really stupid question about patchbays ?

[rxkevco]

Hi,
just starting off a small home studio and have 4 rack effects to link up with my fostex fd8. I also have 3 guitar pedals which i would like to incorporate into the setup.
Have been advised to buy a patch bay, to tidy it all up and keep it all in series, so,,,, i went and got one off ebay.
It didnt come with a manual, and as usual, if have rushed into buying something i may not need, or indeed , know what to do with.
Can anybody help with some of the basics of using a patchbay, and how best to incorporate it into my setup.?
Have downloaded the manual, but its useless.
cheers, kev.

 

[Track Rat]

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=1649680#post1649680

 

[dwillis45]

You may also have to look at the Fostex fd8 manual for solutions on how to integrate a patchbay. A couple of years ago I recorded to a Fostex VF16 through a dbx patchbay and I remember jumping through some hoops. I had a preamp and some effects routed to the patchbay and then to the Fostex through it's inserts. Using this setup I was able to bypass the VF16 internal preamps and record without using the internal effects which I didn't care for. The cabling was not all that straightforward, however, and I remember having to use insert cables. I also remember that the mixer section of the Fostex would not send previously recorded tracks out for processing. In other words, there was no simple send/return setup. Instead, you had to send a track to the patchbay for signal processing and then return it to an open (unused) track on the Fostex where the processed sighnal was recorded a second time. This was a bit cumbersome not to mention the additional AD/DA conversion involved. Your Fostex multitracker may be different but I would look to their manual for guidance.

http://fostex.com/index.php?file=support/documents