This is the best patchbay video I have ever seen. This one provides live examples on how to set it up. Thank you!

I understand patch bays but when the time has come to wire in my own, getting my head around choosing a work flow for my processing has been an imaginative headache full of confusion! This is by far the best video on patch bays that KZfaq has to offer! None of them show somebody actually processing and yours explains it in so much better detail. And believe me, I’ve seen them all. 😂 thank you

This is great stuff. No one ever shows the physical connecting/connections for different scenarios, which I think would benefit mostly anyone. Every other "tutorial" thinks pointing and explaining and using your imagination is all anyone needs. But, some of us are tactile/procedural learners, so thank you very much for taking the time (and taking some of your studio apart) to walk us through it. AND for demoing the results of the wiring. 10/10 on the video!

the absolute best understanding of a patch bay iv ever seen

If had this video when I first started I believe I would've had much more success as an intern just starting out at an analogue recording studio. Best video on patch bays I've ever seen. Really wish youtube had recommended it sooner. I use to search youtube forever on a video that took the patch bay apart like this but none of them do. Thank you for being the first to do it right. God bless you, sir 🙏

There is actually nothing at all wrong with using a patchbay as a "thru" box, if that is how it works best. I recently added a new patchbay to my setup, and after spending a few days staring at a list of all the in/outs I needed to make, and drawing out dozens of possible patch setups, I realized that the most economical, (and easiest), way to go was to just set every stack in the bay as a "Thru". Doing that allowed me to hook up everything I wanted, leaving around a half-dozen still available for future use.

I have tasked myself with setting up a patch bay this weekend, I have watched many videos on how to do it. This one is by far the best; clear and concise, you really have explained the very basic concepts in a way that is going to help me set up some quite complicated routing. It's the normal and half normal thing that is often badly described, I now know that I need to be using half normal for the way I want to have individual outs from 2 drum machines running into my mixer, I've been really struggling with the concepts involved all week, it has now become clear, I can actually visualise how I'm going to set it all up. Thanks so much for this.

Thank you! Was trying to wrap my head around what people were talking about, and well this put it all in perspective. Perfect video

I recently invested in the same ART P48 patchbay and this video has helped immensely! Although, it would be cool to see someone set up their entire patchbay in a normal fashion just so others can see how you hook up all the gear.

Excellent video. Thank you so much for actually SHOWING where the cables connect. It makes much more sense this way. This video alone is worth subbing to this channel!

Absolutely great video! I'm starting to take the outboard rack route for the studio and found this video super useful and well made. Thanks!

Great video. I'm in a similar place with patch bays. Had one for years - a Signex Q Patch QPP48. The configuration is either Normalised or Isolated. You actually flip the board on each pair to determine which way you have. I'm looking to buy a new patch bay to replace it. Most of the patch bays I'm looking at can be 'Half-Normalised' or 'Full Normalised' so I was a bit lost! This video helped heaps.

Thank you! The best explanation of concept pathbay which I bought today!

Thank you!! I just got into analog gear and this saved my butt! I just got the VLA II and I was looking for some video help to set-up a patch bay for my other gear! Subbed to your channel! :)

The best one so far on this topic. Finally I understood smth) ! Thanks much.

I love your videos man, keep it up with the good work!

Thank's for this helpful tutorial! 😃👍

I needed this! Thanks!

Great rundown. Thanks xx

An excellent explanation 👍🎶

Thx dude, your video helped me out big time

Thanks for this explanation!

Thanks! It was a very good explanation

4:14 Thank you for the Young Frankenstein reference, much appreciated! :D

Thank you for this explanation!

Great video!

Great presentation

Bloody Excellent.... full marks.

Thank you for the video, very informative. Keep it up please :)

Another great video! Thanks bro. Sure wish a company other than Switchcraft made a TT patch bay at a reasonable cost. 1/4in so big.

Great video! Thanks!

Thank you so much for this video!

Great information!!!!

Thanks for explaining ‘Half normal’ duplicating the signal (acting as a mult)

The element of one channel of the compressor "bleeding" slight signal to the secondary channel is known as "crosstalk". It's measured in dB units, and if that much crosstalk is occuring, there may be more problems than simply the seperate channels of that compressor. Signal to noise is a similar measurement to crosstalk, which, in this case, is severe in nature.

Great Explanation!!!

Thanks! Helped a lot.

Thank you sir for your packaged information

Awesome vid. Thank you.

Yes Batch bay $250.00. All the cables $459.95. Total $745.95. Figuring out what settings to use on the patch bay. PRICELESS.

After watching this I’m just going to mix in the box 😂

Thank you.

I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one that has a problem with patch bay cable routing. Even after you do figure it out, you're still standing there with smoke starting to vent out your ears as your brain overheat's. It would be impossible follow the wiring of a patch bay with radar but for such a simple straightforward piece of equipment, why oh bloody why does it perplex and confuse so many of us?

great stuff thanks.

this vid is really friggin' helpful. thank you for this!! ps... I have that EXACT SAME CHAIR in my little home studio. yaaaay!!

