Newbie Patchbay question

[V Silly]

Hi guys,
I am wondering if a patchbay might be what I need to make cabling my
outboard synths easier to deal with in my home studio. I have been
trying to find info on the web but the subject seems to be a bit more
complex than I had expected.

I have a 2 channel audio interface (Metric Halo ULN2). I have a Mackie
1202vlz pro that I use for monitoring only. I just got 4 new outboard
units so now I have 2 synths w/ stereo outs and 3 drum machines w/
stereo outs.

Up until now I have monitored through the 1202 and switched cables for
the synth over to the ULN2 when I wanted to record. But now I have
more synth outs than I have inputs on my 1202.

Is a patchbay the right solution for this situation? If so does anyone
know of any articles that explain the basic concepts?

Or would I be better off getting a little submixer of some kind to
monitor the synth outs, and just switch the cables to the ULN2 when I
want to record as I had done before?

Thanks very much!!
-V

[~ rob ~]

"V Silly" > wrote in message
m...
> Hi guys,
> I am wondering if a patchbay might be what I need to make cabling my
> outboard synths easier to deal with in my home studio. I have been
> trying to find info on the web but the subject seems to be a bit more
> complex than I had expected.
>
> I have a 2 channel audio interface (Metric Halo ULN2). I have a Mackie
> 1202vlz pro that I use for monitoring only. I just got 4 new outboard
> units so now I have 2 synths w/ stereo outs and 3 drum machines w/
> stereo outs.
>
> Up until now I have monitored through the 1202 and switched cables for
> the synth over to the ULN2 when I wanted to record. But now I have
> more synth outs than I have inputs on my 1202.
>
> Is a patchbay the right solution for this situation? If so does anyone
> know of any articles that explain the basic concepts?
>
> Or would I be better off getting a little submixer of some kind to
> monitor the synth outs, and just switch the cables to the ULN2 when I
> want to record as I had done before?
>
> Thanks very much!!
> -V

============
Patchbays, pretty simple concept, you wire every out of your gear to the bay
ins, then run all recording ins to the bay outs, then you patch on the front
of the bay to where you want each sig to go. It can involve a lot of short
cables for doing the switching on the front of the bay.

Saves switching cables on your equipment, that action is all done at the
bay.

Make sense?

However, a stereo submixer is the way I would go first. Gives you more
pre-eq, some pan control, often mixers such as what you're after has loops
out for pre-processing, and can give you a dry as well as a processed sig.

If you find it's not what you're after, at least you have the mixer to use
for other apps, say a headphone distributor...

If you get a versatile and clean little mixer, it will likely keep its
resale value for a while, and you might be able to get most your money back.

See:

http://www.homerecording.com/patchbay.html

http://music.ipzz.com/Recording/Patchbays/

-bg-

www.thelittlecanadaheadphoneband.ca

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* +*

[Neil Davis]

> However, a stereo submixer is the way I would go first. Gives you more
> pre-eq, some pan control, often mixers such as what you're after has loops
> out for pre-processing, and can give you a dry as well as a processed sig.

I have an old TOA 10 Channel (4 channel with 6 channel add on) with such
features, and you would have to pry it out of my dead hands: )