by, for example, always using TRS, and plugging microphones in via an XLR to TRS adapter. The issue with doing that or your idea is phantom power. It's never a good idea to run phantom through TRS, even though it would technically work. (This isnt only because phantom isnt expected over TRS, but also due to the fact that you can short circuit phantom power when plugging or unplugging a TRS connector - there is a good reason why XLR is 3 separate pins)
I think the best way to go is to divide up your inputs based on what you for see yourself needing. If you mic everything, only leave one or two TRS inputs accessible on the front of your patchbay. If you're recording 5 synths at a time direct in, then you probably want most of your inputs to be TRS and only a leave a few XLR.
This is a great visual representation for those of us who need to be shown rather than told, thanks! However, as I try to wrap my head around this still I have a stumbling block…
In your second “normaled” example you have the IN of COMP 1 going to a blank row next to it on top, and picking up two spaces later on the OUT side. How does that IN of comp one skip over a space in the bay to the out of comp 1 without any patching? The same applies to the spacing between comp 2. I thought I had this understood until I saw this. It looks like In “normal” mode all connections between devices need to be zigg-zagged but this threw me off and now I’m confused again 😂
The Comp 1 IN & OUT may look like 2 separate units in the animation, but in reality they are the input and output of the same compressor. The INs and OUTs represent a cable connecting the IN or OUT of the outboard gear to the back of the patchbay at that location. Where you see an IN in the animation, that signal is being passed into the compressor. The compressor processes the signal, which is returned to wherever the OUT is plugged into the back of the patchbay, which could be anywhere.
There is nothing special about where each piece of gear is plugged into the bay. In these examples, the signal generally flows left to right, but it could just as simply flow right to left, or zig zag back and forth depending on where each piece of gear was connected. The patchbay only controls connections between vertical pairs of INs and OUTs. There are no internal connections made between adjacent columns.
Hopefully that helps.
@@TeDubbs I think I’m 90% there, I’m sure when my PB shows up I’ll botch something getting confused at least once or twice but I got a diagram drawn out so hopefully I’ll get it right haha. I have a pretty simple chain for now so should be good, thanks again for this it wound everything down in a much more concise way 👍🏼👊🏼
I wish that I understood how to connect to interface db25 i/o
Just to clarify, is a “non-normal” connection the same as a “thru” connection? As far as I am aware there are three connection types: normal, half normal and thru so I am guessing thru and non-normal are the same (but would like to know for sure). That makes sense to me.
Great video. Clearly explains how to use the different configurations and why you would want to. Patch bays seem so simple (and I guess they are) but it’s taking me a while to nail it down and get my head around it properly. They are incredibly useful and exactly what I’ve been looking for to make my outboard gear more accessible.
Yep, you're right; thru and non-normalled refer to the same thing. The connections are wired straight thru, front panel to back, without using the normalling switches on the jacks.
The initial setup can be daunting due to the sheer number of options available, but once you settle on something it really does improve the workflow. Much less energy needs to be spent changing signal routing around.
@@TeDubbs - Excellent. Thank you. Just about to have another go at deciding how to route everything with my new patchbay. You’re right, deciding how I want it by default is the trickiest part. However, I will be able to change it if something isn’t working for me. So handy and I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing this earlier.
Is the out/in swapped on the rear panel? Like the output coming FROM the microphone is feeding INTO the top on the back side, making it technically the input? In the case of the norm/hnorm are you getting the OUTPUT of the connected mic from the bottom and feeding that cable into the preamp input? (still from rear of patchbay?)
Yes you can think of it like that. The outputs vs inputs do get a bit confusing, but it sounds like you have it right. The 'outs' on the front panel have something plugged in to them on the back. The 'ins' on the front have a cable run from the back to the input of something else.
Excellent visuals! I've always wondered though, what the case is with phantom power when using TRS patchbays? In this example we're talking about a mic out going into a patchbay (as it's a very very common example seen everywhere), but I find mixed opinions and views on wether or not patchbays are able to carry phantom power and if using 48V through a TRS connection rather than an XLR one is in some way dangerous or not recommended. Thoughts? Cheers!
That's a great question. Electrically speaking, TRS and XLR are identical. They both have 3 conductors (wires), and so can both carry the same signals, including phantom power. However, because on TRS connectors, all contacts are axially aligned, the possibility exists for a short circuit when plugging or unplugging the connector. This isn't a problem on XLR because each conductor gets its own pin, and there is no possibility of plugging a pin into the wrong socket or bridging two sockets with the same pin.
Phantom power should be off when plugging or unplugging any connected gear, which means this wouldn't be a problem in a perfect world. But since we aren't perfect and sometimes forget to turn off the phantom power, it's best to only use XLR cables to transmit.
@@TeDubbs thanks for the quick response, you’re awesome! yeah, that’s how I imagine it too… so the patchbay itself isn’t the problem, but rather the danger or messing up when patching things in the front of the patchbay with phantom power on, right?
In that case it’s probably okay to have a bunch of XLR to TRS cables (XLR end for the mics, TRS for the back of the patchbay) conected at all times for easier routing so long as one doesn’t change the signal path on the front of the patchbay whilst having 48V engaged?
Or would you just recommend an XLR patchbay and how would you incorporate that in conjunction with a TRS one for the rest of the line level gear patching?
Cheers!
Just one quick question. When connecting microphones to the patchbay, presumably you would have to use some kind of XLR to balanced TRS cable/adapter if so, how would this allow the use of phantom power?
Does it matter if patchbays are normalled or non normalled ??
Thank u
Why is every patchbay tutorial video about mics preamps compressors and never about straightforward synth and fx!
Great
What I can't seem to find an answer for is where the mic out is sourced from in the case that you need phantom power. Generally, I rely on my interface for phantom power, but in this case, the routing implies the mic should be powered at the point it reaches the patch bay. Do you have to run the mic through the interface and route the signal back out using an output, or are you using a separate source to provide phantom power to the microphone?
Or can the phantom power pass through my patched compressors/preamps with phantom power engaged?
That's a good question. The mic preamp would be providing the phantom power, and there is nothing stopping you from running that phantom power through the patchbay to the mic. There is a lot of debate about whether or not this is a good idea, and in my opinion, it really isn't. In practice you would probably just plug the mic directly into the preamp. (Rather than patched in through the bay)
@@TeDubbs gotcha. I suppose in that scenario, I could get an xlr patch bay that connects to my preamp xlr inputs to quickly patch in mics? In that case, i’d still be able to keep the trs connections to the preamps, and patch in a mic when needed. Does that sound right?
@@BackWhenFM Yeah, that will work. Its how I would handle it if I didn't have easy access to the inputs of the preamp.
How would you connect your microphone to the patchbay? if it needs 48 phantom, or has an xlr?
Your mic would typically be connected through a preamp, which would accept an XLR input and offer phantom power. Its output would be hooked into the patchbay.
Thanks@@TeDubbs would you be able to run a mic that has a power supply directly into the patchbay? Like say a warm audio
Hi. Can I connect the mic to the input of the compressor, and then connect connect the output of the compressor to the input of the interface?
You can, but the level entering the compressor will be very low. Microphones use preamps to boost the very low microphone level output to line level before further processing, as outboard gear is generally designed to operate at the higher line level.
That being said, I have used a mic going directly into compressor in a pinch to act as a preamp just to get the mic level signal up to something loud enough to be heard through a PA system.
I know this is a a good explanation of patchbays, but damn it's still confusing shit
Wish I had seen your video first....