What is a patch bay, do I need one?
- Thread starter BassBalls
- Start date
drstawl
Banned
From what I've read- the patch bay is only important if you haven't got the time or can't stomach the inconvenience of having to reconnect your cables to change the signal path for different tasks you might want to accomplish with the same equipment.
Effects inserts, etc.
But for those with a simple setup, or one that doesn't need to be rewired to suit a different purpose, a patch bay will only degrade your signal.
It certainly can't make it any better.
You get the best sound with the shortest path and the least number of components. You can only start to ignore this when you include only really pricey components in your chain.
But that's why my studio looks like S8-N's floor. If you are gonna go with a patch bay, make sure to get some flash cabling, which means big bucks, relative to the price of the patch bay itself.
Effects inserts, etc.
But for those with a simple setup, or one that doesn't need to be rewired to suit a different purpose, a patch bay will only degrade your signal.
It certainly can't make it any better.
You get the best sound with the shortest path and the least number of components. You can only start to ignore this when you include only really pricey components in your chain.
But that's why my studio looks like S8-N's floor. If you are gonna go with a patch bay, make sure to get some flash cabling, which means big bucks, relative to the price of the patch bay itself.
Steve Tittle
New member
I bought a patch bay because I have a serious
problem with experimenting with effects. Noise wise I try to keep the patch cable length to a minimum.
With it you can keep all your permanent connections of your rack stuff in place and do your cable moving from the front. Big drawback is the amount of patch cables you end up with. Try to use balanced cables and that also helps keep down the noise.
Drstawl I do this and my room still looks like SN-8's pic.
problem with experimenting with effects. Noise wise I try to keep the patch cable length to a minimum.
With it you can keep all your permanent connections of your rack stuff in place and do your cable moving from the front. Big drawback is the amount of patch cables you end up with. Try to use balanced cables and that also helps keep down the noise.
Drstawl I do this and my room still looks like SN-8's pic.
hixmix
Halibut, North Dakota
I don't read much about patch bays but I use them every day.
Theoretically, anything you place in a signal path will degrade a signal. But we are talking degradations undetectable to the human ear.
Use good quality cable and the shortest cables possible for your set-up and you'll be fine.
With a patch bay you have instant access to any "in", "out", and "through" on every piece of equipment in your set up.
I'm always recongfiguring my studio set up to accomodate whatever I'm recording so I'd go crazy with out one.
Kinda like using one Zip disc as opposed to a hundred floppies. It's more manageable.
Theoretically, anything you place in a signal path will degrade a signal. But we are talking degradations undetectable to the human ear.
Use good quality cable and the shortest cables possible for your set-up and you'll be fine.
With a patch bay you have instant access to any "in", "out", and "through" on every piece of equipment in your set up.
I'm always recongfiguring my studio set up to accomodate whatever I'm recording so I'd go crazy with out one.
Kinda like using one Zip disc as opposed to a hundred floppies. It's more manageable.