Patch Bays

[Ste69]

I don't quite understand patch bays, is all the do link 2 leads together that arn't long enough to reach to where they are supposed to be going, or do they do something else? Do I need one in a studio?

[iamchristuffin]

It depends what you mean by Patch Bays. For example, Wikipedia takes Patch Bays to mean Tie Lines, which are like hard-wired Multicores that minimise the number of cables lying around.

 

The common meaning for Patch Bays, though, is:

 

Patchbays are used to re-route input and/or output signals, and sometimes to split them (send them to two different places at once). A patchbay can save you hours of time (and possibly your sanity) when recording and mixing.

[p.k.roberts]

I don't quite understand patch bays, is all the do link 2 leads together that aren't long enough to reach to where they are supposed to be going, or do they do something else? Do I need one in a studio?

 

Patch bays do a number of things; they bring a number of connections (inputs and outputs) to a common, easily accessible place and a common connector. They can also have 'normalled' connections; that is, commonly used connections can be wired via switched contacts on the patch bay sockets to save having to plug commonly used signal paths. There is a useful article here -

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec99/articles/patchbay.htm

 

I'd say after the initial investment they can save an awful lot of time and frustration in all but the simplest studio set-up.

[Just Some Bloke]

There are all sorts of reasons for patch bays, but extending cables isn't one of them!

 

You could have a series of tie lines around the place which appear on a patch bay, and also have the inputs to your mixer permanently wired to the same patchbay and just use a short patch lead to link tie line 7 to channel 14, for instance. The next day you might have tie line 20 patched to channel 14.

 

You could also have 8 different effect units but only 4 effects sends on the desk, and just patch in the effects you want each time, using a ptach bay.

 

A basic patch bay can be just a series of jack sockets wired at the back to the relevant cable. However, a patch bay can also be "normalled" so that the top socket automatically links to the socket underneath it unless you insert a patch lead, which breaks the link. This would be used, for instance, in the second example above if you had your most commonly used effects units set up so the SPX990 is always fed from effects send 4, for instance, but patching in the Behringer instead breaks the link. That way fewer patch leads are required (you only need them when you're doing something different).

 

See here.

 

Hope that helps.

[peternewman]

See also the Blue Room Wiki page on patch bays.