The Patchfield - Behringer EURODESK SX4882 User Manual

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EURODESK SX4882 User Manual
XLR plugs
Balanced use with XLR connectors
2 1
3
input
1 = ground/shield
2 = hot (+ve)
3 = cold (-ve)
1 2
3
output
For unbalanced use, pin 1 and pin 3 have to be bridged
You'll need this kind for:
• Main balanced outputs
• Mic inputs
◊
Be sure to read also the sections 8 and 12!
8.

The Patchfield

Nomenclature clarification:
• FIELD= entire patching area
• BAY= a unit of 48 jack sockets arranged as 24 outs over 24 ins
If you really want to make the most of your home studio, invest in a patchfield.
We know that you will often put off doing a complex patch if there is no patchfield:
1) because it's so much bother and
2) in case you inadvertently damage or pull out a lead.
8.1 The normalized bay
Most decent jackbays offer two rows of 24 normalized jacks in a 1 U of rack space.
Lucky you've got a 24/48 channel desk, eh? The term normalized refers to the fact
that the top row (outputs) are internally connected to the bottom row (inputs),
unless you plug something into an input socket. Plugging into the output socket
of a normalized insert pair does not break the internal connection, but it does
provide an alternative direct output. Where normalizing is not wanted on a
patchbay (there are a few cases!) it is possible to remove it by cutting certain
PCB tracks. Refer to the patchbay instructions for how to do this.
8.2 The patchfield
If you want to do the only decent thing and construct a patchfield for your
studio, here's how to do it. Note that we have laid it out in order that a minimum
number of cables are likely to be needed. We have also completely left out the
microphone inputs. Unlike everything else, these operate at a level several orders
of magnitude lower than line (+4 dBu or -10 dBV). It is best to plug microphones
directly into the EURODESK SX4882, or via special XLR-type wall boxes connected
to the EURODESK microphone inputs by a good quality balanced (2-core + screen)
multicore. (See also section 12 "(Un)balanced lines".)
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Break the normalizing on this bay.
*
Tie lines: usually, in a MIDI setup, racks and keyboards etc. are scattered around
**
the control room. Plugging these directly into the front of the patchbay would
result in Spaghetti Junction. Instead, it is better to connect TIE LINE jacks to wall
boxes strategically positioned near to where MIDI hardware congregates.
It's always good to have a few 4-way links around for splitting signals up to
***
3 ways (one in, three out). E.g. one tape track has four different instruments on
it. Patch the DIRECT out of its CHANNEL into a 4-way split, returning to a further
3 channels via LINE INPUT. Set up each of the paralleled 4 channels for one
instrument, and use mutes (preferably MIDI controlled) to mute the 3 unwanted
channels at any one time).
◊
Break the NORMALIZING LINKS on positions 21 - 24. Note also that the
MIX-B outputs are adjacent to the aux sends. This is because one of the
two functions of MIX-B (source switches set to CHANNEL) is to provide
an extra stereo aux send.
◊
You can treat MIX-B as two mono sends using GAIN for level and PAN for
blending. Setting pan to the center will give a 50/50 ratio of the "aux 7"
and "aux 8" effect, hard left 100% "aux 7", etc.
Break NORMALIZING LINKS here. If you've got more than 5 or 6 stereo
****
dynamics/EQ processors, you might spill over onto another dedicated bay,
or alternatively have to find some suitable extra space somewhere else in the
patchfield. Remember, most dynamics processors also have sidechain/KEY inputs,
and therefore require 3 holes per channel.
◊
Enhancers are usually applied across INSERTS like compression and
EQ etc., but most BEHRINGER enhancers have a SOLO mode, in which
they can be addressed via an aux send and blended back into the main
mix like any other reverb.
Bay 1
Bay 2
Bay 3
Bay 4
Bay 5
Bay 6
Bay 7
Bay 8
Fig. 8.3: Example of patchbay configurations