Patchbay in the console or separate from?

[carlheinz]

I don't know if this is "high end or "low end" so I'll just ask...

Is it better to have the patchbay in the desk or outside the desk....i.e. I.T.D OR OTD?

Thanks in advance..
C

[drBill]

Originally Posted by carlheinz

I don't know if this is "high end or "low end" so I'll just ask...

Is it better to have the patchbay in the desk or outside the desk....i.e. I.T.D OR OTD?

Thanks in advance..
C

Personal preference. It also depends a lot on layout. Try to figure out your wiring looms and how much wire you'll need either way. Personally I prefer outboard bays. They're verticle so that they won't collect dust as much and not as much clutter on the desk. but that's just me. bp

[TornadoTed]

I don't think there is any differnece in sound quality either way.

I went with a desk without a bay and added an external one because of how my room is set up, it makes it difficult to have a right hand patchbay. It's a LOT harder to find used desks with left hand patchbays than right hand ones.

I also thought it may well be easier to find a replacement outboard patchbay in 20 years than trying to find parts for a console patchbay.

[stevep]

I have 16 96 Point TT bays in my desk, i have plenty of room in the control room but if you need room for a big console a remote bay is a good idea, I would want it installed around eye level so its easy to see the labels. and yea, the dirt wont get in it as bad

[PhilE]

I have an RH patch and its fine- but I would rather have the patch in the rack for all the reasons mentioned... dust, clutter, easier to add to, easier to have an assistant use a remote bay too.

[Dan]

I kind of like the remote patch bays, but can't imagine it makes a big difference. I also can't imagine having a choice in the matter. Either your board has a patchbay, or it doesn't. Why go through the trouble of making a patchbay fit in a console if it's not built for one? Why ditch a patchbay that's already there?

I guess if you're buying a big new custom board you have a choice. That would be fun.

[Joel Hamilton]

I had a custom TT bay retrofitted into the old longframe bay in my console. I have plenty of points, and they all terminate in DL's, rather than the old plessey connectors that I dislike...

I thought about a remote bay, but I kind of like having the bay up by the console, and the way the room is laid out I would have ben walking over to a rack every time I wanted to patch. I would rather not have to have my assistant standing by the patchbay so every time I change my mind about a vocal mult....

it is, as stated above, just personal preference.

[Mike O]

I could have had the patch bay integrated into my Daking but decided to go external. Reasons in no particular order:

1) Width of console;
2) flexibility in(moving soon I hope;
3) dust;
4) Label size. I could not get all points out to an internal PB if I got the larger labels I wanted.

[dale116dot7]

Not high-end, exactly, but my board (Soundcraft 2400) has a built-in patchbay, but I have more gear than it has tie-lines. So I have both a small (144-point) external patchbay and the internal board one. They are close together so I can patch back and forth. Not exactly ideal - but workable. I also have an additional portable rack with DA88's and its own 48-point TT bay (and a sync translator) so I can bring it into the room if I need more tracks, and patch right in. So mine is a combo. I like external better but in my case, the board came configured with the internal bay and 64 tie-lines (32 send/return pairs).

On the 'spare 'parts' issue, I had to rebuild the PC boards in my patchbay. I used a PC board CAD program and got new boards made up, with larger pads, and a double-sided board for rigidity. That should help the reliability out a lot. Anyways, if you absolutely need to get a replacement internal patchbay rebuilt, it is certainly possible, even if it is difficult to obtain the spare parts from the manufacturer.

[Stormkloud]

I got my new Neotek Elan II without patchpays for a couple reasons.
1) size and portability (sp?)- I just didnt have a wide enough room at the time and it gave me the option to put the bays anywhere I wanted them.
2) cost - I saved about $5k off the initial cost new . I bought a bunch of used ADC punch bays and mogami wire off ebay and wired it myself to the elco's.

It was a HUGE pain in the ass and took me a while to get the kinks out but , I learned alot doing it myself. thumbsup

[carlheinz]

Thanks everyone!I think Im going external!