WTF is going on with my patchbay?

[oneano]

I have wired up my gear dozens of times and suddenly my patch bay isnt passing a signal.

It has 4 modes of operation as illustrated in the 4 page manual.

http://www.behringer.com/EN/download...P0059_M_EN.pdf

The problem is that the patchbay does not seem to be passing a single to or from any of the units. Is this because I have the modes set up wrong?


I am currently running the top row as outputs of my effects and the bottom row as inputs.

Boss VF1
Alesis quadraverb
Behringer composer
Akai remix16 sampler
Then 8 inputs for my main mixer.

I also use an external matrix mixer as my submixer.

So the typical set it could be device 1 + device 2 > submixer > boss VF1 > inputs 1&2 of main mixer

Fairly straightforward but also really flexible for me to create all types of effect combinations.

[RobJB06]

I have aux sends set up as "parallel mode" ... i hardly ever have the same thing set on them, so i didnt see the point in having them half normalled/ normalled.
So, my aux sends/returns 1-4 from my desk, are up to the patchbay, all my FX units, again are hooked up to the same patchbay in parallel mode, ill just use a patch cable to choose what i want where..
I think its the best way with aux sends.
I have the desk line inputs 1-24 half normalled with the converter outputs 1-24, most of the other stuff like inserts i use in parallel mode too, just patch what i want in as everything is all patched close together on 4 patchbays next to console.

I think you must have set your patchbay up wrong.
If you have it set for half normalled, then looking at the manual the signal flow shows the rear top is an input and the bottom is an output, so you want the aux send coming in the top at the back and then the rear bottom out to your fx unit...

[sorgenkind]

while your problem sounds more like there are some settings which are not OK my advice would be to ditch the behringer patchbay and buy some neutrik.
they have only 2 operating modes and not 4 but are way better in build quality.
I had several channels going dead on my behringer patchbays (it was a shared studio so there was a lot of repatching involved) so i decided to get neutrik instead. needless to say the build quality is far superior, and if some channels should to kaputt you can exchange them one by one, instead of changing the whole patchbay.

[pulse_divider]

What cables are you running the gear into the patchbay with?

When I was using cheaper patchbays and cables I had lots of problems but only once was it ever a patchbay issue (and I had many), the problems were always with the cables running to the patchbays as the weight of the snakes were bending the cables down from the connectors and shorting them out. As far as the off-the-shelf 1/4" bays go, I didn't really find the Behringer to be of lesser quality than the others, but mine had normailling switches on top and sometimes I'd accidentally get them in the wrong position when putting them back into the rack.

I had a particularly high rate of failure with snakes/cables that had molded plastic ends, like the Hosa stuff... this accounted for >95% of the issues I had with this setup. Higher quality cables with metal ends and a few inches of heatshrink to provide strain relief cleared it all up. Also, anchoring the snake cable to the side of the rack helped a lot by not allowing the full weight of the snake to pull down on the connectors.

[SecretSociety]

the behringer / neutrik (45 Euro) Patchbays need to be exchanged every 6 month @ the SAE Berlin.

[oneano]

I havent had the time to work on this issue yet but i will be getting back to it in a day or two. Thanks everyone for the advice.

[oneano]

After mucking around with everything tonight ...it was a combination of a bad cable and the patchbay being set up wrong. No wonder I was going mad...thanks for the advice everyone.