Great video and as an added bonus, your voice has more than a shade of Kermit, to it., "Yaaaay!"

Missed opportunity with the main outs from the interface. Would have been a good example of the "default route" being to monitors but then interrupting the chain to record to the secondary interface for the video. Or also an excellent example of using half normal to simultaneously send the output to the monitors and the second interface

i really appreciate you cutting out gulps and lip smacks. more people could learn a lesson from you. great job. also helpful video thank you

well done thank you sir

Thx finally I undestand ;)

You've definitely earned yourself a sub from me!

Useful.

Great explanation, as I'm relatively new to the hardware side of things in my home studio (only having Steinberg UR28M and Presonus Monitor station as I run 5 sets of monitors) I have often wondered how to hook up for example a higher end Audient ID44 audio controller to the likes of an SPL Frontliner which has multiple ins and outs for it's multiple functionalities. I would of thought that it would have just one in and out and then turn the compressor, eq, de-esser and tube saturation on and off, but their all separate. The Audient has ins and outs like a patch bay I think (2 of them) but does that mean I wouldn't need a patch bay?... I still haven't got used the concept, but will watch this a few times and hopefully have it sink in, thanks for the great content.

Thanks for the great tutorial. I still have some questions. I am designing one for my personal studio. I have a unique situation. I am a guitar player and have alot of outboard gear. So I am trying to set up my 002 rack, and multiple guitar preamp (Ada mp1, ada mp2, etc.) Along with a lexicon mpx1 and alesis midiverb fx processors and some compressors/dynamics units (3630 comp, bbe 462, behringer EQ, ). I am trying to set it up in a way that will allow me to use 1 of the guitar pres, and allow me to patch it to different config of the other gear depending on my need at that time. So each guitar pre has a left and right output. I could route those to the inputs on the compressor. Then have another patch set up for the effects return& send and patch that to the mpx2 effects unit. Then route the output of the effects to input #7 &8 on the 002r and the guitar preamp back to inputs 1&2 on the 002r. (Allowing me to maintain an unaffected guitar channel in case I change my mind) My question is in this design which w o uld be my best option? Thanks in advance

🎉

Hallelujah ! now I get it HAHAHAHAHA. Thanks to you

Hey thanks for the video, it was what I was looking for! By the way, how do you like the VLA II? Will it bring at least some of the "valve warmth" or is it more "transparent"? :D

11:28 you point to the half normal diagram yet say "were in normal mode".. was kinda confusing. but I herd you say "were putting this in normal mode" in the setup so I figured it was just a mistake.. thanks for the vid

I have everything hooked up to my scarlet 18i20. Focusrite control is pathed right. I get signal through all components. However, I get no signal in my daw (Yes it's set up to send and receive signal through designated outputs/inputs) I get no instrument signal, only static, and sometimes feedback if I ever so slightly raise the volume. I'm at a loss.

Best explanation keeping starters in mind with practical info unlike most KZfaq vids where mostly people showing off their gear. Thank you. I also want to connect my preamps with phantom powered mics. Is that possible? Cheers

Hi Thanks for the explanation. How would i set up a Sidechain ? I have two types of Compressor one has an Insert type (dbx 266xs) Sidechain input and a (Furman LC-6 ) which has an IN & OUT Jack for each Sidechain. From your Video would the Insert one use Normal? Not got a clue about the other one. It states that the dbx one if a jack is inserted it breaks the connection from the INPUT jack to the 266xs detection circuit. So if it was Normal it would complete the circuit until i send a signal through the patchbay input? Does that sound about right? Any help would be appreciated :)

Ok still a little confused. But with this. If I connect all my hardware from my audio rack into the back of my patch bay. If I want to reorder things like say I want a certain compressor first before a limited or something, I can do that from the front? Instead of having to turn my rack around to have a different signal chain?

Great Video thanks. Are there any patchbays with quarter inch and XLR inputs? how would I manage to plug in a few mics and my xlr out guitar amp to a patchbay? Simply use an XLR to two stereo 1/4" converter?

First comment!!! Keep it up dude...

♥️💛💙💚💜❤️

This was very useful, thanks. A quick question re the cabling and patching. I imagine if your compressor has XLR only you'd use an XLR to balanced cable going in and out of the back yes? Also, your patch cables at the front, are they balanced/TRS?

I just bought this same patchbay and have never had multiple hard synths before recently. I'm hoping to use it to organize my 4 retro 19" rackmount synths so I can have a single set of 2 TRS cables going from the patchbay to my USB audio interface (an m-audio 192/14). I have 3 more modern non-rackmount synths to connect to the rest of the inputs on the USB interface itself. Am I correct in saying that I would plug the L&R from each rack synth into the TOP inputs on the back (1&2, 3&4, etc), the cables going to the USB interface on the two BOTTOM outputs on the back of a separate channel (e.g. 9&10), and then use patch cables on the front to quickly patch between say the L&R on channels 1&2 (top) to the outputs of 9&10 (bottom)? Apologies if this doesn't make sense, I'm a nube at this. I'm just looking for the quickest way to switch between the rack synths, which will be listened to through the speakers attached to the USB interface, and used as external synths within Ableton, and not much else other than that (e.g. I don't intend on buying any rack mounted compressors or FX ...not in the near future anyhow!). If possible I would also like to be able to 'stack' the rackmount synths though (i.e. so I can have sound coming from more than 1 rack synth simultaneously).

