In the 90s I worked in a traditional analog recording studio. We had over 2000 patch points. I was the assistant recording engineer, which meant my job was to sit in the corner and fetch cables for the lead engineer during sessions. I was also responsible for documenting the patch bays at the end of every session and "roughing in" the patch between sessions. Before closing down the studio (often after midnight), I was responsible for ensuring hundreds of patch cables were put away and hung on the organizers, all instrument and mic cables were put away, no tapes were left out, and so on. This was to allow the cleaning crew to come in at 8am and not get tangled up in cables, or to throw anything important away. We'd open the studio at 10am for prep, with first session starting around 1pm. It was a brutal schedule. One morning I came in and our synth bay had no audio back to the mixing desk. I was freaking out, as we had talent in the building, the lead engineer hadn't shown up yet, and they needed synths! I manually jammed in a DX7 in to the patch bay, that didn't work either. I nearly lost my mind. The lead engineer finally showed up at like 3pm. Turns out the night before he unplugged a ton of the inputs on the back of the patch bays. Why? It was a test. I failed. No longer working in the music industry, and that's probably a good thing. I never considered the patch bay as a failure point.
Oh man that sounds insane. I would 100% have been driven nuts by that. I admire your tenacity!! Our band has a studio and I wish it was that organised...
The only thing keeping me from investing in a patch bay for my studio pedalboard is just the cost of cables. 48 six-foot (at minimum) cables are darn expensive, even with multicore.
I picked up a Behringer a few weeks ago for my ever expanding setup after building a tall wooden rack with my neighbour/carpenter: now it houses the patchbay, 1 effects rack and 2 mixers. But one mixer will go because it's too old and crackly, and tomorrow my B2600 is arriving :) I mainly use half normalled, so I can either take the signal from a synth to feed it to an effect, while still maintaining the original signal flow (top row), OR I can interrupt it by inserting another synth to go to the mixer input (bottom row). For my effects, I use the Thru setting: in the back: top = effect in, bottom = effect out, in the front: top is for feeding a signal to process, bottom is for connecting the effect to a mixer input. Soon, I'll also get a 1U line mixer for 16 more inputs, feeding that one to one of the stereo channels of my main mixer...
Nice one! My woodworking skills are not especially well renowned, so I have to stick to the pre-made cabinets haha. I hadn't thought to use the through setting in that way, but that makes a lot of sense. Hmmm perhaps I'll need to re-think some of my patches now...
Blinding work man. I'm just at the beginning of my home studio journey with a few bits of rack gear, an old mixer and a handful of synths and drum machines. But I need a system! This is inspiring.
Nice setup man. I just wired my entire studio to patch bays last month. Pain in the arse to plan and configure everything and running all the cables was a total nightmare but so glad I did it! The ease and convenience now to quickly route everything is beautiful. Can’t believe I waited so long to do it.
I love my Tascam patchbays. They don’t require any switches. You insert on the top row on the white side if you want half normal, insert on the bottom row on the white side if you want normal, and you can flip the pairs around if you want to make them through pairs by inserting on the red side. Also the rack ears are reversible if you want to switch the whole unit to through.
@@StephenMcLeod you can open it up and rotate in increments of two pairs of ins/outs (eight individual groups of jacks) if you want a combination of all three types on one side.
PATCH BAAAAAAY! Patch bays are so rad. Especially when you want that _clean_ cable routing. Like you mentioned, the biggest cost for me was definitely all the cables for the patch bay. I effectively needed to double the number of cables used (minimum). I used mine most heavily for routing to/from various guitar pedals or occasionally piping other instruments through Kosmo. Recently I sold my patch bay because I wasn't using it for much. I was originally recording everything one stem per instrument and it made cable routing really tidy. Because I never do anything with those stems, I simplified things going into the mixer a bit which removed most of my need for the patch bay. It also took me way too much time to modify it when needed (add instruments, change order, etc).
If you're looking for a patch bay, I highly recommend the Samson S-Patch. It's the industry standard from what I can tell. I usually like cheap gear, BUT the Behringer bays go for $80 new while the Samson goes for as low as $100 new if you look. Felt worth the 20 bucks to go from the knock off to the best. That said, the Samson is like $140 now and the Behringers are going used for $35, so in that case, obviously get the Behringer.
