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Hi, I'm Jonathan. I've been reading through the many posts regarding patchbay's, however I've not found the answer's I think I need.

I'm wanting to integrate a Ferrofish Pulse 16 AD/DA converter to a new patchbay in my rack pictured above. The interface I'm using is the USB Digiface.

I'm not a professional musician, I'm a hobbiest with a hybrid setup. I want the best configuration for my needs and would highly encourage any ideas from others more knowledgeable in this area than me.

I play live, jam, and have been recording to the DAW through Direct Outs of Mix wizard 16:2 mixer to the inputs on the Ferrofish.

I've got the line outs of the mixer going to a patchbay for my synths/drum machines.

I have a rack of EFX and Series 500 rack connected to another patchbay.

How would I best intergate the Ferrofish Pulse 16 with a patchbay. I'd like to have easy access to my Series 500 Pre's, EQ, Compressors.

Drawings have been made. I don't have them finished because I don't know what I'm doing at this point. The migration of the Direct Outs from the Ferrofish to a patchbay.

I look forward to reading the helpful responses. Please let me know if I'm missing any need info.

Rack
Rack
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Comments

Boswell Wed, 04/10/2024 - 05:43

It's not clear from your post, but are you wanting anything more than access to the analogue I/O of the Pulse16 from the front of the rack?

It looks from your photo as if you have two patchbays that are already wired in. What make and model are they?

Just Johnny NZ Thu, 05/02/2024 - 00:54

Hi Boswell, cheers for taking the time to comment. 

I want to integrate my Mixwizard 16:2 mixer with the Pulse 16 and DAW. I'd like to be able to turn on the mixer and jam with all my gear. Also, would like to multitrack these jams into the DAW going through Pulse 16 and Total Mix software to Ableton when I want. Sometimes I'd jam and record the session using OBS streaming platform.

Three patchbays:

1st patchbay, direct outs of mixer to top row of patchbay and inputs from Pulse 16 to bottom row of patchbay

2nd patchbay, outputs of synths to top row of patchbay, line ins of mixer to bottom row of patchbay

3rd patchbay, Strymon effects pedals and a 500 Series Rack of outboard modules. Outs connected to top row and ins to the bottom row. 

Problem when recording live jam in OBS, one synth seems to make it through. I can see the level, even though I'm playing six synths. I'm looking for a workflow that gives versatility with limited patching.

Sometimes my mixer faders don't have any effect on the control of sound coming from it. I still hear it loud and clear even though the faders are down. I don't think I've connected everything correctly. 

Are you able to provide some changes I could make to the patchbay configuration I've created.  

I'm using the Samson S-Patch Plus
Patchbays
 

 

Boswell Thu, 05/02/2024 - 09:29

I think you may have several problems here. I'll mention a couple now.

Firstly, as far as I can tell from your photo, you have all the patchbay jacks configured as Normal. In this configuration, the inputs from the rear panel upper jacks feed through to the front upper jack. If there is no plug in either of the front jacks, the signal passes to the lower rear jack. When you loop an external unit between the front upper and front lower jacks, the signal will pass through the external unit before returning to the rear lower jack. If you have a cable plugged into the lower front jack, the lower rear jack will be connected to that cable, whether or not the cable has any signal on it. If you want the signal always to connect round to the lower jack independent of you having a cable in the upper front jack, set the switch for that channel to HN (half-normal).

Secondly, the Direct Outs of a MixWizard 16:2 are factory-fitted as pre-fader. This means that the channel faders have no effect on the level of the direct outs, and is the standard setting for recording live sessions. Any external units you connect via your patchbay will receive a mixer signal level that is independent of the position of the mixer fader for that channel. This can't be a "sometimes" event. The mixer has internal jumpers for changing channels to be post-fader, which you might want to do on a couple of channels if you are feeding your external effect units from the Direct Outs rather than Auxes, so that the effected signal is at the level set by the fader.