How would you recommend setting up API lunch box DB25 to trs jack for patchbay. I also run a White industries vintage to channel EQ And a antelope Synergy core discreet 8. Plus rack another 8 tracks clocked and a extra mastering unit. All set within a custom desk 30 degree angles cut through so easy access to change the configuration. I am running a neutral NYS-SPP-L1 It's settings are half normalled split and isolated. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Absolutely fantastic video by the way. 🙌

That was terrific, thank you. That got my head starting to be able to process the routing and "half normal" weirdness. Speaking of routing, that's a lot of cabling! Four cables for one compressor channel! So answer me this...you have your little acoustic track, right? You send it through your compressor for some gentle massaging, then it comes back into the DAW. What if you want to permanently apply that compressor to the track? That's easy to do with a plug in. How would you do that with hardware? Do you have to re-record that track as it plays through the compressor?

No wonder all the 1.5 ft. Monoprice TRS cables were sold out months ago.

Hello i was wondering about hooking up a fmr compressor ? I understand they want unbalanced cable's, and these are balanced, how could we hook that up to work, thanks ! By the way great video a lot of video's do not show it like this thank you again for this !

Im going my mic to the front of my xlr patch bay coming out the back of that into the output row of the trs patch bay. Then im going from my interface xlr mic input into the bottow row input of my trs patchay. Then i set up a outboard mic pre, output of that into top row input of that into bottom.. (once i patched it.. everything is clear and fine im getting clean signal etc..) i then added my distressor compressor, output of that into output of tra patchay and input of that into bottow row of trs patchbay. NOW AS SOON AS I PATCH/ SEND SIGNAL FROM MY MIC PRE TO THE compressor i get this insane white noise like when you would leave your tv on channel 3 ive tried everything with no luck.. help? :(

Hi. What trs cables are you using?

Have an intricate question regarding the patchbay. Wondering if you may be able to help?

Great video. Are you still happy with the ART p48? Some budget patchbays tend to get wobbly sockets after some time and I'm in the market for something rigid. Would appreciate your input.

🤣 abby-normal. Love that movie

If I only have stereo outputs 1 & 2 on my scarlett 2i4 (and not use the unbalanced RCA outputs), is it possible to still route to my outboard compressor and somehow route it back into my interface to hear it thru my monitors? Can that be done with a patchbay somehow?

Interesting that the button to change the flow is on the back of a device designed to eliminate the need to access the back of your gear. Why not on the front?

So wait. Let's say you have a mixer you put the XLR mic into the regular XLR input and then you put the output of the mixer into the patchbay and then back into a line in input of the mixer under that XLR?

So in short words you end up using a ton of cables to loop one acoustic guitar signal out to a compressor and back in to the soundcard. I bought a patchbay not really knowing what to use it for and now I´m even more confused lol. I´m seriously starting to doubt I got any use for a patchbay in my home recording studio other than to save wear on the ports of my gear from constantly plugin cables in and out of it. At least since I mostly do "traditional" recording with preamps and mics.

it looks like you are using monoprice TRS cables. I have heard some good things and a few bad things. Do those have any issues? The few I have seen have really thick cable, which may just be thin wire and lots of plastic around the wire. Thoughts on these cables? Also, what kind of interface is that?

Abi-Normal.... I got that reference 😏

Can this be used with an Apollo twin so I can patch things to the trs input

Can you use patchbays as additional inputs on your interface/mixer?

Can a patchbay act as a mixer? E.G., say I have a 12 channel mixer but I need 16 channels. If I’m ok with not being able to adjust the volume, etc, would this work?

I label cables with tape and write the name of the device on each end of the cable.

nice from india

how do you set through mode ?

Do the quality of the patch cables matter here?

Would you be able to help me set up my studio ?

Next do "Hooking up with a patchbay"

So say if I grab the new autaria fuse audio pre8 can I use four outboard gear with the patchbay. And do it matter on the audiointerface outside and in. I just sub too dooe vid strait to the point.

Really good video man , would have loved to see the xlr patchbay !

LOL surprised nobody caught the AB-Normal

You mean Abi normal. Young Frankenstein.

Witchcraft!!!

You could’ve just measured the plugs on all the cables to find the issue quicker ?

He said to Jack into the front...now my patch bay is ruined. 😂. But Seriously, very good video.

I hate the fact that the switches are on the BACK. For a synth person, it makes no sense to me, there are times where I want to split/duplicate the signal and other times not....

No help for me. You've got the patch pay in front of the camera and can't see the the second connections.