1 Topic by bjm (edited by bjm 2018-03-01 02:54:56)

  • bjm
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Topic: patchbay to complement my UFX

Hello friends. Love my UFX. I need a patchbay to go with it, tired of looking in the back of my rack with these olden eyes and a flashlight. Can't do high end right now, looking for middle of the road. I was going to order Samson SA SPATCHPLUS:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FW … &psc=1

Any recommends for tight budget? Also, I'm still confused by balanced/unbalanced. Will this work for my home recording needs? I am currently running XLRs into my Mackie CFX 20 Mixer, and going 1/4" insert out of Mackie channels into the UFX one through eight  1/4"s on the back. I run my most important components into the front XLR 9-12 ins of the UFX (say Bass Drum, Snare Drum,  Overheads). Laugh if you must, but I am getting excellent recordings right now. A nice catalogue of waves plugins certainly help, as well as decent microphones and nice sounding gear.
Any advice?  I'd also welcome high end recommendations as I will eventually upgrade...but tight budget right now.
Thanks for reading this far. Appreciate any help...

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2018-03-01 08:15:12)

  • ramses
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Re: patchbay to complement my UFX

bjm wrote:

I was going to order Samson SA SPATCHPLUS:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FW … &psc=1

Any recommends for tight budget? Also, I'm still confused by balanced/unbalanced. Will this work for my home recording needs?


What confuses you ? Its safer to connect balanced. With this patch bay you are only able to use TS plugs (unbalanced).

For balanced you need TRS.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

3 Reply by pianopictures (edited by pianopictures 2018-03-01 09:52:48)

  • Registered: 2017-02-28
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Re: patchbay to complement my UFX

a) balanced is better
c) balanced & unbalanced are inter-compatible (some attention to proper wiring is needed). I.e. you can effectively connect a balanced device to the unbalanced one and vice versa.
b) there is no point in balanced connection if either or both of two connected devices are not capable of sending or receiving the balanced signal
e) Google what is balanced signal technically. It is not that complicated at all.
f) check the particular devices manuals for how to properly wire the balanced-unbalanced connections. They may differ for inputs/outputs, TRS or XLR. (for example normally you should not use TS jacks for balanced outputs because it will short circuit two of the internal signals (which in case will not directly damage your equipment, but still not desirable).

  • vinark
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Re: patchbay to complement my UFX

The patchbay is balanced and the cables unbalanced. Maybe also get a bunch of balanced patch cables? Or is this just for going from the mackie insert outs to the ins of the rme. If yes that is unbalanced anyway (inserts are unB)

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5 Reply by cyrano (edited by cyrano 2018-03-01 16:26:10)

  • cyrano
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Re: patchbay to complement my UFX

I use a Neutrik NYS-SPP-L1 patchbay. It's funny, but they are cheaper than Behringer these days.

Solid, very small. No dip-switches, but a clever reversing method to change the behaviour.

Disadvantage: you need to take it out of the rack and unscrew front and back to reverse.

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