What if you wanna hookup 5 synths to this and then depending on whatever one you want to route into your audio interface, you just patch it to there? so no bottom plug on the output for each synth, but a single output and no input on the channel for the audio interface?
I think what can add to the confusion sometimes, is our choice of words when describing connections, like "plug the input of your sampler/intertace IN to the output of the patch bay". If we instead describe things in terms of the signal flow, starting at the beginning of the signal chain and ending at the end of the chain, I think that would make more sense to more people. In that case we'd say "plug the output of your synth INTO the input of the patch bay and the output of the patch bay INTO the input of the interface/sampler"; to me that just naturally makes more sense. Does this make sense to anyone else? Personally, when I plug a cable into an output I don't think of it as plugging IN, I think of it as plugging OUT... By the way, great video, as always, thanks Ricky.
Yeah exactly, the flow goes as a waterfall on the front of the patchbay, from top to bottom. Coming out of the top connectors to the ones on the bottom.
Other big benefit Ricky is that it really reduces wear and tear on gear IO’s; better to clap out a $100 patchbay than an expensive or vintage piece of gear.
You have such a gentle, kind way of relaying your knowledge. Such a refreshing video after seeing so many people shouting at me and not really making any sense while they're doing it. Showing your flaws and mistakes just makes it all the more relatable. Legend.
I saw a badass routing trick in a video by the guy who made the Minibay. Let’s say you have a sound maker with a stereo output, for example a Volca Sample. Then you plug just the right channel on the patch bay into an fx input, eg a reverb. Now you can pan dry tracks on the Sample to the left and wet tracks to the right! So you can treat tracks differently in one box with one fx input. (The Minibay has a summed feature where you can sum up to three signals, so that you can separate wet from dry, but they’re still going into one input on a mixer, for example).
I don't know many RUclips channels that get 27% of their subscriber base to watch videos 5 days since they are released. Just a testament to how being real, saying what you think, having a voice and sharing the love can create a strong community. Thanks Ricky.
As an electrical engineer its quite easy to understand the concept but I see how it is pretty difficult for people with no background in electronics. Keep up the good work. Those "simple" videos are what makes your channel great. Not just gear reviews (which are awesome btw.) but everyday things that make live or gear easy to use and understand.
This is great. I bought a patchbay about 3 months ago, when it arrived I read the manual, realized I was confused, and it's been sitting on my desk taunting me ever since. I think I know how to set it up now in a permanent-ish way.
Truly a game changer! I find myself quite often depressed about the limited and inflexible routing capabilities of hardware mixers, like limited amount of channels, sends, receives etc., especially with regards to using FX or quickly sampling something into (or from) a device or DAW. I always thought I had to step up the game and go for a bigger mixer with more channels, with the 'perfect' routing etc... Just to browse gear websites and to find out that you can spend hundreds or thousands on mixers, and would _still_ be stuck with a relatively inflexible routing. And after all, for the typical (home) production use cases there is no need at all to mix together 16 signals or so at the _same_ time. Well, good to learn from that video that I just need a patch bay instead, and probably all routing dreams will be leveraged forever ❤
this was WONDERFUL! I had a patch bay setup years ago and I run my whole studio wired through it but I had someone else set it up and I've been just using it and not fully understanding how it worksBUT! thanks to you NOW I GET IT !! hahaha! I love your channel this channel is easily one of thee best channels on music on youtube YOU ARE APPRECIATED.
What a bro! when i've been trying to find info about patchbays otherwise they've always been the pure technical explanation of them (as i study audio production @uni this is no surprise) but i don't think i've ever found an explanation as concise as this. Straight 10/10.
Thank you Brother, your explanation was very simple and fresh, I've always wondered how the patchbay worked, and now I finally understand it, thank you very much, Blessings from Caracas-Venezuela
Yo. This was super helpful. Was literally pricing patchbays last week and stopped suddenly when i realized I didn't quite understand how it works. Thanks!
I am not sure how I fell into musician youtube - I have zero musical talent and am awfully intimidated by it all - but you are making me wish that I did! This was a great explainer! In what, just fifteen minutes, you took me from not really understanding what a patch bay is at all to having what I think is a really solid mental model for how the four jacks of a single channel on a patch bay work, to the point where I *think* I can probably draw a schematic diagram of what's going on, and *maybe* even make a single channel patchbay unit on a breadboard! (though electrically that would absolutely be terrible - there'd be horrible electrical noise just due to the way breadboards work)
This was the video that I first found years ago that led me to your channel. Good meeting you in person today! and thanks for all the advice over the years.
Thanks so much for this. My right-brainedness has been having trouble processing the process of using a patch bay and getting all my gear setup and ready to go at a moments notice. This clarified a lot of stuff for me.
I had a great studio systems tech professor in college (music tech/audio engineering program) and he must've said "outputs over inputs" thousands of times when we covered patchbays and that must be what it takes to remember because i can still hear him now :D
Thanks for this - my old Tascam rack mixer stopped working - I have been using it to select a (only ever one) synth and record back to DAW for years - When I saw this I couldn't believe that this is what I was after (never needed a mixer at all). I found an old patchbay at a secondhand store. It is probably some kind of IQ test, which I am failing often, but I think I understand now thanks to you and the OnceUponASynth video - amazing!
This is the solution! Now I can byu more gear without feeling bad for the stuff that is sitting around unused. From now on, everything shall be connected!
Just wanted to say thanks! This video taught me what the uses of a patch bay really are, and made me finally get one for myself, and it is a game changer! If you have a fair amount of hardware, say synthesizers, some effect units, perhaps a preamp, and on top of that some random gear you use now and then, a patch bay is the key to actually being able to use all your stuff.
