How (and why) To Introduce a Patchbay To Your Setup

Patchbay basics

In a nutshell, a patchbay brings together the inputs and outputs of all the instruments, effects, interfaces, preamps, mixers and other hardware in your setup in a single unified panel. Taking the form of a 1U rack mount unit, the front and back of the patchbay each comprise two rows of jack sockets: Outputs on the top and Inputs on the bottom (usually). You simply plug the cables running from the outputs of your instruments, effects, etc, into the back-panel Output sockets, and from the inputs of your effects, mixer and/or audio interface to the back-panel Input sockets, all of which are hardwired to the corresponding front panel sockets, or ’patch points’. Thus, all the I/O in your setup is effectively transferred over to one incredibly convenient bank of sockets, with scribble strips above each row enabling naming of the patch points: ‘Synth Out L’, ‘Synth Out R’, ‘Reverb In L’, ‘Reverb In R’, ‘Mixer Return 1’, ‘EVO In 1’, etc. And if you have more equipment than can be catered to by a single patchbay, just add as many more to the rack as you need.
 
One important factor to consider when choosing a patchbay is whether it incorporates balanced or unbalanced connections, or both, as matching that specification to the cabling and equipment in your studio is crucial in achieving optimal sound quality.
 
With everything hooked up, the system then works just like (and is, in fact, a direct descendant of) an old-fashioned telephone exchange, where connections between source signal outputs and their target inputs are made by plugging short cables, called ’patch cords’, into the front panel patch points. So, to route a stereo synth to a stereo delay effect, for example, rather than crawling around behind your desk or rack and detangling the required cables in order to make the necessary connections directly, you just plug one end of a pair of patch cords into the aforementioned ‘Synth Out L’ and ‘R’, the other end into ‘Reverb In L’ and ‘R’, and similarly route the output of your reverb to your mixer or audio interface for monitoring and recording.

Normalling

That’s essentially all there is to the patchbay in terms of real-time operation – simplicity being the whole point – but there is one more technical concept to get your head round before you can consider yourself fully au fait with this studio staple, and that’s how the routing works when no patch cords are connected – ie, the default state of the signal path between the Output and Input rows. This is known as ‘normalling’, and there are three possible states that a patchbay can be normalled to, either via switches somewhere on the unit itself or by pulling paired socket modules out and inverting them, depending on your particular model.
 
The first state, ’full normal’, has each Output point routed to the Input point below when unpatched, with that connection broken when a patch cord is inserted into either point. This might seem like the no-brainer option for general deployment, but it’s actually less useful than it appears, as much of the time in your recording and mixing workflow you’ll want to split output signals so that they still go into the inputs below as well as the attached patch cords, for simultaneous recording and monitoring, or parallel processing of any kind.
 
For that reason, ‘half normal’ is in fact widely considered to be the – ahem – norm when it comes to patchbay configuration. Here, the Outputs feed the Inputs below them, just like full normalling, but a patch cord plugged into the top row doesn’t break the connection between them, so you can route, say, a guitar DI box Output to an amplifier Input, while still having it also received by the audio interface connected to the Input below it on the back of the patchbay, for simultaneous amplification and recording of the clean signal on separate channels. Plugging a patch cord into the bottom row, however, does break the connection, for when you don’t want or need such signal duplication.
 
As you may have already realised, with the vertical Output/Input pairs connected by default in a half and full normal setups, it’s clearly a good idea to make your rear panel patchbay connections so that they cater to the typical, unpatched routing requirements of your studio – mixer and/or DI box outputs above audio interface inputs, for example.
 
The third type of normalling is ’thru’ or ‘non-normal’, which sets all Output/Input pairs as completely independent of each other, so that the rear Output and Input sockets only ever feed into their front panel counterparts. This configures the patchbay as a completely blank canvas, providing limitless freedom in defining signal paths, but obviously requiring every connection to be made manually with patch cords on the front panel, and thereby demanding far more of said cords than are called for with a full or half normal setup, where, as discussed, the default downward Output-to-Input routings will likely establish many if not most of your routings.

All patched up

As we’ve hopefully made apparent, if your music studio involves any number of hardware instruments, effects and outboard units, a patchbay is one of the wisest and most cost-effective investments you can make into it. Once you’ve got it (or them) set up, you can gleefully cable-tie all the leads and cables behind your rack or desk into neat submission, since you’ll rarely need to go anywhere near them again, and enjoy a degree of routing accessibility and ease that can’t fail to improve your creative flow.