Why PATCHBAYS are AWESOME 

Thanks for watching! How do YOU use your patchbays? Here's the gear I mention in the vid: Patchbay: amzn.to/31ARNHa XLR Patchbay: amzn.to/34UNmZF Mixer: amzn.to/2Njv9zL DI box: amzn.to/32Qh3tb Cloudlifter: amzn.to/2NmNLyN

damn.. that's it.. im redoing the studio AGAIN this weekend. Great job on this video man

Listen, I have watched god-knows how many patchbay videos and was getting nowhere but by the 4 minute mark of your video the apple hit me on the head and 12 minutes later I was listening to my keyboard through my as-of-then-devoid-of-any-cables patchbay. Quick thing that also hit me on the head and the theory worked: with that patchbay in "normal" mode, I'm finding that if I just send the output of my keyboard to the top 2 of the patchbay (first 2 slots) and then plug my audio interface channels 1 and 2 right underneath it, I just told my DAW to tee up Channel 1 and I heard my keyboard without having to use a patch cable. Essentially, the way I set it up, it was just like plugging the keyboard directly into input 1 and 2 of the actual audio interface. It's awesome that four years later, this video solved someone's problem!

Finally, someone who demonstrates and explains real world applications of a patch bay! You have helped turn on a light bulb, my friend. Thank you for teaching an old dog a new trick.

Great video! The other major benefit is that the front of the patch bay takes the hammering of all the experimental plugging and unplugging of cables, rather than all your expensive synths and effects units, on their inputs / outputs. Thus you reduce any wear and tear, At the end of the day the patch bay would be cheaper to replace than repairing all your expensive gear! Saves you money as well as time!!

I've needed one of these for years and never knew it.

I love the dangle cable and contact mic idea. Must be nice to put those into your chain with literal “plug and play” functionality.

That yellow patch cable looks so satisfying to plug/unplug

Nice vid! Two things: 1.Normalling. You could flip the little switch between the MS-20 and the audio inputs below it to the left setting. That would internally route the MS-20 to the interface until you patched a cable into either the top or the bottom jacks. It’s really convenient. 2.Use care when fully patching up the extra ins and outs on a synth. This can force a change in the behavior of the synth. For example, there are some multi layered synths that if you physically plug in the aux outputs, the second layer will automatically reroute to that pair of outs instead of the mains.

This for me was the clearest explanation of patchbays. I’ve literally just bought one now that I understand them better! Thanks.

This will forever be known as the video that officially sold me on the need for a patchbay. Well done!

Best explanation of patch bays i've found. Id been struggling to have the concept really click for me and this did it. Thank you!

You are pretty much the only tutorial channel i have seen offering so much actual music. And love how you're going for all the aspects of music making. Your theory aps are also way cool, please do windows & android versions one fine day. Was hoping to hear more Grandmother although you seem to have settled for the two Korg synths for this series. You also seem to have just about every conceivable instrument *and* plugin. The video on key changes was killer. So was the one on patch bays.

Brilliant! Thank you. There's so many confusing videos on Patchbays and this is so straightforward.

This has to be the most comprehensive video about patchbays that I've seen ! Exactly the explanations I needed to hear and the routing exemples I needed to see ! I've been checking on patchbays for a couple days but never fully understood the potential. Now I get it, and I'm sold ! Next investment ! Thank you for that !

Thank you man! I was thinking for a long time how to connect my growing synth collection and route them trough my outboard gear with ease. I also had a problem thinking that patch bays are for much bigger and professional studios, but thank to this video I'm now sure that THIS is the way to go without buying another audio interface with more inputs and having to waste time, nerves and wearing down my gears ins and outs by crawling behind my desk. Thanks again for opening my eyes.

If you normalize the output and the input you don't need to patch the one up to the one down but are always connected before you don't overwrite it when you put a cable inside one for break the connection...

Thank you for this, I have watched so many tutorials on patchbays that I should be an expert right now. BUt I never got them, somehow, you made sense of this thing called patchbay. Thank you for that. I will go out and get one now. Even though I own a 32 channel mixer which kinda makes it redundant, but now I finally get it and see it's utility...Thank you again...

Great job man. Just ordered my first patchbay because i had more effects coming. I didn't really understand how they worked. You did amazing. Thanks for the good content. You just won a subscriber.

Holy cow man. This is a RU-vid miracle. I just got a Deepmind 12d coming tomorrow and my wiring situation was already out of control. I’ve spent the last week doing research online trying to figure out how to fix all this and had decided I needed a mixer. No I don’t. I need a cheap patch bay. Thank you so much for posting this. Very appreciated. Rigging this up with guitar pedals is going to be a blast.