That's real smart. All those cables... jeeeez. I didn't think I had enough gear to warrant something like a patch bay, but after watching this I think I could legit make decent use of one... hmm...
Very handy vid! When mounting the Behringer it's handy to make sure you have access to those top normaling switches. Mine just sits on a lower shelf of my improvised synth rack. I'm still working out the wiring configuration, but what's cool is that it basically transforms my collection of vintage and modern synths, drum machines, and effects processors into a a kind of big modular setup, with countless easy routing options.
Smart tip! I only ever really use them full normalled so I don't need access thankfully. I like the idea of it being like a modular system. That is how I think about it too. Thanks for watching!
Right now I don’t have space for one of these, but I definitely need one of them in my life! I have individually labelled cables flying about to connect to the inputs on the back of my audio interface and most of the time I can’t seem to find the right one. Drives me nuts when I just quickly want to record something!
Yeah I did that for ages too. Masking tape, cable tie clip things etc. I still have clips on some of the cables... but when they are all grouped together they look very much alike ha
Ha I’ve only just realised that my patchbay normal can send the top signals straight to audio interface. Before, I had loads of patch cables instead. Now nice and tidy. Love your vids man
Thank you for this great video. May I ask you a practical question about my set up? I just got a Behringer PX 3000 My audio interface is a Steinberg with only 2 inputs, so I use a cheap 8 input Mousey. My question is where do I use the Patchbay ? currently it's, on the back 8 main inputs from my synths and drum machine and 8 main outputs to the mixer The mixer being directly connected to the audio interface Is it the right way to plug them ? I mostly acquired this patchbay to be able to use two old effects machines : a Boss GT3 pedal and a Zoom 9030, those are also plugged in the back, each has only one input and two outputs I am struggling to know at which level they should be connected in the front
I've been recording music in various ways for 30 years and still can't find a single purpose for a patchbay. I currently have 29 synths and 5 drum machines and do not use computers at all and still I have everything hooked up in a way where nothing ever needs to be unplugged or rerouted, basically anything can be sent to any of my various pedal boards, and everything ends up plugged into recorders where I can record up to 24 tracks simultaneously. All with no patchbays. I keep watching videos to try to figure out what I'm missing about these things and I keep walking away thinking "what a useless piece of gear". Have a bunch of gear? Run it all into a tiny Roland M480 rack mixer. 48 line level inputs, stereo main outs, stereo sub outs, multiple aux sends and effects sends. Want to send something to certain effects? Turn a knob and that's where it's routed. I never have to move a cable at all with my setup. Sure, it took a lot of thought and planning but it does absolutely everything I want. Yes there are over 200 cables involved but they are all pretty tucked away and behind things and not a single one crosses any floor or anything where anyone would ever be walking. Again, maybe I'm missing something but I would say patchbays seem to be incredibly stupid and pointless.
I mean the Roland M480 looks great, but they are not exactly common. Trying to find one nowadays is virtually impossible. It's also just a mixer, and doesn't allow you to do digital multi-track recordings which is kindof important for most people. :)
@@StephenMcLeod Yeah, I use the M480 and 2 M160s, all synths plugged in stereo (when possible) or using individual outs on things like the Trident, Orchestrator, SK50D. Lots of different effect pedals out of various outputs and everything ends up at the 16 inputs of two midi synced Tascam dp32s. (so it is multi-tracked). There's also a 3rd midi synced Tascam there with an additional 8 inputs in case I want to do more complicated individual drum outs or whatever. So I usually do 16 track simultaneous recording but can do 24 track if I need to. No computers. No patchbays.
Multicore, the way to go, but TRS instead of TS, since the PB itself delivers TRS connections to (afaik the PX-3000 does) And as Ralph Ashford said: i have about 15 PB for my FX, Synths etc. and giving the Ports unique names is curcial and most important.
Good point yeah. I went with TS as my interface and majority of connections are TS so it made most sense that way to avoid having to split out later (and was cheaper). I have a spreadsheet that I continually refer to :D
I bought 4 patchbays in the second hand market for 20bucks each However, I had to track down noises and hum. Eventually it worked but that would drive anyone crazy xD So if you have money buy this new !
