musicman100
there you go webb hill, even though I am a lowly gold member who doesnt know better, my buddy, the Beagle, is platypus and he does know better....[:D]

now i am annoyed-you`re right-Beagle is one of the backbones of this forum,a professional, a gentleman and indispensable.
ps Beagle:am running 2 parallel multicore 16 track setups-one for rehearsal and preproduction with stereo outs to the zoom/iphone/ipad and one for recording through the good mics and focusrites-was trying to marry the two and have found this: http://www.arx.com.au/International/msx48.htm.
costs an arm and a leg but should be ideal-thanks for your help.

musicman100:i did ask a specific question and you appear to have assumed i haven`t got a userguide,or every available tutorial/faq/,don`t have a current ticket with focusrite support,haven`t contacted all studios,(no-one uses this combination as you`re restricted to 44.1 with all 16 inputs-which suits my purpose but is not "industry standard")had the head of music production at the local uni scratch his head and say i should have gone Profools and RME`s,one of the best DAW builders in the country saying the routing is "ridiculously complicated" and am arranging a skype session with one of the bakers when the DAW is delivered and installed.
i found your reply a bit smug-i hate the third person thing ("he states")etc when i`m right here,online-reeks of elitism and would be right at home on gearslutz.
this is not my hobby-i`m trying to make a living here although i do a lot of pro bono work with young bands and just break even and am annoyed that instead of fiddling with my 38th live cd on the trusty Sapphire 6 i`m sucked into defending a legitimate question.
please excuse me for venting my frustration but being able to read a userguide is one thing-trial and error and finding a workaround in the real world is another.
cheers
tony

Tony - I know Musicman, he's not intending to be condescending or anything.  he really is trying to help. 

ok - before you go spending a bunch of bucks on the splitter, let me see if I understand your set up correctly because I'm still not sure I understand exactly what you mean.

what exactly do you mean by "2 parallel multicore 16 track setups?"  are you saying you have identical computers each with their own focusrite saffire 56?  and each with their own Octopre, running from the octopre into the saffire via ADAT?

how does the 2 stereo outs to the zoom/iphone/ipad come into play?  what is the source of the 2 stereo outs?  from the saffire?  from an FOH board?

maybe if you drew me a diagram or something I might understand better what you're trying to hook up and how.?

thanks Beagle:fair call-i`m just frustrated and have had more anectdotal advice than i can poke a stick at.
for rehearsal/preproduction i run 16mics straight into the mackie as i don`t want to fire up the pc and focusrites, using the aux sends to the drumroom mixer(behringer1640plz)-the reason for this is the drummer can fine tune his/her mix according to their personal levels of deafness.i use the stereo outs and sometimes the tape outs on the mackie to record onto any portable device the band chooses-most use their i/phone/ipad or my zoom as to me it`s essential to hear what you`ve rehearsed,especially if you`re writing as you go.
 
For recording i use a separate 16 channel multicore direct to the focusrites then out to the outboard mixers with control room outs to the mixing monitors.
to streamline this i intended to run 16 xlr mics via xlr to 1/4 trs connectors into the patchbay then 16 out to the focusrites and 16 out to the mackie and onwards hence my earlier post regarding loss of signal with a patchbay.
the reason for this is that it appears you can run all 16 outs from the two focusrites when paired but not the two headphone outs on the 56 as well,which sucks for overdubbing.this may or may not be the reality-i won`t know till i get it back and run-my builder can`t help-he just mutters about "****ty drivers!"
without the unit i can only test run the patchbay using a mic and two tapedecks and after trying every available switching mode i can still only get 1 signal in and 1 signal out-read somewhere about only inserting the patch leads halfway?
once again,this is all hypothetical until i get the rig back as i only had it for a day until  it became obvious the old core 2 and XP were just not up to it and am confident i can sort it-eventually-as usual it will probably be a simple oversight or a poorly translated userguide..
once again,pls excuse my frustration and thanks for your help

good!  the mackie was one point not mentioned before now!

AHA!  and the "multicore" is a snake!  I was missing that point earlier too!

For recording i use a separate 16 channel multicore direct to the focusrites

and when you say "focusrites" are you talking about the 56 AND the saffire 6?  both connected to the computer via firewire?

ok - let me think on this. I finally understand what you are trying to do and I do think this is still possible with the samson unit you bought, but let me try to figure out the correct routing.  it might require more cables and I hope you can do what I'm thinking with the number of inputs/outputs that the samson has but I'm not 100% sure.  give me a day to work on it.

"and when you say "focusrites" are you talking about the 56 AND the saffire 6?  both connected to the computer via firewire?"

sorry:rushed my reply-"focusriteS" are the 56 and the octopre synced together by adat and internal wordclock(as per the original question) and linked to the pc by firewire.

the Sapphire 6 is just a backup for basic editing and field recording with 2 overheads on the laptop-acer I7 (as i`m solar powered and it takes forever to fireup and warm the studio) and plays no part in the signal chain.
thanks again mr beagle
vaya con dios

ok - I think you can do what you want with the samson - as long as you're running the XLR to TRS from the multicore into the patchbay, IF there are enough connections on the patchbay to do what you want.  I just need to study the patchbay routing to figure out how to do it.  you'll need extra TRS cables to patch into and out of the patch bay at various points to make it work.  I'm afraid you may be shy a few connections on the patchbay, tho, I'm not sure 48 is enough, but I'll have to work out a routing and see if it can be done.  I'll try to work that in during lunch today or something or maybe tonight when I get home.

WOW I thought for a moment I was upstairs.. itsn't it amazing, i thought you were being condescending to me .

Now that you have supplied additional information, there is more to go on, but your first post was rather confusing and lacking key points.

But beagle has more time to spend with you than I want to at this point. You obviously are far more professional  than I am or ever will be.

Reese, he is all yours.

ok, Tony,

I'm going to make a suggestion here that will work if my assumptions on your set up is correct.  I'm still not 100% clear on the focusrite saffire 56 and Octopre configuration.  here's what I THINK you're saying you are wanting to do:

16 XLR SOURCES from the SNAKE

from those 16 SOURCES you want to use the PATCHBAY to split them into identical signals for output to:

1) mixer for FOH
2) a wordclock and ADAT sync'd system of the focusrite saffire 56 and an Octopre

if this is correct, then you can do what you want.

use the HALF NORMAL switch setting on all of the front panels through 16
connect the SNAKE SOURCE TRS to the TOP REAR JACKS 1 through 16
connect the TRS cables going to the MIXER to the BOTTOM REAR JACKS 25 through 40
connect the TRS cables going to the SAFFIRE/OCTOPRE inputs to the TOP FRONT JACKS 1 through 16.

this should give you what you're after provided I understand you are using the saffire and the octopre in parallel, not in series.

a side note:  I would be more concerned with signal degredation from the XLR to TRS ADAPTERS than I would the patchbay.
another side note:  you signal WILL diminish some using the patchbay as a splitter.  I did not understand that from your question earlier about using the patchbay.  I was not thinking in terms of using it as a splitter and did not understand that's what you wanted it for.  so YES, it will reduce the signal some by using it as a splitter.  how much?  I don't know - you'll have to experiment and find out.

thanks mate for your obvious effort and patience-
i was concerned about the trs connector degradation hence looking at a splitter.
obviously it would be ideal to run all the outs from the focusrites to the patchbay then on to the outboard mixers using their gains and eq to tidy up the signal
can`t wait to setup using your suggestions-still think i`m missing something simple in the routing software.
thanks again!
cheers

I hope it works out for you!