Ricky, I'm really happy you made this. But as the case with all of your videos, I love (especially during the pandemic) that it feels like we're just two friends hanging out in a room while you talk about what's on your mind. I haven't been able to see my friends much during the last four months, but it used to be that whenever one of us would pick up new gear, we'd hang out and try it out, and discuss what it does and what we're going to use it for, etc.. A lot like you do on your channel. So, thanks for illusion of normalcy.
I’m a few months into my synthdiy journey, this video was great for me as someone who’s never really been in someone else’s studio. I had no idea about what patch bays were, now I’m excited about them and going to make one for myself! Thanks, you got a new sub.
god thank you for being so down to earth about this, I've watched 3+ vids and I struggled translating them into how to use em with my setup until this one
This video, and more to the point,, your casual every guy mannerisms just compelled me to subscribe. You come off as a cool dude, the kind of person anyone would count lucky to have a beer with. Best regards
Have been on the fence and this pushed me over. I need a few more cables but love the new setup, especially with the Thru option on the Samson. Thanks for all the videos and for changing my desktop world with this one!
This just took me back to 2003 when I took an audio engineering class. Using the patchbay to route the school's buchla 200 through a gold plate reverb and record to digital performer, wish I saw this video then I hardly knew what I was doing.
im sitting here shopping for a patchbay thinking about how im going to route everything and so on. And then PLING a notification showing me that you want to tell me all about patchbays :) Lovley
We used to call that "Sniff & Break" Top row are Un-normalised outputs and Botom row are Normalised inputs as you have shown. So you can take a 'Sniff' of the signal IN/OUT from the Top or 'Break' the Path when you plug something into the Input on the bottom. That's fine for In/Out or Insert Points BUT then if you just want to present individual jacks from the back of equipment you 'Usually' just Flip the card around and the permanently plugged in rear side always breaks the connection between Top and Bottom , giving you a simple output. I know YOU knew that Ricky but the vid only hinted at the last bit. 😉
Nice video! I have 5 rack synths - MKS-80, MKS-70, JD-990, EMU 9090 and a TX-802 and at first my assumption was - get a mixer and throw everything in and have L/R out to an audio interface and into the mac and use the mixer to control levels - or get an audio interface with 10 or more inputs. I then realized - I don’t need to listen to or record all the synths at the same time, so I don’t need the mixer, and as for the audio interface - a Scarlett 18i20 is powerful but ridiculously expensive, so I got a 4i4 (a 2i2 would do it too) and got the Samson 48 point balanced patch bay, plugged the 5 synths into the 10 “ins” on the back with my most used synth on the first 2, have the first 2 outs on the back of the patchbay always going to the Scarlett, and then just use patch cables on the front to choose which synth I want to go to the Scarlett. For example - 1 and 2 on the back is my MKS-80. 25 and 26 directly below that on the back go out to the Scarlett. 3 and 4 on the back is the JD-990. If I want to record or listen to the MKS - I don’t need to do anything. If I want to listen to the JD-990, just plug patch cables from 3 to 25 and from 4 and 26 on the front. As for effects - I just add it between the patch bay out to the Scarlett in.
What an amazing video! I’ve been so curious about the whole patch bay thing but never understood it all. This dude took the time to go over some really helpful knowledge that I don’t seem to find to much help about! Thanks Ricky! Your channel is dynamite!
Only downvotes are from people who have never felt the joy of buying utility stuff :) makes it easier/faster to get the idea from inside your brain, into a recording. Great vid.
This was very good, Ricky! I used this to educate somebody about how to wire their patchbay a thousand miles away. With that said, it would have really benefitted from editing out mistakes in terminology, and getting rid of the self-deprecation as it casts doubt on the content being correct, it's fine in other videos, but when it comes to tutorial/educational content, I think it's important to be not just correct first time, but also concise. Otherwise, great stuff. Stay well!
Thank you very much, you explained it simply and understandably, finally I can use the 2 patchbays I have for several years just as they are to be used!
I put off buying patchbays for ages thinking 'Not necessary, what's the point? Rather spend the $ on sexier gear.' Now I've finally bought a couple I don't know how I lived without them. One of the best things about them is that they make me use gear regularly that otherwise would be sitting on a shelf or in a drawer. I'd say to anyone that once you have enough gear that you're not using any piece because you can't be bothered to go through the hassle of getting it out of a drawer/off a shelf, finding cables and plugging it in just to see what something might sound like in a certain context - buy a patchbay! The Samson s-patch is really good.
Loved the video! I actually went and got the Samson patchbay after seeing OnceUponASynth's video showing how they worked. Once you start wrapping your head around the routing and all a patchbay becomes a crucial part of your studio, it makes everything work so much smoothly! Really appreciate your work, Ricky.
Thank you for this! I was looking for a good simple approach at understanding since I just picked up a Samson 48 patch bay. Glad I came across your video! Now I get it as it was recommended to me a while ago to invest in one but I always thought it was for people with “real” setups like serious musicians such as yourself. I’m running the Peak, Analog Four and MPC Live into the OT (what an amazing device that I finally received last week!). Was trying to figure out how to get everything to run through the OT for recording and triggering/control while always having that MPC ready for samples without unplugging constantly. Now I get it! I’ll check at that link and tell him you sent props. Good deal, Ricky. Respect.
This is great man, thank you. I've been researching a patch bay and how it could simplify my studio setup. I've watched other videos, but yours is the most clear. I love that you go through live routing examples and also admit the "beginner" mistakes you made (hell, I would have done the same!). Huge help.
I just bought one one week ago (in France); and I have to admit as a beginner it was very difficult to me to understand how u have to plug it... I looked on the Internet and I found nothing... Anyway, thank to a previous video of Ricky, I finally understood how does it work... My point is I am sure that this brand new video about patchbay will be useful to a lots of people.