This was f-bomb level of helpful. I had recently purchased a 16 channel mixer to be able to separate output from my Arturia Drumbrute, but to also plug my synths. As my setup grows, and I go back and forth between different effects, this has become cumbersome. A patch bay will help IMMENSELY!

Super cool stuff! Great tutorial on how to use a patch bay. Love all those killer synths and effects pedals! Thanks for the video.

This was great! Thanks a lot! I'm just in the process of planning my home studio and your logic is fantastic and creative.

I got the same Samson patchbay, but been putting off setting it up. Your video was very clear and helpful. Thank you!

Exactly what I'm looking for. thank you so much for making this video and sharing your experience!

Thank you very much for this. It's something I've been planning on sorting out and you've pretty much done all the hard work in working out what I'll need to do. I owe you a beer or coffee. Cheers dude. 😄

honestly, ive made music for a reallllly long time, and I happened to grab a patch bay off craigslist back when i really didnt know what it was for.. i used it for... very minimal patches (not even considering the idea of inputs and outputs on their own level) bro...... THIS was so helpful lol when i move to my new studio, i am going to set up everything in a way more organized way than i have it now haha, thank you dude, ive got your next whiskey in kansas

Great video.... At the moment I do exactly what you were saying before the patch system you have. I'm currently plugging synths in and out of effects pedals and swapping things around and this would be perfect for eradicating that wasted time.... Thanks for uploading this....

I’ve watched your video about 3-4 times over the last year or so. So insightful! I think what I’ve been doing for the last 24 years is using my 8-channel mixer as a patchbay connected to a chain of guitar pedals going into my audio interface; and out of my audio interface going into my mixer, so the vst instruments I use can be filtered through my physical guitar pedals. This works fine for me. And I have mics inputs with phantom power available to switch on my mixer. Although it sometimes gets complicated, I realize it’s pretty much like having the three types of patchbay devices you have, but with less inputs and outputs. As for the chained guitar pedals, I simply turn each effect on or off that I want to use. But because they are chained in a specific order, I achieve the sound I want out of them. Where the patchbay could be convenient for that is changing the order of the pedals going into other pedals simply from the front of the patchbay instead of moving the actual pedals. In the end, there are many workflow options and you have to pick the one that works beat for you. I am tempted to switch to using a patchbay for ease of experimentation of order of pedals instead of going through the hassle of changing the order of the pedals physically which can get messy and perhaps a bit confusing at times compared to simply using a patchbay. Thanks for the videos!

super informative and easy to understand. Thanks for taking the time to make this!

Thank you for this. I haven't seen an actual AUDIO demo of a patchbay anywhere (several visual demos, but none that actually show what the audio result is.)

Excellent. Clearest explanation so far - BRAVO. Keep doing you bro.

Thank you for this explanation that I didn’t know solves a lot of issues! Found you courtesy of Ricky Tinez who gave you props and suggested we all check out your video. Good info. Thank you for showing me what I was missing out on.

Hands down the best explanation of a patchbay and with someone who has a two channel interface and synths and effects like me. This helped me so much. Thank you. Oh and I’m really jealous of your Moog pedals. Those are so expensive to find now.

Aaaaaaaaah, literally I watched it during installation of my new rack, this idea with the second XLR patchbay is so COOL!

I need a patchbay, thanks for the tips on using this unit. Your video helped me even though I had resisted adding more cable to my setup, I really do need this. Thank You.

You've Simplified it well. Great clarity and brevity💯🏆

Such an awesome video dude! Thx for sharing those insights!

Very well explained, with all the little details. Thanks!

I just use a 16 channel analog mixer like a mackie 1604 or 1642. It's easier using inserts and aux channels, and if you want to route the same effect to multiple sources. Plus, you can use the busses to send the audio out to your interface with simply pressing a button, and likewise routing audio from your interface back into the mixer. In other words a hybrid mixing setup.

Thanks for making this! You inspired me to re-examine my patchbay (also the S-Patch Plus) and to set up a Google spreadsheet like you have - I can get rid of that sheet of paper that was floating around my studio desk...

Best vid on for home studio producers considering a patch bay. Thanks

Thanks for this one! Great video with simple no-nonsense explanations. And you've got a Korg Polysix, tooo Very cool!

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 Ricky Tinez video - amazing!

Thanks! I found a Neutrik patch bay at a garage sale but didn't know how the heck to use it... :) Now I do!