@@StephenMcLeod yes, ground issue and bleeding due to some part that rust or some other metal part that where slightly bend toward each others, and dust Also that was the first time I ever used patchbays, I have basically the same kind of setup as you, 16 inputs audio interface/adat and a bunch of effects. That took me litterally weeks to make it works but I gained experience ! lol
Well done! Did you ever look into the Mordax DATA module? I didn't check, if you have one already. I think it is a brilliant tool. I work a lot with precise tuning and tempo calculations and it seems to be the only module on the market which can actually provide this kind or precision.
I have seen them and they look awesome! Though I don't have the space in my rack atm to dedicate to more utilities. I'll need to have more of a look though...
I wanna get one specifically for guitar pedals. I got the bored brain patchulator but that gets messy with cables and it's design makes it hard to place on a pedal board.
@allmyfriendsaresynths to experiment with a pedalboard. To see what signal chains work best with a particular instrument. I have one that I connected to my 500 series rack, a distressor and my audio interface.
You can use balanced or unbalanced. If you use unbalanced in the chain at all, then it will break that though and just become unbalanced. You need to make sure the patchbay you get supports balanced wiring as well.
I know a lot of people who find patchbays useful but they don't really work for me. My experience is they are a source of earth loop and rf interference hell unless you have a balanced patchbay and all your synths/FX are also balanced. They double the amount of wiring and the normalling options are more confusing than helpful. My solution to FX routing is to use an analogue desk with a lot of inputs and sends. That way any of the inputs (synths) can be routed to any of the sends without needing to patch anything. You can even set up feedback and complex FX routings as the FX returns have sends on them too. That is something that you can't do with a patchbay (no level control). The only real limitation of doing it that way is finding a desk with enough FX sends, mine has 6 but I could really do with 8 or more. I have 32 inputs running on the desk so would probably need more than one patchbay to cover it anyway. I guess space is a factor for some people too.
@@StephenMcLeod not as expensive as you think if you look around. I paid £700 for a new 32 into 8 Soundcraft desk about four years ago. Try mounting it on the wall if space is short.
Next video title "The magic of patches (music studio Organelle-ization) But in all seriousness this is a great topic to have covered and would have saved my NTS-1 from having a busted input jack...not to mention the scary mess of wires and adapters that lives next to my desk
hmm, I wish you DID go into what those switches do, because -- while I get the basic concept -- I haven't figured out how the thing works. Oh, right: yes I bought one, auxiliary to another purchase; the guy just wanted to get rid of stuff. "Here -- you want this -- now gimme $40" -- so: maybe time for a follow-up? (please?) :)
@@StephenMcLeod It's so on point!! There's been so many times I'm setting things up in my small studio and think "damnit, I need to look into a freakin patchbay" hahaha So I can only imagine how others feel!! 🤣🐀
The most important thing using patch bays: WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. I see you have labeled some inputs, but not all of them. If and when something doesn't work, knowing what is connected where is crucial. Going to the back of a dozen units with three dozen cables leading to the patch bay and tracing them to the inputs is brutal. And like Louis commented here, not knowing where your issue lies is will drive you crazy.
That's a great point - I completely forgot to mention that. I used to write on the labels but it became too difficult to manage. Now I have a fancy Google spreadsheet with everything listed. :D
I'd also suggest that you contemplate some semi-regular maintenance procedure such as a bit of spray stuff to clean off some oxidation on those ranks of jacks because in that dank swamp where I was synthesised, the verdigris is literally off charts.
I might spend $10 to get a blank rack panel to install above a patch bay when I get one, just to have enough room to write detailed labels. Luckily have some unused rack space in my new studio desk, so might as well put it to use.
Save yourself some trouble and throw that behringer patch bay directly into the garbage. There's a reason it costs 20% what a good one costs! That was the second worst Behringer purchase I ever made.
@@StephenMcLeod About six of the points got really scratchy/intermittent only a few weeks after I bought it. I figured no biggie, I can open it up and clean it out. Don't ever take an ultrapatch apart, is all I can say about that. It exploded into about 50 pieces. I've used $100 patch bays from Hosa and $1000 ones from Whirlwind. You don't need to spend $1000 for sure, but Behringer cuts it a little too close to the bone, quality wise. Everything digital that I've seen from them has been great. Their analog gear is just too cheaply made to hold up in any but very light home use. Musicians, take pride in your gear! Behringer is just First Act/Shredder for budding producers.