I also had a hard time figuring it out. I looked for youtube videos. It's been a studio standard for so long that maybe people don't want or need to revisit it. I had to do some tests with one in hand to get my head around it. There are some conventions out there to keep you sane and organized. It can be just a mind bender sometimes. I have mine labeled and understood but I still talk to myself when changing routing. I think I have a very cool and unique setup with the octatrack and samson mixers with the sends but it's not at all perfect or a massive real studio console. I should make a video about it ... :\
@@RickyTinez Hello, Ricky. Your videos are a great help to me : especially the last videos where u described your process/workflow with your MPC, etc. I have been owning studio gears for many years but my studio was not very organized and it was boring to use all my gears... Therefore I just did not want to make music anymore... Then I found your channel, and watch several times your videos where you described your workflow, how u use the mpc then record the whole thing in Ableton, etc. And it made me reorganize my studio, buying a Behringer patchbay and changing the way I made music before... Now, I feel very happy when I enter my studio (which is in my bedroom, by the way ;o) ) So, as the Frenchs say: " Merci beaucoup à vous, Ricky ! " Seriously, I mean it: thank you very much, u save my studio and my love to make music, Ricky.
And for those who want to totally get rid of cables on the front side while still being able to create complex signal chains, I can recommend the Flock Audio Patch. It uses a computer app to change the routings and has D-Sub ports on the back that can be converted to jacks or XLR using breakout cables.
Bit off topic but I couldn't help but notice the Focusrite Pro 40 there. I had the same converters for several years. I always felt they were solid and had no qualms about the output. They reeally are solid, that box has good mic-pres, lots of I/o for the time, recorded hundreds of pieces through them. I added, not traded, an Apogee Duet firewire on a separete Mac Pro machine and the sound difference was incredible. I'm not going to say better, but the Apogee converters definitely sounded more musical and rich. Hang on for the next move. After six years I finally got my Burl B80 mothership with 4 in and 8 out starting configuration(can go up to 80 with cards). These are the best converters I've ever heard by a universe or 2. Most of the big studios are adopting them. Not cheap, but the difference between my output no and the good ole Focusrite was almost impossible to describe. Highly recommended.
Iv been wanting to explore patch bays for a while as my gear collection is growing and I have to keep unplugging stuff, actually so fucking intimidated by them, until I watched this. 10/10 explanation man, totally get it. Legend. Thanks for your time, vids are always so helpful. 🤙🏻
Watching this makes me really glad I work with a) an iPad and b) a four-in/two-out Steinberg interface. When something just drops out I know it’s the synth, not the way it’s connected.
I use my patchbay to mirror my mixers inputs and to patch in my synths and MPC. Good for connection options and ease of use. Great content as always Ricky 🙏🏾👊🏾
i aint even watched the whole vid yet but thanks im coming from always being inside the box only usings daw's but recently i copped a bunch of synths and some oldschools effects spring reverbs delays ect but i got overwhelmed and had no clue how to ''hook it all up'' what you showed was simple but made a ton of sense so far so thanksss man !! deffo about to sub ! peeacee
I picked up the Behringer Ultrapatch Pro, they're cheap as chips and have switches for normal, half-normal and thru. I didn't want to fork out too much as I wasn't sure I needed one or not, I looked at the Samson and I reckon that's the obvious choice for quality. Turns out I really did need it, it's been a real help. I've had to dismantle everything whilst I'm in-between permanent residencies and only have a temporary set-up that I'm hooking up differently all the time. Everything gets messy really quickly and I find that I'm fairly often taking everything apart and hooking it up again far too often so I'm going to put it back in. I could definitely do with another. The more I think about it, the more ways I think of using it, I guess I mean I've realised how to use it properly. Tonight is patch bay night and I needed a reminder on setting it up, was happy to see one of your videos on just the thing I was after, not quite sure how I missed it, I normally watch them all, They're great, this was very helpful.
I use the Behringer px3000 its a superb patchbay .its a 48 channel patchbay and it offers 3 switchable modes. Each channel has a switch so u can choose what you want that channel to be full,half,normal. I use it instead of my mixer and I have it hooked up a a 8 channel interface which is then connected to my Apollo twin. It’s very clean ,no interference,and I have everything patched into it so I can send any input to anywhere and route how I want too via a couple of guitar pedal cables on the from of the patchbay. Ohh yeah and the best thing is it’s around $60 it’s a must have try it Ricky it’s better than the Samson.
Smh I already know all this, and literally just spent two weeks rewiring my studio and patchbays (so the knowledge is very fresh in my head.) yet I still watched this whole video because I find your presentation style simply inviting and enjoyable. Another great video Ricky.
Thanks for the video! 👍As a home user with a small studio with very few hardware gear except the audio interface and some other stuff I dont think I need this just yet anyway... With time buying more and more outboard gear like preamps, compressors, etc I guess it would become a good thing though. Seems very useful!
@Cucker Tarlson Patch-bays predate the use of computers in recording. No one is denying that 'Plugin' as a noun refers to software. The idea of Plugging in however comes from Patchbays and before those, telephone switchboards.
@Cucker Tarlson Talk about 'walking back'. First person to use the term in connection with software, I think you'll find if you were better informed yourself. Babbage ? A fine example of the use of plugins to be sure. You seem to have taken a position based on presumptions or may be assumptions. It's an trap those of limited experience often fall into. As an old campaigner of the tape based recording days I have my memories rather than Wikipedia to aide me. A fine resource though it is.
I love this historical stuff, I grew up with my father's WW2 stories. Back in the 70s, College tried to steer me toward computing but I was drawn to recording and electronics. A life well squandered ... 😊 Later on I had the privilege to work at with a gentleman who had worked at Bletchley Park during WW2. Not directly on the Colossus itself but related engineering. 🎆 Got to keep learning though. These days my interest has returned to Geology, Silver Surfer style. It's good to have something that's not all music related.
