"onboard" patchbay - bright idea needed

[hollywood_steve]

After spending most of the month of August wiring up a longframe patchbay (complete with XLR connector panel on the rear rails for easy adding/removing of gear from the studio), we thought we were almost done. Then a new partner with a new console falls into the mix and I'm going crazy trying to inteface the old system and the new board. The console is a Soundcraft 600 with an onboard TT patchbay tied to Elco connectors. Because this generation of 600 has most of its I/O via the Elcos, we don't really have the option of using our existing patchbay and just plugging into the consoles channel strip I/O. We have accepted that we will need to wire up the Elcos and TT patchbay.

But...the TT patchbay only has room for 32 ch of outboard gear and we already need 48 right now if we never buy another piece of gear. My first thought is to keep using the longframe bay for any outboard that doesn't fit on the TT bay; sort of like the "overflow" patchbay. Does anybody have a clever way of interconnecting the onboard TT bay and our existing long frame patchbay? I can't stand the idea of requiring a bunch of 10ft longframe to TT patchcords that will need to be strung from the console patchbay to our outboard bay. (God, does this make sense to anyone who doesn't have this mess sitting in front of them?)

We can't be the first studio to outgrow the onboard patchbay on a console. What is the neat & organized way to use an outboard bay for the overflow without having to string a web of patch cords across the control room?

or should I just shut up and get the iron warm?

steve
lex125@pacbell.net

[Jay Kahrs]

Why would you need 10 foot TT to longframe patch cables? Can you relocate the longframe bay so it's right next to the TT bay? Every studio I've been in that outgrew the onboard bay just added another bay of the same type in the next empty space.

[hollywood_steve]

Can you relocate the longframe bay so it's right next to the TT bay? Every studio I've been in that outgrew the onboard bay just added another bay of the same type in the next empty space.



Because the TT bay is built into the console, it sits right next to the the channel strips and our existing patchbay, with its several miles of cables run througout the room, sits about 10 feet away. The cables for the existing bay run through conduit, under flloors, are zip-tied to everything handy, etc.; so no, they can't be moved in this lifetime. We really never expected to be changing consoles for at least a couple of years, so the install completed in September was built to last. Then things changed....

steve

[Jay Kahrs]

(Assume the voice of Nelson from the Simpsons) AH HA!

Rule #1 Plan for change because shit is always going to change. Usually not a console and usually not that fast but it happens. I had my first console for about a month before it went up in smoke and got trashed at the shop in a freak accident. Thankfully I just replaced a 24x8 Tascam with a 24x8 Wackie but still... Warm up that iron.

[jkasko]

I had the same dilema going on. My existing patch bay terminated on the right side of the room and the new bay which is a 112 point TT bays terminated to 120 pin elcos are on the other side of the room. (See my post on extending studio cabling). I had my choice of wire in the extra snake by splicing into or using a multipin connection. I the end I decided to re-pull all new cable. It was a bit more expensive in the long run, but it will be the least amount of work with the most fool proof connections. I figure that I could sell the existing cabling and recoup a good deal of the cost of the new wire.