In the 90s I worked in a traditional analog recording studio. We had over 2000 patch points. I was the assistant recording engineer, which meant my job was to sit in the corner and fetch cables for the lead engineer during sessions. I was also responsible for documenting the patch bays at the end of every session and "roughing in" the patch between sessions. Before closing down the studio (often after midnight), I was responsible for ensuring hundreds of patch cables were put away and hung on the organizers, all instrument and mic cables were put away, no tapes were left out, and so on. This was to allow the cleaning crew to come in at 8am and not get tangled up in cables, or to throw anything important away. We'd open the studio at 10am for prep, with first session starting around 1pm. It was a brutal schedule.
One morning I came in and our synth bay had no audio back to the mixing desk. I was freaking out, as we had talent in the building, the lead engineer hadn't shown up yet, and they needed synths! I manually jammed in a DX7 in to the patch bay, that didn't work either. I nearly lost my mind. The lead engineer finally showed up at like 3pm. Turns out the night before he unplugged a ton of the inputs on the back of the patch bays. Why? It was a test. I failed. No longer working in the music industry, and that's probably a good thing. I never considered the patch bay as a failure point.
Oh man that sounds insane. I would 100% have been driven nuts by that. I admire your tenacity!! Our band has a studio and I wish it was that organised...
The lead engineer sounds like a real treat. You’re better off not working in that type of high stress environment since you’ll end up living longer.
The only thing keeping me from investing in a patch bay for my studio pedalboard is just the cost of cables. 48 six-foot (at minimum) cables are darn expensive, even with multicore.
Yeah that'd a fair point. I get relatively cheap ones but even then the cost adds up quickly!
I picked up a Behringer a few weeks ago for my ever expanding setup after building a tall wooden rack with my neighbour/carpenter: now it houses the patchbay, 1 effects rack and 2 mixers. But one mixer will go because it's too old and crackly, and tomorrow my B2600 is arriving :) I mainly use half normalled, so I can either take the signal from a synth to feed it to an effect, while still maintaining the original signal flow (top row), OR I can interrupt it by inserting another synth to go to the mixer input (bottom row). For my effects, I use the Thru setting: in the back: top = effect in, bottom = effect out, in the front: top is for feeding a signal to process, bottom is for connecting the effect to a mixer input. Soon, I'll also get a 1U line mixer for 16 more inputs, feeding that one to one of the stereo channels of my main mixer...
Nice one! My woodworking skills are not especially well renowned, so I have to stick to the pre-made cabinets haha. I hadn't thought to use the through setting in that way, but that makes a lot of sense. Hmmm perhaps I'll need to re-think some of my patches now...
Blinding work man. I'm just at the beginning of my home studio journey with a few bits of rack gear, an old mixer and a handful of synths and drum machines. But I need a system! This is inspiring.
Nice one! I am glad it was useful in some way. My rambling thoughts. Ha. Best of luck with the studio build!!
Good luck, hope everything works out
My patchbay was a game changer. - expensive to cable up originally- good balanced cables are not cheap - but so worth it.
A cost that is easy to forget as well!
I ended up making all my own balanced patch cables. Just because, lol...
Nice setup man. I just wired my entire studio to patch bays last month. Pain in the arse to plan and configure everything and running all the cables was a total nightmare but so glad I did it! The ease and convenience now to quickly route everything is beautiful. Can’t believe I waited so long to do it.
Right! It took me far longer than I anticipated to re-wire everything, but it's brilliant once it's done!
Just got my first patch bay last year and it's been a game changer! Great video mate!
They are amazing! So useful and under-rated. Thanks for watching!
I love my Tascam patchbays. They don’t require any switches. You insert on the top row on the white side if you want half normal, insert on the bottom row on the white side if you want normal, and you can flip the pairs around if you want to make them through pairs by inserting on the red side. Also the rack ears are reversible if you want to switch the whole unit to through.
Smart! Does that mean that you have to have the *whole* thing either normalled or not, or can you have individual ports work differently?
@@StephenMcLeod you can open it up and rotate in increments of two pairs of ins/outs (eight individual groups of jacks) if you want a combination of all three types on one side.
@@RyanHarris77 Ahhh gotcha. Smart!
PATCH BAAAAAAY! Patch bays are so rad. Especially when you want that _clean_ cable routing.
