HELP! how do i setup a patchbay?

[starfugger]

i hate it. i hate reaching for cables at the back of a unit. i hate moving the table and then squeezing in dark, small spaces to plug/unplug xlr conectors ... i HATE it.    it takes forever, not to mention it opens the possibility for accidents.

how do i setup a patchbay?  what kind of connectors do i need?

i have the following rack equipment:

rme fireface with balanced ins and outs, 4 xlr mic pre's, digital ins and outs
joemeek vc-1 with xlr and line inputs, and xlr and balanced trs connectors
art tube Mp - 1 xlr in and 1 xlr out
dbx 165 overeasy compressor - 1 xlr in and 1 xlr out
aphex1100A - 1 digital xlr aes/eub out, 2 - balanced trs out, 2 xlr outs, 2 xlr in's
behringer ada8000 (to follow) - 8 xlr inputs (i think)
alesis d4 with midi in outs and 12 trigger inputs, 4 master outputs
1 samson headfones amp with 2 in and 5 headfones out
small peavey unity 300 mixer

that's about it more or less.  please, just give me an idea how this should be setup
do i need more than 1 24-ch patchbay? thanks.

[abyssinianson]

for a patchbay, you will need 1/4" TRS connectors, balanced or unbalanced depending on what your gear supports. you basically connect the in's into the back of the patchbay and use it to take outboard gear in or out of the signal chain going into your fireface RME by connecting them using the front 1/4 jacks on the FRONT of the patchbay. normally, people would use big consoles that are capable of inserts and AUX blends but since I am not familiar with your Peavey mixer, I will assume you mean to get the cleanest route between your instruments and the interface by just inserting and removing the gear in your signal path as required.

in your case, connect the following gear's IN and OUT ports to the back of the patchbay:

joemeek vc-1 with xlr and line inputs, and xlr and balanced trs connectors
art tube Mp - 1 xlr in and 1 xlr out
dbx 165 overeasy compressor - 1 xlr in and 1 xlr out
aphex1100A - 1 digital xlr aes/eub out, 2 - balanced trs out, 2 xlr outs, 2 xlr in's
alesis d4 with midi in outs and 12 trigger inputs, 4 master outputs

next, mark which 1/4 inputs belong to each particular gear. then, if you can, connect the following straight to the RME fireface to utlize the cleanest and most direct route from your mics to the interface:

behringer ada8000 (to follow) - 8 xlr inputs (i think)

the last part to take care of is the samson headfones amp with 2 in and 5 headfones out. connect this straight to the mixer.

to top things off, connect the main stereo OUT from the patchbay to the mixer IN and then route the OUT of the peavey mixer into the RME fireface.

my rationale behind the way i wired the gear is to utlize the freedom of being able to take things out between your amp, mic or processor before the signal gets sent to the fireface. a sample scenario would be:

guitar > patchbay front mono IN (ART Tube MP) > ART MP (IN--OUT) > patchbay front mono OUT > Joe Meek VC 1 patchbay IN > Joe Meek patchbay OUT > patchbay connector wired to the stereo IN of the Peavey mixer> Peavey Stereo OUT > RME Fireface

so you see, since all of the IN and OUT jacks of your gear is available on the front panel of the patchbay, connecting things in a chain is very, very easy.

[starfugger]

hey thanks abyssonian son. i think i get it now.  if you dont mind i have another question.  so i can use xlr->balanced trs cables (xlr on one end-- to be insterted from the gear -- and trs on the other --- to be inserted on the patchbay)? thanks.

[abyssinianson]

yes, you can..usually, TRS balanced and unbalanced haven't seen to matter for me except that I read somewhere that using balanced cables whenever you can, especially with gear capable of balanced connections, you are able to avoid noise issues much better.

[starfugger]

oh and yes another question (they just keep coming dont they?   ).  what about preamps?  aren't mics supposed to be inserted directly in the pre? therefore i just need to label my cables and run them directly into the pre (without passing thru a patchbay)?  thanks abyssinianson!

hazel

[abyssinianson]

correct...you want the shortest and most direct route between your mic, preamp and interface. in my case, I tend to not color my preamp settings with any EQs at all and take care of it inside the sequencer. the bottom line is, you want to get as flat and as pure of a signal as you can that is characteristic of the miked signal so you have a base tone to shape later on.