@Cucker Tarlson Regular little ray of sunshine aren't we ? Not sure what audio tape recording has to do with a discussion on recording studio patch-bays ? I have tried to avoid making a 'claim to authority' here and will continue so to do, despite being confronted by such a supercilious attitude. Btw, Last time I looked, a 'Phrase' required there to be more than one word. Do try and learn to conduct a debate with out lowering the tone eh? Point scoring isn't a good look and is not at all helpful.
I have all my pedals and fx running through my patchbay. Makes daisy-chaining different combinations super easy. Another cool trick: lots of synths have input jacks for using their filters or onboard fx. Perfect for routing to the patchbay for instant access.
I have been dealing with should I do this or what for a while now! And after watching your video you have convinced me to get a patch bay. Adding more gear I out grew my Mackie 1202 and bought another 1202 and then using a Boss BR1600 for more inputs with all of this going into a 2 channel interface to record, something had to give. I had to move cables to sample, effects, vocoders and experiment. More cables were the issue with everything currently midi hub, USB hub and audio almost had me looking at in the box. However as a keyboard player it ain't the same. So I am ordering the Samson S after watching OnceUponASynth. I am convinced that I need a patch bay.
I'm here watching this again, because I couldn't remember how it worked. As a guitar player, this is an effects loop. That's how effects loops on guitar amps work. Hopefully, I won't have trouble remember this stuff now. :)
Thanks as always for the quality content! Did have a couple questions for you or the other viewers here. 1. If I have a ton of guitar pedals I'd like to use with all of my synths / drum machines as well, is it possible to route a guitar into a patch bay? I was thinking maybe having an "in front of amp" as well as spots for the fx loop built into my amp. 2. How do you wire a stereo pedal, for example a meris mercury 7 which only has one trs input and 2 outputs? I'd guess just a y cable? 3. Lastly, if I have outboard stereo pedals in my patch bay, can I also use them as mono fx without rewiring the back of the patch bay? Thanks to anyone and everyone for their 2 cents and for reading
Weird... I’ve been sorting out my patch bay this weekend! I’m using 3 Samson units to hook up everything in my studio. I also found some cool split dual neutrik cables that will give me a bit more flexibility than half-normal routing. 1. Mono synths/Individual Outs Soundcard Inputs 2. Stereo Synths/Effects Soundcard Inputs 3. Aux/Cue Mixer Inputs/Aux Return/Effects Inputs Basically, 1&2 land the outputs from my synths etc and give me quick access to recording. 3 sets up my mixer channels and it’s effects routing. Plus I’ve got patch points to any other audio inputs (e.g. record in on octatrack or guitar tuner input). I could maybe see myself adding a 4th bay for modular inputs/outputs, as some of my synths have cv I/o. Worth noting that patching like this does bump the cost of cabling quite a bit. Effectively 2-3 times the number of cables - this was surprisingly a lot more than the price of the patch bays for my studio.
Nice to see. Good to remember: Do I even need a patch bay? > Yes, because I have tons of outboard gear and instruments but not enough ins and outs on my interface. > No, because I have enough ins and out so everything is connected all time.
OnceUponASynth vid here - ruclips.net/video/Ie8J_XjOaFw/видео.html
As well as the Samson patchbay I was talking about - amzn.to/3h2smk2
Dope video but that link is dead for me.
@@toastyghosty489 The link works for me
What if you wanna hookup 5 synths to this and then depending on whatever one you want to route into your audio interface, you just patch it to there? so no bottom plug on the output for each synth, but a single output and no input on the channel for the audio interface?
Can confirm that the Samson one is very good!
Are you familiar with the BoredBrain Patchulator 8000? Never knew I needed, couldn't live without.
I think what can add to the confusion sometimes, is our choice of words when describing connections, like "plug the input of your sampler/intertace IN to the output of the patch bay". If we instead describe things in terms of the signal flow, starting at the beginning of the signal chain and ending at the end of the chain, I think that would make more sense to more people.
In that case we'd say "plug the output of your synth INTO the input of the patch bay and the output of the patch bay INTO the input of the interface/sampler"; to me that just naturally makes more sense.
Does this make sense to anyone else?
Personally, when I plug a cable into an output I don't think of it as plugging IN, I think of it as plugging OUT...
By the way, great video, as always, thanks Ricky.
you are right yes .
Yeah exactly, the flow goes as a waterfall on the front of the patchbay, from top to bottom. Coming out of the top connectors to the ones on the bottom.
YES!!!!
I would agree. ❤️🤘🏼
I do the same so I understand my own routing better bc I lose myself easily on stage and hooking up rack gear in the home studio
Best explanation of normal half normal patch bay on the whole internet
Other big benefit Ricky is that it really reduces wear and tear on gear IO’s; better to clap out a $100 patchbay than an expensive or vintage piece of gear.
Yeah, I never thought about it that way! That is a completely valid point
my analog keys headphone output has a broken tip from a jack plug stuck in it, that was a major reason why i bought a patch bay.
Even just moving the gear around to get to the output will cause wear and tear
Leslie Dugger or could drop a heavy keyboard or something.
Burp Robrox totally! I have a Jupiter 8 I’d hate see crash on the floor or on my foot!
You have such a gentle, kind way of relaying your knowledge. Such a refreshing video after seeing so many people shouting at me and not really making any sense while they're doing it. Showing your flaws and mistakes just makes it all the more relatable. Legend.
Finally a plug in play tutorial .. I dont know wh ypeople do tutorials with literature explanations instead of just physically showing ! TY
You've just won the "Most Useful Video On RUclips" Award. Just bought one of these and was trying to figure out how to route everything. Thank you!