Like you mentioned, the biggest cost for me was definitely all the cables for the patch bay. I effectively needed to double the number of cables used (minimum).
I used mine most heavily for routing to/from various guitar pedals or occasionally piping other instruments through Kosmo.
Recently I sold my patch bay because I wasn't using it for much. I was originally recording everything one stem per instrument and it made cable routing really tidy. Because I never do anything with those stems, I simplified things going into the mixer a bit which removed most of my need for the patch bay. It also took me way too much time to modify it when needed (add instruments, change order, etc).
The sheer amount of cabling is truly despicable ha
If you're looking for a patch bay, I highly recommend the Samson S-Patch. It's the industry standard from what I can tell.
I usually like cheap gear, BUT the Behringer bays go for $80 new while the Samson goes for as low as $100 new if you look. Felt worth the 20 bucks to go from the knock off to the best.
That said, the Samson is like $140 now and the Behringers are going used for $35, so in that case, obviously get the Behringer.
Yeah! I've seen a few folks recommending the Samson. They look pretty great.
@@StephenMcLeod 3-way front panel mode switches for normal, half normal and thru for each make them very nice.
That's real smart. All those cables... jeeeez. I didn't think I had enough gear to warrant something like a patch bay, but after watching this I think I could legit make decent use of one... hmm...
They are pretty great, and you can pick them up dirt cheap. It's just the cables that add up.
Very handy vid! When mounting the Behringer it's handy to make sure you have access to those top normaling switches. Mine just sits on a lower shelf of my improvised synth rack. I'm still working out the wiring configuration, but what's cool is that it basically transforms my collection of vintage and modern synths, drum machines, and effects processors into a a kind of big modular setup, with countless easy routing options.
Smart tip! I only ever really use them full normalled so I don't need access thankfully. I like the idea of it being like a modular system. That is how I think about it too. Thanks for watching!
Awesome! Fun to see your setup.
Thanks a lot! The endless task to get things to a state of readiness.
Right now I don’t have space for one of these, but I definitely need one of them in my life! I have individually labelled cables flying about to connect to the inputs on the back of my audio interface and most of the time I can’t seem to find the right one. Drives me nuts when I just quickly want to record something!
Yeah I did that for ages too. Masking tape, cable tie clip things etc. I still have clips on some of the cables... but when they are all grouped together they look very much alike ha
Ha I’ve only just realised that my patchbay normal can send the top signals straight to audio interface. Before, I had loads of patch cables instead. Now nice and tidy. Love your vids man
Aw nice! I am glad the video was helpful in some way then :D
Thank you for this great video.
May I ask you a practical question about my set up?
I just got a Behringer PX 3000
My audio interface is a Steinberg with only 2 inputs, so I use a cheap 8 input Mousey.
My question is where do I use the Patchbay ?
currently it's, on the back 8 main inputs from my synths and drum machine and 8 main outputs to the mixer
The mixer being directly connected to the audio interface
Is it the right way to plug them ?
I mostly acquired this patchbay to be able to use two old effects machines : a Boss GT3 pedal and a Zoom 9030, those are also plugged in the back, each has only one input and two outputs
I am struggling to know at which level they should be connected in the front
Come the apocalypse, a properly weighted patch bay will make a decent club.
And then those 'extremely long cables' become quite useful garrotes.
I like to swing old digital SLRs like a mace.
Solid advice, excellent video.
I aim to please
I've been recording music in various ways for 30 years and still can't find a single purpose for a patchbay. I currently have 29 synths and 5 drum machines and do not use computers at all and still I have everything hooked up in a way where nothing ever needs to be unplugged or rerouted, basically anything can be sent to any of my various pedal boards, and everything ends up plugged into recorders where I can record up to 24 tracks simultaneously. All with no patchbays. I keep watching videos to try to figure out what I'm missing about these things and I keep walking away thinking "what a useless piece of gear". Have a bunch of gear? Run it all into a tiny Roland M480 rack mixer. 48 line level inputs, stereo main outs, stereo sub outs, multiple aux sends and effects sends. Want to send something to certain effects? Turn a knob and that's where it's routed. I never have to move a cable at all with my setup. Sure, it took a lot of thought and planning but it does absolutely everything I want. Yes there are over 200 cables involved but they are all pretty tucked away and behind things and not a single one crosses any floor or anything where anyone would ever be walking. Again, maybe I'm missing something but I would say patchbays seem to be incredibly stupid and pointless.