Thank you .People don't really FULLY understand patch bays. You helped us out.

Great job! A helpful video for so many. As Daniel Miller of MUTE Records says "The worst thing for the creative process is when you're in the studio and someone is laying on the floor running cable, trying to add another synth to the setup."

Great explanation of what is typically a confusing topic. Nice one!

Thank you for this. I definitely need a patch bay now that I understand it!

I really like this demonstration. Thanks.

Very great topic ! When I do stuff like that I put things in alphabetical order, it helps remember where they are ; or I find a logical way to put things in a particular order ; from the lowest to the highest on my mixer for example, kick and drums first, then sub bass synth, bass synth, lead synth, poly synth. Thank you for sharing patchbay are indeed awesome ! I don't use them because my setup is almost always the same lol but my best friend does and it's convenient :p

Patchbays are never enough!!!! Have four but need more!!!! Love Them!

You made it so simple to understand 😫 thank you 🙏

I would love to see some sort of diagram of how everything is connected, specially that bottom xlr patch bay. Of you could create a google doc or image of some sorts just to have a visual representation of what’s going on, I know at least I would really appreciate it. Great video as always!

Just bought me the SAMSON - up and running in no time thanks to your vid. Cheers

I keep coming back to this video because it's so well done! Thank you for demystifying patchbays so simply! May I ask what specific patch cables those are? Also, how do you power all your mooger foogers?

Very cool, going to get one or all three. Thanks.

Great video there. I have the same two patchbay's your using. I'm trying to set up my Mackie 32-4 board and a couple compressor's, a reverb, and delay unit, a few mic's etc...

Eye-opener. One of the biggest bonuses of a patch bay I learned from another vid is, that I can hook up my powered speakers to it and then switch easily what hardware synth I want to jam with, if I don't want to switch on the DAW. At least I think it works like that.

so lovley you did this video, thank you . it helped me alot !

This was super helpful man thanks!

Best patchbay vid on youtube I've seen, bar none. Time to get patching.

Awesome video man‼️‼️

You gave me a click in my mind: I want a patchbay now! Thank you!!

i really understand patch bays better now ! thanks you so much :D btw i laughed so hard when you put the contact mic on your Throat XD

Good stuff! Now I'm excited to wire up my patch bay and get creative!

Very useful tutorial/tip video. I have a different approach that uses the line mixer for all normal main outputs of the synths, I want to have the least amount of noise when routing the (‘dry’) main signal of those synths (like bread and butter sounds) to the DAW. Channels on the line mixers that I do not need for a particular synth I (obviously) switch off, you could enable more channels at once so as to allow the sounds of multiple synths etc. However, through the Mon/Fx send of the line mixer(s) I could send this line mixer main out signal to the Samson S-patch plus patchbay. This setup initially saves me a lot of I/O real estate on the patchbay when all I want to do is just mess with the sound of one synth and x amount of external effects. This patchbay is connected to all the relevant I/O of my effect units, not quite as an impressive array of units that you have, but the usual (later) Lexicon stuff and two of the Electrix unts (like Filter Factory) and a rare MAM unit and an oldish Zoom unit and then some guitar FX stomp pedals & such. Possibly more important even* is the implementation of the auxiliary outputs and inputs of the synths themselves. I almost never used the sound of one synth to route through the (broadly speaking) ‘FX’ of a different synth even though most synths are built to support just that. I am still in the process of building this setup and the amount of cable spaghetti within the rack almost defies description. * I am still on the fence whether I could not accomplish WAY more and WAY better effects through the many dozens of FX plugins that I have (and paid for!) in the DAW. Even if the DAW turns out to be a superior FX unit, routing the audio of one synth into another still requires physical cable connections and in that scenario the patchbay setup remains the most flexible one. To potential buyers: the Samson S-patch plus is of very robust construction, Samson is not usually associated with HQ stuff but this one they got right!

Thanks for this!

Thank you for the Video. Nicely produced, like it. I agree, If you have no space for a mixer. The way you do it, you cant have really a live jam with more than one stereo or 2 mono instruments. Thats why i love my 32/8 ch old mackie mixer, routing with sends and inserts is so easy. For Recording i use sub channels on the mixer. But everyone needs to find his workflow. Have fun, all the best.

great video about an important topic that people don't talk about much. for years i've put off using a patchbay, mainly because i get hung up on not being able to mix unbalanced TS and balanced TRS connections when i can't really afford a HQ 8+ channel DI rack to go along with it. i've got to find a way to make this work without sacrificing the benefits of balanced connections where possible.