I saw a badass routing trick in a video by the guy who made the Minibay. Let’s say you have a sound maker with a stereo output, for example a Volca Sample. Then you plug just the right channel on the patch bay into an fx input, eg a reverb. Now you can pan dry tracks on the Sample to the left and wet tracks to the right! So you can treat tracks differently in one box with one fx input. (The Minibay has a summed feature where you can sum up to three signals, so that you can separate wet from dry, but they’re still going into one input on a mixer, for example).
I don't know many RUclips channels that get 27% of their subscriber base to watch videos 5 days since they are released. Just a testament to how being real, saying what you think, having a voice and sharing the love can create a strong community. Thanks Ricky.
Thank you for your simplified approach. No one could ever break it down to me like you do ! Your Awesome Dude !
As an electrical engineer its quite easy to understand the concept but I see how it is pretty difficult for people with no background in electronics.
Keep up the good work.
Those "simple" videos are what makes your channel great. Not just gear reviews (which are awesome btw.) but everyday things that make live or gear easy to use and understand.
This is great. I bought a patchbay about 3 months ago, when it arrived I read the manual, realized I was confused, and it's been sitting on my desk taunting me ever since. I think I know how to set it up now in a permanent-ish way.
Dude I've been trying to wrap my head around a patch bay forever. Your short hands-on video explains it all...I can see clearly now. Thanks Ricky.
Perfect Saturday content.
Truly a game changer! I find myself quite often depressed about the limited and inflexible routing capabilities of hardware mixers, like limited amount of channels, sends, receives etc., especially with regards to using FX or quickly sampling something into (or from) a device or DAW. I always thought I had to step up the game and go for a bigger mixer with more channels, with the 'perfect' routing etc... Just to browse gear websites and to find out that you can spend hundreds or thousands on mixers, and would _still_ be stuck with a relatively inflexible routing. And after all, for the typical (home) production use cases there is no need at all to mix together 16 signals or so at the _same_ time. Well, good to learn from that video that I just need a patch bay instead, and probably all routing dreams will be leveraged forever ❤
I went and bought a patch bay because of this video. It's made a load of difference when reconfiguring my setup. Thank you!
this was WONDERFUL! I had a patch bay setup years ago and I run my whole studio wired through it
but I had someone else set it up and I've been just using it and not fully understanding how it worksBUT! thanks to you NOW I GET IT !! hahaha! I love your channel this channel is easily one of thee best channels on music on youtube YOU ARE APPRECIATED.
What a bro! when i've been trying to find info about patchbays otherwise they've always been the pure technical explanation of them (as i study audio production @uni this is no surprise) but i don't think i've ever found an explanation as concise as this. Straight 10/10.
Thank you Brother, your explanation was very simple and fresh, I've always wondered how the patchbay worked, and now I finally understand it, thank you very much, Blessings from Caracas-Venezuela
great tutorial, its nice to see you moving the cables arround and showing how it works and how the signal is routed. thanks !!!
Yo. This was super helpful. Was literally pricing patchbays last week and stopped suddenly when i realized I didn't quite understand how it works. Thanks!
I am not sure how I fell into musician youtube - I have zero musical talent and am awfully intimidated by it all - but you are making me wish that I did! This was a great explainer! In what, just fifteen minutes, you took me from not really understanding what a patch bay is at all to having what I think is a really solid mental model for how the four jacks of a single channel on a patch bay work, to the point where I *think* I can probably draw a schematic diagram of what's going on, and *maybe* even make a single channel patchbay unit on a breadboard! (though electrically that would absolutely be terrible - there'd be horrible electrical noise just due to the way breadboards work)
This was the video that I first found years ago that led me to your channel. Good meeting you in person today! and thanks for all the advice over the years.
Thanks so much for this. My right-brainedness has been having trouble processing the process of using a patch bay and getting all my gear setup and ready to go at a moments notice. This clarified a lot of stuff for me.
I had a great studio systems tech professor in college (music tech/audio engineering program) and he must've said "outputs over inputs" thousands of times when we covered patchbays and that must be what it takes to remember because i can still hear him now :D
hahaha I'm going to go to bed saying those words tonight so I don't forget
Watched this several times now - takes a while to sink in, but cool and fun. Thanks Ricky ✌
Thanks for this - my old Tascam rack mixer stopped working - I have been using it to select a (only ever one) synth and record back to DAW for years - When I saw this I couldn't believe that this is what I was after (never needed a mixer at all). I found an old patchbay at a secondhand store. It is probably some kind of IQ test, which I am failing often, but I think I understand now thanks to you and the OnceUponASynth video - amazing!
I had no idea that a patch bay could be used as a plug-and-play effects send! Looks like I’m going to have to buy one now.
thnx man. this answered some questions that a lot of other videos ignored. much appreciated.
This is the solution!
Now I can byu more gear without feeling bad for the stuff that is sitting around unused.
From now on, everything shall be connected!
Just wanted to say thanks! This video taught me what the uses of a patch bay really are, and made me finally get one for myself, and it is a game changer! If you have a fair amount of hardware, say synthesizers, some effect units, perhaps a preamp, and on top of that some random gear you use now and then, a patch bay is the key to actually being able to use all your stuff.
O M G...I need one of these, but I would never be able to figure this out..Well, not Never, but it would take me longer, without this. Thanks, Ricky!
Ricky, I'm really happy you made this. But as the case with all of your videos, I love (especially during the pandemic) that it feels like we're just two friends hanging out in a room while you talk about what's on your mind. I haven't been able to see my friends much during the last four months, but it used to be that whenever one of us would pick up new gear, we'd hang out and try it out, and discuss what it does and what we're going to use it for, etc.. A lot like you do on your channel. So, thanks for illusion of normalcy.
I’m a few months into my synthdiy journey, this video was great for me as someone who’s never really been in someone else’s studio. I had no idea about what patch bays were, now I’m excited about them and going to make one for myself! Thanks, you got a new sub.
