some suggestions
well, i have a patchbay. and i am still confused about it too......but i will try and a bigger fish can come by and correct me if i am wrong.
the normal and half normal are pretty much the same, only the 1/2 normal is broken by plugging into the bottom jack, insted of the top.
a use for this would be:
if you have the out of your mic pre on "T1" ( top 1). Now normally, you would always run the output of the mic pre straight to the recorder. so have the input of the recorder on "B1" (bottom 1). like this, with no cord attached, the signal goes from T1 to B1.
but, lets say that today, you need to run T1 thru a compressor. The compressor is wired B2 in, T2 out. So to insert the compressor, you patch from the mic pre out T1, to the comp in B2. then you return the signal from the comp, T2 into B1 which routes it to the recorder.
This way, when nothing is plugged in, the signal routes normal. You can interreupt it and patch it where you want.
For a parallel out put, lets say you only have one set of outs on your board. But you want the signal to go both to your recorder, and to the amp that drives the monitor speaker. By having the paralell, what ever goes into one, goes into the other 3, so by feeding b1 (on the back, you also feed t1 on the back and the same time) and you feed B1 & T1 on the front also. you can then pathc into the amp in, the recorder in, or where ever
for an open connecrtion, lets say i just want to hear the cd i burned. The cd player doesn't need an input. so with an open connection i can just take the output and patch it into the amp in. it doesn't need to loop or anything...just be there. so i can grab the out and send it where i need it.
this is kinda simple descriptions, but i hope it helps