Subscribed just because you explained it very easy so you very much deserve a credit!!:)

I think I have watched a month's worth of videos on patch bays. UGH! I am a 53 yo metal bassist, so the last thing I wanted to watch was a guy with synths lol! Brother, you killed it!! I learned more in the 1st 7 mi of your demonstration (others would just talk and talk and talk and talk and...you know) than all the other nap times combined. I just had a stroke and am going blind so naturally I bought a ton of equipment so I have something to do when the sight is gone. Now I need to figure the best way of setting it all up for ease of use. I am a weird bassist in the fact that I love effects, so I'm thinking that between my floor effect pedals, my rack effects, my multi-effect units, drum machine etc. a patchbay will indeed help the blind see. Thank-you so much for simplifying the whole thing. It seems like the other video makers like to hear themselves talk, whereas you actually help!

Thank you for the Education, brother.

Came to learn about patchbays...left drooling over a PolySix lol! Awesome review still!

Super informative. Cheers! 🍻

Excellent video thank you

Very informative, I'm getting a patchbay.

Really helpful! Thank you

Hi, perfect tutorial to thing i allways want to know! :) could you tell us a bit about your power-management for all your eqipment? that would be interesting, too!

Very cool! So jealous of that moogerfooger collection

you just described and solved my problem :) awesome thanks!

Great. Thanks!

There are also automated patch bays, where you just plug your inputs outputs (on the back) and don't need to plug any cables to join them (it happens internally, through buttons, or even software that controls the connections, and you can even named the connections you have made in the back, and even have memories (e.g. preset A -> connect MS20 to audio card input 3, preset B -> connect Polysix to Moogerfooger to audio card). Of course those are more expensive (from $600 to $3 K generally).

Thank you! I was clueless :)

Thanks - great explanation

Good video man, funny coz I just finished setup up my 1/4" pb, now would be nice to have my XLRs on the front but I didn't quite understand what was happening with your XLR pb, might have to watch a couple more times

Awesome video and use of patchbay! Thanks! I thought that if the quarter inch patchbay has balanced in and outputs, it should be able to cary phantom power..

this was a great video, you just sold me a samson patchbay :). Have a focusrite interface expanded with an extra ! channels but still have to plug and unplug quite often (too much gear).

Great vid. First I've seen that explains patchbays in simple English! :-)

Awesome video!

Superb!

great explanation thank you so much!!! might have to pick up one of these badboys myself :))))

good examples, thanks

Great video. Just wondered how would you go about connecting a guitar pedal with two stereo ins & outs? Would you simply connect the pedal outputs with two stereo cables or instrument cables into the patch bay outputs and then use two patch cables at the front of the patchbay into two separate inputs of your audio interface? For example I have a moog sub 25 and guitar which both have 1 singular mono instrument cable plugged into the output of the back of the patchbay . I want to use my eventide space pedal with both. Would I now need to have either the synth or guitar output going into one input of the pedal and then from the pedal have two separate stereo cables or instrument cables into the audio interface? Sorry if this sounds confusing Any advice would be great. Thanks in advance

7:58 Yeah I can totally see how you can quickly go very crazy LOL. Every time I want to get one, I start realising just how many stereo connections I employ with DAWs I use purely for stero analog reverb and fx, and their soundcards and analog synths 2 of which are stereo, and how my spreadsheet is going to be 2.5 times your spreadsheet, and I'll need yet another computer monitor with it permanently on, or get one of those digital photo frames, and how I would quickly need a normalised patch bay as well, and I say to myself: "Dude! You are already going crazy rather quickly. Slow down and go crazy a little slower ;-)) Other than that, - good explanation, and awesome studio. Kudos. That's what I need REAL PLANTS. Wish my studio wasn't facing the Northern side.

Really excited to do this. I bought a Sampson 48 patch bay (which is balanced and I think the same one you have). I'm going to use a Roland D50, DX7, Prophet 5, Ensoniq EPS, Deepmind 12D and some other things like a MiniKorg and a midiverb all into a Scarlett 18i20. I think (?) only the Deepmind may be balanced. Can I just use unbalanced 1/4 cables for everything? Thanks!!!

This is what I like about Reason! Its all routing! That's where the magic is!

Great video!

So helpful! Thanks for the explanation. I’m drowning in I/0 cable management

Hey that is very awesome actually. Thanks. I guess a mixer will also do the same to some degree with the audio interface but not with all the routing of external effects.