I got a patch bay because of this video. It's taken me a couple of re-watches to completely grasp things.
god thank you for being so down to earth about this, I've watched 3+ vids and I struggled translating them into how to use em with my setup until this one
I've had a patchbay for years but never really used it. This makes so much sense. Thank you!
This video, and more to the point,, your casual every guy mannerisms just compelled me to subscribe. You come off as a cool dude, the kind of person anyone would count lucky to have a beer with.
Best regards
Ok so turns out i've been using my patch bay wrong for the whole time and this makes so much more sense. This was REALLY helpful, thanks!
Man I love the way this dude explains things, I finally get it.
This is exactly what my studio needs. Started feeling like too much gear, but no more. Thanks
Have been on the fence and this pushed me over. I need a few more cables but love the new setup, especially with the Thru option on the Samson. Thanks for all the videos and for changing my desktop world with this one!
This just took me back to 2003 when I took an audio engineering class. Using the patchbay to route the school's buchla 200 through a gold plate reverb and record to digital performer, wish I saw this video then I hardly knew what I was doing.
im sitting here shopping for a patchbay thinking about how im going to route everything and so on. And then PLING a notification showing me that you want to tell me all about patchbays :) Lovley
We used to call that "Sniff & Break"
Top row are Un-normalised outputs and Botom row are Normalised inputs as you have shown.
So you can take a 'Sniff' of the signal IN/OUT from the Top or 'Break' the Path when you plug something into the Input on the bottom.
That's fine for In/Out or Insert Points BUT then if you just want to present individual jacks from the back of equipment you 'Usually' just Flip the card around and the permanently plugged in rear side always breaks the connection between Top and Bottom , giving you a simple output.
I know YOU knew that Ricky but the vid only hinted at the last bit. 😉
So glad you had second thoughts and played us out. 😄
Man ur awesome! I been seeing so much videos bout patchbays which suck so hard. U opened my eyes and I finally got it.
Nice video! I have 5 rack synths - MKS-80, MKS-70, JD-990, EMU 9090 and a TX-802 and at first my assumption was - get a mixer and throw everything in and have L/R out to an audio interface and into the mac and use the mixer to control levels - or get an audio interface with 10 or more inputs. I then realized - I don’t need to listen to or record all the synths at the same time, so I don’t need the mixer, and as for the audio interface - a Scarlett 18i20 is powerful but ridiculously expensive, so I got a 4i4 (a 2i2 would do it too) and got the Samson 48 point balanced patch bay, plugged the 5 synths into the 10 “ins” on the back with my most used synth on the first 2, have the first 2 outs on the back of the patchbay always going to the Scarlett, and then just use patch cables on the front to choose which synth I want to go to the Scarlett. For example - 1 and 2 on the back is my MKS-80. 25 and 26 directly below that on the back go out to the Scarlett. 3 and 4 on the back is the JD-990. If I want to record or listen to the MKS - I don’t need to do anything. If I want to listen to the JD-990, just plug patch cables from 3 to 25 and from 4 and 26 on the front. As for effects - I just add it between the patch bay out to the Scarlett in.
What an amazing video! I’ve been so curious about the whole patch bay thing but never understood it all. This dude took the time to go over some really helpful knowledge that I don’t seem to find to much help about! Thanks Ricky! Your channel is dynamite!
Only downvotes are from people who have never felt the joy of buying utility stuff :) makes it easier/faster to get the idea from inside your brain, into a recording. Great vid.
can always count on my dude Ricky to have a video touching on some subject i'm looking into!
This was very good, Ricky! I used this to educate somebody about how to wire their patchbay a thousand miles away. With that said, it would have really benefitted from editing out mistakes in terminology, and getting rid of the self-deprecation as it casts doubt on the content being correct, it's fine in other videos, but when it comes to tutorial/educational content, I think it's important to be not just correct first time, but also concise. Otherwise, great stuff. Stay well!
Thanks for the views and input Hammy!
Thank you very much, you explained it simply and understandably, finally I can use the 2 patchbays I have for several years just as they are to be used!
I put off buying patchbays for ages thinking 'Not necessary, what's the point? Rather spend the $ on sexier gear.' Now I've finally bought a couple I don't know how I lived without them. One of the best things about them is that they make me use gear regularly that otherwise would be sitting on a shelf or in a drawer. I'd say to anyone that once you have enough gear that you're not using any piece because you can't be bothered to go through the hassle of getting it out of a drawer/off a shelf, finding cables and plugging it in just to see what something might sound like in a certain context - buy a patchbay! The Samson s-patch is really good.
Loved the video! I actually went and got the Samson patchbay after seeing OnceUponASynth's video showing how they worked. Once you start wrapping your head around the routing and all a patchbay becomes a crucial part of your studio, it makes everything work so much smoothly! Really appreciate your work, Ricky.
Thank you for this! I was looking for a good simple approach at understanding since I just picked up a Samson 48 patch bay. Glad I came across your video! Now I get it as it was recommended to me a while ago to invest in one but I always thought it was for people with “real” setups like serious musicians such as yourself. I’m running the Peak, Analog Four and MPC Live into the OT (what an amazing device that I finally received last week!). Was trying to figure out how to get everything to run through the OT for recording and triggering/control while always having that MPC ready for samples without unplugging constantly. Now I get it! I’ll check at that link and tell him you sent props. Good deal, Ricky. Respect.
Funny coincidence, I was planning out my patchbay layout, then this video gets recommended 😅
This is great man, thank you. I've been researching a patch bay and how it could simplify my studio setup. I've watched other videos, but yours is the most clear. I love that you go through live routing examples and also admit the "beginner" mistakes you made (hell, I would have done the same!). Huge help.
I just bought one one week ago (in France); and I have to admit as a beginner it was very difficult to me to understand how u have to plug it...