I mean the Roland M480 looks great, but they are not exactly common. Trying to find one nowadays is virtually impossible. It's also just a mixer, and doesn't allow you to do digital multi-track recordings which is kindof important for most people. :)
@@StephenMcLeod Yeah, I use the M480 and 2 M160s, all synths plugged in stereo (when possible) or using individual outs on things like the Trident, Orchestrator, SK50D. Lots of different effect pedals out of various outputs and everything ends up at the 16 inputs of two midi synced Tascam dp32s. (so it is multi-tracked). There's also a 3rd midi synced Tascam there with an additional 8 inputs in case I want to do more complicated individual drum outs or whatever. So I usually do 16 track simultaneous recording but can do 24 track if I need to. No computers. No patchbays.
Sounds great, though that is an exceptional setup compared to what most people will have access to or be using.@@VincentPresley
Multicore, the way to go, but TRS instead of TS, since the PB itself delivers TRS connections to (afaik the PX-3000 does) And as Ralph Ashford said: i have about 15 PB for my FX, Synths etc. and giving the Ports unique names is curcial and most important.
Good point yeah. I went with TS as my interface and majority of connections are TS so it made most sense that way to avoid having to split out later (and was cheaper). I have a spreadsheet that I continually refer to :D
I bought 4 patchbays in the second hand market for 20bucks each
However, I had to track down noises and hum. Eventually it worked but that would drive anyone crazy xD
So if you have money buy this new !
Nightmare! The patchbays should be dead straightforward electronically. What was the problem with yours? Grounding issue maybe?
@@StephenMcLeod yes, ground issue and bleeding due to some part that rust or some other metal part that where slightly bend toward each others, and dust
Also that was the first time I ever used patchbays, I have basically the same kind of setup as you, 16 inputs audio interface/adat and a bunch of effects. That took me litterally weeks to make it works but I gained experience ! lol
@@LouisSerieusement Ah that sucks! It took me ages to figure out how to use them, even though mine were working perfectly lol
This was really helpful and insightful! Thank you
I am glad!!
I've always thought of myself as "half normalled"
Haha. A mark of pride!
Well done! Did you ever look into the Mordax DATA module? I didn't check, if you have one already. I think it is a brilliant tool. I work a lot with precise tuning and tempo calculations and it seems to be the only module on the market which can actually provide this kind or precision.
I have seen them and they look awesome! Though I don't have the space in my rack atm to dedicate to more utilities. I'll need to have more of a look though...
So... it's basically a huge multiple (so called on synthesizers)?
Kind of, but not really - as it doesn't multiply the single in a way a mult would. It's more like a switchboard.
I'm afraid to buy it, but i'll buy for my next studio... 😱
doooo it
I wanna get one specifically for guitar pedals. I got the bored brain patchulator but that gets messy with cables and it's design makes it hard to place on a pedal board.
Nice idea. For a pedal board, or for using as FX routing?
@allmyfriendsaresynths to experiment with a pedalboard. To see what signal chains work best with a particular instrument. I have one that I connected to my 500 series rack, a distressor and my audio interface.
What's the deal with balanced or unbalanced cables? Balanced in the back and whatever in the front?
You can use balanced or unbalanced. If you use unbalanced in the chain at all, then it will break that though and just become unbalanced. You need to make sure the patchbay you get supports balanced wiring as well.
Gotcha thanks
Nice!!
Thanks for watching!
You welcome. I'm new to the Patchbay. Still trying to connect for convenience. Figuring it out one point at a time.
I know a lot of people who find patchbays useful but they don't really work for me. My experience is they are a source of earth loop and rf interference hell unless you have a balanced patchbay and all your synths/FX are also balanced. They double the amount of wiring and the normalling options are more confusing than helpful. My solution to FX routing is to use an analogue desk with a lot of inputs and sends. That way any of the inputs (synths) can be routed to any of the sends without needing to patch anything. You can even set up feedback and complex FX routings as the FX returns have sends on them too. That is something that you can't do with a patchbay (no level control). The only real limitation of doing it that way is finding a desk with enough FX sends, mine has 6 but I could really do with 8 or more. I have 32 inputs running on the desk so would probably need more than one patchbay to cover it anyway. I guess space is a factor for some people too.
