Patchbay Setup

Jeez, I'm not familiar w/ all that behringer gear or familiar w/ your workflow.  In general:

patchbays don't (usually) work w/ phantom power.  Mics are plugged directly into preamps.  If you have an insert on the preamp/mixer you can use those to patch into the channel - usually before the AD. 

I don't know about the Eurorack, but usually you'd have the insert i/o and line input and direct out patched into your bay w/ the insert normalized (so the sound passes through it unless you patch in gear).  All outs from the mixer also go into the patchbay.  All your ins and outs from the 2496 go into the patchbay.  You keyboard can be patched into either the mixer input jacks or directly to the M-Audio (that is a workflow type thing).  The DI box output can be patched in when you want to send its signal to an input but probably not kept in the patchbay itself.

You don't mention monitoring but I have two jacks assigned to my speakers.  Your headphones are probably best served off the patch bay so you can just take two cables out of a patchbay output from the Maudio and plug them in those jacks and then onto your headphone in.  Idon't know (again) about the behringer stuff, but my headphone amp has 1/2 jacks in.  You don't really want to use your stereo headphone output from the mixer into the patchbay unless you wire up some two-fers.

As you can see, you end up w/ a lot of jacks for even a small system - x 4 for each mixer channel + monitoring + auxes; one channel for each in and out of your soundcard; and anything else you want plugged in.  So, you'll have to make some choices about what gets a patchbay jack.

I have a TC Koneck 48 w/ 8 line inputs and 8 outputs plus a stereo monitoring output.  The line i/o are jacked above and below across 8 channels.  The monitoring out is normaled w/ my amp (right now I have a VS-100 jacked into the amp input, breaking the TC connection).  I also have a couple of tube preamps from an old interface wired in from it's inserts -- almost filling up my 32 channel patchbay.  I can patch in my keyboards into the TC channels for recording as needed or use a mic or keys into the tube preamps.  I can patch in my compressors as needed on any channel, or, as above, patch in another interface if necessary.  I don't use the mixer so much anymore, but I suspect you do.  The mixer should let you skip some cabling and just bring in your M-Audio i/o, use the mixer for monitor (cable up those jacks) and a couple of channels to patch in outboard hardware.  I'd let the mixer handle the keyboard assignment to the maudio, letting the mixer do the mixing. (I dont'know how many i/os the maudio has).

hope this helps - it is really a matter of how many patchpoints you have balanced against how you work.  Even a little mixer can take up every point in a 96 jack patchbay, tho whether you'd use all those points is questionable.  A patchbay should be normaled (ie. the signal flowing straight through the upper and lower jack) for the way you work, but letting you plug in outboard hardware where and when necessary.

hey dman, here's a basic instructional vid with the PX3000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUl-sLwNVnY

He repeats himself a lot, but for dunces like me that helps.


The PX3000 is balanced (3 conductors) which means phantom power should work fine. It's often said that running phantom power thru a patchbay is a bad idea, but much like running with scissors, if you know what you're doing there's no problem

That said, here's how I would hook up your rig. (Note: I'm not a pro. This is just how I would do it.) Think of your patchbay in 4 quadrants: top, bottom, left, right. The top row is for inputs (from instruments) & the bottom row is for outputs (to equipment). The left side is for pre-DAW (tracking), and the right side is for post-DAW (monitoring)

Start with the left side...

(top row)-------------------------------------

ch 1-4 will be for phantom powered mics direct to the Eurorack preamps 1-4. If you have to, put a big orange sticker that says (((+48v!!!)) so you won't accidentally plug a ribbon mic or someone's tongue into these

ch 5-8 will be for hi-Z (guitar) instruments to be sent to the DI4000

ch 9-10 will be for other mics which you intend to send to the MIC2200 tube preamp

ch 11-12 will be for line level instruments (keyboard)

(bottom row)-------------------------------------

ch 1-4 get plugged straight into the XLR preamps 1-4 of the Eurorack

ch 5-8 go to the DI4000, then to line inputs 5-8 of the Eurorack

ch 9-10 go to the MIC2200, then to line inputs 9-10 of the Eurorack

ch 11-12 go straight to line inputs 11-12 of the Eurorack

The Eurorack mixer goes straight into your DAW. That does it for the left side (tracking) i/o.

------------------------------------------------------

ch 13-24 (the right side) will be for post-DAW monitoring/speakers/etc. Check out the vid for some ideas on how to set that up. But I'm guessing you could just take your DAW outputs 1&2 and plug them into top row 13&14. Your monitors (HA8000?) will be plugged into the bottom row 13&14. I'm not too familiar with the HA8000.

With it set up like that, like the guy says in the video, you won't need to touch anything for most recording. But if you decide to change things up (like maybe sending your keys thru the DI or whatever) just patch the appropriate top row (11&12) into the the appropriate bottom (5&6) and you're good to go without crawling under the furniture.

mike_mccue


Nicely done Spaceduck.
I mean it sincerly, you did a nice job of laying everything out.

However, I still have the same question... what the heck is the patch bay for?

Hahaha, excellent point mike! I've always said the patchbay is the most useful piece of nothing in the studio. For me personally, it keeps me from crawling behind & under the desk all the time. If it saves me a few concussions, it's worth the $50.

You actually answered your own question perfectly: it's just a redundant set of connections conveniently laid out on the front of your rack. And yes unfortunately it forces you to go out & buy a 2nd set of cables (not to mention XLR-TRS adapters). It's a big mess to set up, but the joy is, if done properly, that's the last time you'll ever have to worry about cables!

+1 for patchbays....

especially if you have a few outboard pieces - makes using them for tracking and then mixing a breeze

A mixer is nice and I used to say a studio is not a studio until you have one but now with my patch bay (Samson S Patch Pro) which I love plus a good software line mixer - RME's Total mix in my case -  it was the mixer that became redundant
The patch bay is much much more flexible for me...

dmanuscriptmusic


I have purchased Behringer PX3000 and I don't really understand how to set it up. I have Behringer Eurorack UB1204 connected to a M-Audio Audiophile 2496. I have a Behringer MIC2200, a Behringer DI4000, and a Behringer Powerplay HA8000 headphone amp. What would be the most practical way to setup my patchbay to record vocals and my keyboards without running phantom power through my patchbay. Should I be patching in my keyboards?

The 2496 has unbalanced inputs, I would avoid extra connections and cable length. Better the patch directly to it, it's worth the extra effort to avoid the noise.  Leave the cables attached at the computer end "patch" directly to the back of the output device. If you rack everything so you can get to the back easy then it shouldn't be that much trouble.   Try to keep the electronics of the mixer out of the input chain unless it's the output device and you are using it's preamps. 
 
If you really want to set up a patchable system I would suggest you upgrade to the Audiophile 192 so you can patch all balanced outs to balanced ins.  The 192 has balanced I/O so cable length and number of connections is not an issue.  I think the mic preamp you have has two sets of outputs with their own levels so you could patch one set directly to the sound card for recording and patch one to the mixer or headphone amp for monitoring.