I looked on the Internet and I found nothing...
Anyway, thank to a previous video of Ricky, I finally understood how does it work...
My point is I am sure that this brand new video about patchbay will be useful to a lots of people.
Hopefully you found it helpful! Thanks for the support and I’m happy to help
I also had a hard time figuring it out. I looked for youtube videos. It's been a studio standard for so long that maybe people don't want or need to revisit it. I had to do some tests with one in hand to get my head around it. There are some conventions out there to keep you sane and organized. It can be just a mind bender sometimes. I have mine labeled and understood but I still talk to myself when changing routing. I think I have a very cool and unique setup with the octatrack and samson mixers with the sends but it's not at all perfect or a massive real studio console. I should make a video about it ... :\
@@chris.dillon I would be glad to this video; u should make it.
@@RickyTinez Hello, Ricky. Your videos are a great help to me : especially the last videos where u described your process/workflow with your MPC, etc.
I have been owning studio gears for many years but my studio was not very organized and it was boring to use all my gears... Therefore I just did not want to make music anymore...
Then I found your channel, and watch several times your videos where you described your workflow, how u use the mpc then record the whole thing in Ableton, etc. And it made me reorganize my studio, buying a Behringer patchbay and changing the way I made music before...
Now, I feel very happy when I enter my studio (which is in my bedroom, by the way ;o) )
So, as the Frenchs say: " Merci beaucoup à vous, Ricky ! "
Seriously, I mean it: thank you very much, u save my studio and my love to make music, Ricky.
And for those who want to totally get rid of cables on the front side while still being able to create complex signal chains, I can recommend the Flock Audio Patch. It uses a computer app to change the routings and has D-Sub ports on the back that can be converted to jacks or XLR using breakout cables.
This is the clearest and most coherent way of explaining how to use the patch bay.🔅
Great video! I've been so confused by patchbays! This video was exactly what I needed to know.
Man, I've been struggling with some issues and you helped me out a lot with this video. thanks.
Bit off topic but I couldn't help but notice the Focusrite Pro 40 there. I had the same converters for several years. I always felt they were solid and had no qualms about the output. They reeally are solid, that box has good mic-pres, lots of I/o for the time, recorded hundreds of pieces through them. I added, not traded, an Apogee Duet firewire on a separete Mac Pro machine and the sound difference was incredible. I'm not going to say better, but the Apogee converters definitely sounded more musical and rich. Hang on for the next move. After six years I finally got my Burl B80 mothership with 4 in and 8 out starting configuration(can go up to 80 with cards). These are the best converters I've ever heard by a universe or 2. Most of the big studios are adopting them. Not cheap, but the difference between my output no and the good ole Focusrite was almost impossible to describe. Highly recommended.
Iv been wanting to explore patch bays for a while as my gear collection is growing and I have to keep unplugging stuff, actually so fucking intimidated by them, until I watched this. 10/10 explanation man, totally get it. Legend. Thanks for your time, vids are always so helpful. 🤙🏻
Watching this makes me really glad I work with a) an iPad and b) a four-in/two-out Steinberg interface. When something just drops out I know it’s the synth, not the way it’s connected.
Never could fully wrap my head around these. Have had one sitting in my rack forever lol. Thanks for the breakdown!
This is great info Ricky. You’ve convinced me, I’m gonna pick up a patch bay.
I use my patchbay to mirror my mixers inputs and to patch in my synths and MPC. Good for connection options and ease of use.
Great content as always Ricky 🙏🏾👊🏾
finally understand patchbay now , it is cool and very useful
thanksss
Your comments really helped me a lot, thanks!!
Thanks Ricky, really useful video. I was getting backpain each time that i change my routings
lol this is perfect timing, I literally just got given a free patch bay and a shit ton of 1/4" cords when i bought my mixer recently.
watched this a few times in a row and it helped clarify a lot. thanks!
Just got a Hosa PBH -185. This was super helpful. Thanks!
i aint even watched the whole vid yet but thanks im coming from always being inside the box only usings daw's but recently i copped a bunch of synths and some oldschools effects spring reverbs delays ect but i got overwhelmed and had no clue how to ''hook it all up'' what you showed was simple but made a ton of sense so far so thanksss man !! deffo about to sub ! peeacee
The most vital piece to a studio!
I picked up the Behringer Ultrapatch Pro, they're cheap as chips and have switches for normal, half-normal and thru. I didn't want to fork out too much as I wasn't sure I needed one or not, I looked at the Samson and I reckon that's the obvious choice for quality. Turns out I really did need it, it's been a real help.
I've had to dismantle everything whilst I'm in-between permanent residencies and only have a temporary set-up that I'm hooking up differently all the time. Everything gets messy really quickly and I find that I'm fairly often taking everything apart and hooking it up again far too often so I'm going to put it back in. I could definitely do with another. The more I think about it, the more ways I think of using it, I guess I mean I've realised how to use it properly.
Tonight is patch bay night and I needed a reminder on setting it up, was happy to see one of your videos on just the thing I was after, not quite sure how I missed it, I normally watch them all, They're great, this was very helpful.
Dude this was great! I wish I would have had you as an audio professor. Thanks for the great video!
I use the Behringer px3000 its a superb patchbay .its a 48 channel patchbay and it offers 3 switchable modes.
Each channel has a switch so u can choose what you want that channel to be full,half,normal.
I use it instead of my mixer and I have it hooked up a a 8 channel interface which is then connected to my Apollo twin.
It’s very clean ,no interference,and I have everything patched into it so I can send any input to anywhere and route how I want too via a couple of guitar pedal cables on the from of the patchbay.
Ohh yeah and the best thing is it’s around $60 it’s a must have try it Ricky it’s better than the Samson.