I would love a big analogue desk, but unfortunately the expense and size make it impractical for my wee home studio! One day though...
@@StephenMcLeod not as expensive as you think if you look around. I paid £700 for a new 32 into 8 Soundcraft desk about four years ago. Try mounting it on the wall if space is short.
nice
Thanks 🔥
Next video title "The magic of patches (music studio Organelle-ization)
But in all seriousness this is a great topic to have covered and would have saved my NTS-1 from having a busted input jack...not to mention the scary mess of wires and adapters that lives next to my desk
Exactly. You could have had all those wires hidden away behind everything, and deny their existence!!
hmm, I wish you DID go into what those switches do, because -- while I get the basic concept -- I haven't figured out how the thing works. Oh, right: yes I bought one, auxiliary to another purchase; the guy just wanted to get rid of stuff. "Here -- you want this -- now gimme $40" -- so: maybe time for a follow-up? (please?) :)
I'll consider a follow up! There are some other videos which explain this already, but I'll see if I can do so more clearly.
@@StephenMcLeod -- yes, I watched one that explained a bit more, but he didn't have the beard and glasses, so how could I really take him seriously?
@@Jobotubular Exactly!
You must have a crystal ball?! Wizard or Warlock? Black magic?? Strongly considering a patchbay, lol, a very useful and helpful video man!! 🙌🐀
I can't believe how popular this video has been haha. It's ludicrous.
@@StephenMcLeod It's so on point!! There's been so many times I'm setting things up in my small studio and think "damnit, I need to look into a freakin patchbay" hahaha So I can only imagine how others feel!! 🤣🐀
I must just be a man of the people haha
Nice Microgranny😀
Love a Microgranny!
You know Behringer shared your'e video on their Facebook page?
I do lol!
Trace Audio Patchbay Labels…hope this helps someone.✌🏾
Handy! They are expensive here in the UK, but look great for folks in the US.
Beautiful ... COMMODORE 64 !!!!!
Love the C64!
@@StephenMcLeod i have c 128
The most important thing using patch bays: WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. I see you have labeled some inputs, but not all of them. If and when something doesn't work, knowing what is connected where is crucial. Going to the back of a dozen units with three dozen cables leading to the patch bay and tracing them to the inputs is brutal. And like Louis commented here, not knowing where your issue lies is will drive you crazy.
That's a great point - I completely forgot to mention that. I used to write on the labels but it became too difficult to manage. Now I have a fancy Google spreadsheet with everything listed. :D
I'd also suggest that you contemplate some semi-regular maintenance procedure such as a bit of spray stuff to clean off some oxidation on those ranks of jacks because in that dank swamp where I was synthesised, the verdigris is literally off charts.
I might spend $10 to get a blank rack panel to install above a patch bay when I get one, just to have enough room to write detailed labels. Luckily have some unused rack space in my new studio desk, so might as well put it to use.
@@StephenMcLeod get a label maker, game changer
@@tompoynton They are too big for the spaces!!
I wish I understood any of this.
What part is causing you difficulty?
@@StephenMcLeod most likely my old man brain lol ... I assume I need a patch bay for idiots video.
Save yourself some trouble and throw that behringer patch bay directly into the garbage. There's a reason it costs 20% what a good one costs!
That was the second worst Behringer purchase I ever made.
What was up with it?
@@StephenMcLeod About six of the points got really scratchy/intermittent only a few weeks after I bought it. I figured no biggie, I can open it up and clean it out.
Don't ever take an ultrapatch apart, is all I can say about that. It exploded into about 50 pieces.
I've used $100 patch bays from Hosa and $1000 ones from Whirlwind. You don't need to spend $1000 for sure, but Behringer cuts it a little too close to the bone, quality wise.
Everything digital that I've seen from them has been great. Their analog gear is just too cheaply made to hold up in any but very light home use.
Musicians, take pride in your gear! Behringer is just First Act/Shredder for budding producers.
@@stickyfox Ah that sucks. Sorry to hear that! I've yet to experience it yet, but will keep my eye out.
@@StephenMcLeod Don't let me ruin Behringer for you. I don't fault anyone for buying equipment they can afford. :)
@@stickyfox Don't worry. I am a stubborn old goat.
I hate patchbays.
More for me