I'm a systems patching pervert.llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2025 2:39 pm So I’m at the very beginning stages of patch bay planning and I don’t even know where to start.
I’ve got 16 channels each i/o for conversion, and then everything is monitored through a 32 channel Midas mixer with effects sends, monitor sends, sub groups, all of which I use.
Add to that the outboard - a few compressors, a few eqs, a few stereo reverbs, which wouldn’t necessarily be so bad on its own, but I need it all to work with the mixer somehow. I definitely don’t want a patchbay that’s just a bunch of hardware inserts for reaper.
I’m going through everything available at Tape Op and Sound On Sound and I’m going to start on a spreadsheet to see what can be done with what. Any other general ideas?
I use Draw.io to block diagram all my connections before I even start. I like my bays to kinda be in order of flow of signal, so I have a bay with the top row populated by 16 console preamps direct out normalled to the bottom row that are plugged into my MOTU 16a. Then I have the actually 16a in the rack below that, and under that is a bay with the 16 outputs of the 16a normaled to the first 14 inputs of my Console, and a Stereo Channel for DAW monitor. Without plugging in a single thing I can track and monitor plus make 4 analog headphone feeds. There is other random console in and out on the remainder of thos 2 bays plus some lines for phones to the other room, normaled off the auxes... etc. Above that I have an Aux Patchbay that has preamps, compressors, tape machine IO, and other rando stuff terminated so if I want to use any of it, I just overpatch it. There is a side car rack with more preamp (12 ch) 8 of which normal to a Arturia 8X Adat converter and can be picked in the DAW, or overpatched to a console input etc... everything is overpatchable. There is an 8 ch sub xlr snake feeding this patchbay from the other room that normals to all my Black Lion and Golden age preamps (that normal to the ADAT) but I can patch those mic lines to 4 Shure M68 preamps, an old Precision Audio tube pre, a JHS Colorbox if I want them. There is more (MOTU Monitor 8, and Ultralite AVB) that are AVB pickable IO each with their own patchbay in the other room, so there is actually some patch flexibility in there as well. It is kinda a lot, but after you wrap your head around it, it gives you a ton of options and is really fast to make changes.