Excellent and Beyond Thanks! This saved me a lot of time and research.
I’ve got two of the Samson’s.... really solid unit.
Agreed just added a Samson patch bay in addition to my other patch bay and the Samson one is far nicer imho. Though doesn’t give much room for labels.
you just saved me a week or three of experimenting
Smh I already know all this, and literally just spent two weeks rewiring my studio and patchbays (so the knowledge is very fresh in my head.) yet I still watched this whole video because I find your presentation style simply inviting and enjoyable. Another great video Ricky.
Thanks for the video. Trying to route all my mpcs and synths. I’m going to have to save this video for reference. Thanks again!
Thanks for the video! 👍As a home user with a small studio with very few hardware gear except the audio interface and some other stuff I dont think I need this just yet anyway... With time buying more and more outboard gear like preamps, compressors, etc I guess it would become a good thing though. Seems very useful!
Maan, i had this patchbay for years, and i have totally misunderstood this.. Feels like an idiot, re-arranging everything now.. Thanks Ricky 🤣
Watched the OnceUponASynth vid a couple days ago and ordered a samson switchable. Still trying to get my head around them and this video is on point!
hahaha, I Ordered a patchbay last week and this comes up today! awesome stuff Ricky
This is the best thing I’ve seen in a while
Everyone's heard of 'Plugins' these days right ?
Well that's where the recording term was hatched.
Plugging hardware rack effects into patchbays.
You just blew my mind! WOAH! Thanks for sharing!
@Cucker Tarlson Patch-bays predate the use of computers in recording.
No one is denying that 'Plugin' as a noun refers to software.
The idea of Plugging in however comes from Patchbays and before those, telephone switchboards.
@Cucker Tarlson Talk about 'walking back'.
First person to use the term in connection with software, I think you'll find if you were better informed yourself.
Babbage ?
A fine example of the use of plugins to be sure.
You seem to have taken a position based on presumptions or may be assumptions.
It's an trap those of limited experience often fall into.
As an old campaigner of the tape based recording days I have my memories rather than Wikipedia to aide me.
A fine resource though it is.
I love this historical stuff, I grew up with my father's WW2 stories.
Back in the 70s, College tried to steer me toward computing but I was drawn to recording and electronics.
A life well squandered ... 😊
Later on I had the privilege to work at with a gentleman who had worked at Bletchley Park during WW2.
Not directly on the Colossus itself but related engineering. 🎆
Got to keep learning though.
These days my interest has returned to Geology, Silver Surfer style.
It's good to have something that's not all music related.
@Cucker Tarlson Regular little ray of sunshine aren't we ?
Not sure what audio tape recording has to do with a discussion on recording studio patch-bays ?
I have tried to avoid making a 'claim to authority' here and will continue so to do, despite being confronted by such a supercilious attitude.
Btw, Last time I looked, a 'Phrase' required there to be more than one word.
Do try and learn to conduct a debate with out lowering the tone eh?
Point scoring isn't a good look and is not at all helpful.
As someone who just wasted 5 months staring at a patchbay, Thank you. xx
I have all my pedals and fx running through my patchbay. Makes daisy-chaining different combinations super easy.
Another cool trick: lots of synths have input jacks for using their filters or onboard fx. Perfect for routing to the patchbay for instant access.
Dude thanks for your honesty and making it clear
I have been dealing with should I do this or what for a while now! And after watching your video you have convinced me to get a patch bay. Adding more gear I out grew my Mackie 1202 and bought another 1202 and then using a Boss BR1600 for more inputs with all of this going into a 2 channel interface to record, something had to give. I had to move cables to sample, effects, vocoders and experiment. More cables were the issue with everything currently midi hub, USB hub and audio almost had me looking at in the box. However as a keyboard player it ain't the same. So I am ordering the Samson S after watching OnceUponASynth. I am convinced that I need a patch bay.
That was eye opening. I had no idea how these things worked.
I'm here watching this again, because I couldn't remember how it worked. As a guitar player, this is an effects loop. That's how effects loops on guitar amps work. Hopefully, I won't have trouble remember this stuff now. :)
Thanks as always for the quality content!
Did have a couple questions for you or the other viewers here.
1. If I have a ton of guitar pedals I'd like to use with all of my synths / drum machines as well, is it possible to route a guitar into a patch bay? I was thinking maybe having an "in front of amp" as well as spots for the fx loop built into my amp.
2. How do you wire a stereo pedal, for example a meris mercury 7 which only has one trs input and 2 outputs? I'd guess just a y cable?
3. Lastly, if I have outboard stereo pedals in my patch bay, can I also use them as mono fx without rewiring the back of the patch bay?
Thanks to anyone and everyone for their 2 cents and for reading
Weird... I’ve been sorting out my patch bay this weekend!
I’m using 3 Samson units to hook up everything in my studio. I also found some cool split dual neutrik cables that will give me a bit more flexibility than half-normal routing.
1.
Mono synths/Individual Outs
Soundcard Inputs
2.
Stereo Synths/Effects
Soundcard Inputs
3.
Aux/Cue
Mixer Inputs/Aux Return/Effects Inputs
Basically, 1&2 land the outputs from my synths etc and give me quick access to recording. 3 sets up my mixer channels and it’s effects routing. Plus I’ve got patch points to any other audio inputs (e.g. record in on octatrack or guitar tuner input).
I could maybe see myself adding a 4th bay for modular inputs/outputs, as some of my synths have cv I/o.
Worth noting that patching like this does bump the cost of cabling quite a bit. Effectively 2-3 times the number of cables - this was surprisingly a lot more than the price of the patch bays for my studio.
Nice to see.
Good to remember: Do I even need a patch bay?
> Yes, because I have tons of outboard gear and instruments but not enough ins and outs on my interface.
> No, because I have enough ins and out so everything is connected all time.