rustywire wrote:All of your unbal gear may be best used with short patch/cable runs in the aux sends of a mixer which can output bal +4dB.
Then with a transformer-balanced patchbay you can run loooooooooong lengths of cable without signal loss or added noise.
IMO they also assist in bringing out the best... depth of sounds
A label maker is quite valuable, label every cable's connector, each patch socket's routing. Take photos & print settings often.
Once you create a system for yourself...and stick with it...workflow should become far more intuitive.
Yeah, i'm definitely getting a lable maker if i go the patchbay route. Getting organized is a great suggestion. Mixer idea for unbalanced gear is smart too.
I think for the moment before making any big change decisions i'm going to keep it at 3 pedal boards. The cool thing about the rolling stand is i can make any of them into a table top effects when necessary. The table top one i'm doing is a dual setup though... it'll make more sense when i take a picture of it after it's complete. I'll still be limited to what's on each board for now but can swap in and out and it's still a good way to really get to know if something pairs well or not. That's all already pretty much set up.
I think to make all the instruments accessible to any pedalboard I need to decide whether to keep them on the desk or on a rolling stand and then figure out a good mixer solution so that they can all be on and accessible at any time with easy change to route to whichever pedalboard i want and then whatever amp or DI to the interface....
manymanyhaha wrote:Have you thought about a matrix mixer?
I haven't but I just found this which could be great for routing multiple instruments to different sources or even more than one source..... and then can also be used for fun stuff like parallel routing, effects loop that feeds back into itself, stereo routing variations, amp and direct routing outs, multiple instruments through the same chain, instrument into instrument for sampling, routing to a looper, etc etc.
Thinking this might be a good way to go for right now before diving into my patchbay which is going to require more thought and reaarangement
^^ Also, i think if i had one of those for the inputs then i could route to all the pedalboards and never unplug a cable... just turn up whichever instrument i want going to whichever pedalbaord......
but then, also have one of these where all the pedalboards go into. Then I could just turn up whichever board is being used to whichever amp or direct to interface or both or run in stereo or run in parallel with two boards going into one amp, etc etc etc.
So many options and no more plugging and unplugging issues.
That one is passive, you probably want active, especially if you are worried about longer cable runs.
Seems like you have more gear than that little one would handle. 4 inputs routed to 4 outputs. Enough? I'm always tempted by those little matrix mixers, but for me that would be more for fiddling than a permanent setup.
You've got like 10 instruments to route. You need a mixer!
I like the Allen and Heath MixWizard mixer for the 6(!) aux sends which can be configured pre or post fader. Each of your three boards could be on an aux send, and then come back into the board on its own channel (where it could then be routed to other aux sends etc).
Plus you have inserts on the channels and, and inserts for the main mix. So you could easily route selected inputs or the whole mix through more rarely used effects. You can also use one of those fake insert adapters to split the signal of an input out for on the fly routing to an effect (if you already used all 6 auxs) and bring it back in on its own channel.
The only thing is I don't really mess with cabs so I don't know if you need some kind of re-amp coming off of the mixer, or maybe a re-amp into a cab switcher to switch on the fly...
But getting a good mixer set-up lets you just twist a few knobs to massively re-route things, which lets you play with routings on the fly. And also makes it easier to insert stuff into your overall chain *at the point of the mixer* without messing with the rest of it.
I don't play guitar so I can't speak to some of particulars of integrating a mixer, but if I were you I'd be looking into it
popvulture wrote:Nothing is truer bypass than the void.
multi_s wrote: i want something that gives my third eye a rim job.
ritz wrote:That one is passive, you probably want active, especially if you are worried about longer cable runs.
Seems like you have more gear than that little one would handle. 4 inputs routed to 4 outputs. Enough? I'm always tempted by those little matrix mixers, but for me that would be more for fiddling than a permanent setup.
You've got like 10 instruments to route. You need a mixer!
I like the Allen and Heath MixWizard mixer for the 6(!) aux sends which can be configured pre or post fader. Each of your three boards could be on an aux send, and then come back into the board on its own channel (where it could then be routed to other aux sends etc).
Plus you have inserts on the channels and, and inserts for the main mix. So you could easily route selected inputs or the whole mix through more rarely used effects. You can also use one of those fake insert adapters to split the signal of an input out for on the fly routing to an effect (if you already used all 6 auxs) and bring it back in on its own channel.
The only thing is I don't really mess with cabs so I don't know if you need some kind of re-amp coming off of the mixer, or maybe a re-amp into a cab switcher to switch on the fly...
But getting a good mixer set-up lets you just twist a few knobs to massively re-route things, which lets you play with routings on the fly. And also makes it easier to insert stuff into your overall chain *at the point of the mixer* without messing with the rest of it.
I don't play guitar so I can't speak to some of particulars of integrating a mixer, but if I were you I'd be looking into it
Yeah definitely looking into mixers for a more permanent solution if i don't use the patchbay that i already have.
The matrix mixer was going to be just to run a few of the instruments in with outs to 3 different boards and one direct to the interface. The second matrix mixer was going to be to run the three pedal boards to 2 different cabs and one direct to the interface. Was assuming i'd want passive but maybe i'm thinking about that wrong. Logistics wise, for the setup of my room, this is an optimal setup. A mixer from the instruments to the pedal boards and then another from the boards to the amps and interface.
... but i'll definitely look into the mixer options you suggested! Thanks!
They made me a custom one so they can make however many inputs and outputs you think you need. Knut was pretty quick about it, it took about a month. And they are active, no sound problems at all.
They made me a custom one so they can make however many inputs and outputs you think you need. Knut was pretty quick about it, it took about a month. And they are active, no sound problems at all.
Something to consider.
Thanks!
Yeah, i'm really leaning towards two matrix mixers (for now... maybe i'll get a full mixer down the road). I really like the idea of having one where i plug in all of my instruments and have the outputs go to the 3 pedalboards and the interface. Then another on the other side of the room where the amps and boards are where i can run the pedalboards into the ins and the outs to both amps and one direct to the interface. That seems optimal to me.
I'm going to look into some mixer options too though.
Thanks for all the input from everyone so far! It's appreciated!
They made me a custom one so they can make however many inputs and outputs you think you need. Knut was pretty quick about it, it took about a month. And they are active, no sound problems at all.
Something to consider.
How dare you suggest something out of stock!!!
I want one too.
"I do not have the ability to think rationally 90% of the time and I also change my mind at the drop of a hat".
vidret wrote:
I see this, and I see a lot of people mentioning matrix mixers and the matrise.
Not to toot my own horn, but I think it's very relevant. Me and pladask are working on something of a mix between a patchulator and a matrix mixer, the middle ground so to speak.
Since the patchulator can only reroute, and the matrix mixer requires a bit more understanding than some people want to put in, this will be easier to understand/use but have way more uses than rerouting (like a matrix mixer naturally has).
So one instrument in, several outs - or - several ins, one summed out - parallel loops, effects loops for pedals etc (like running your dry sound into a ct5 that loops into a reverb and what you hear in the end is the reverbed loop and your dry sound, none of the "dry" loop),
And everything in there between. Just wanted to put that out there, since it gets more talk around these parts.
So this will be one of the prizes for BILF this year? YES!!!
So active matrix mixers are quite a bit more expensive than passive.... but not quite as much as going with a mixer with that many aux and takes up a lot less space though a mixer has far more options but the layout of my room would benefit from two matrix mixers instead.....
So a question to those in the know... Is there an ABY type switcher available or that can be built that would have, lets say, 8 inputs for instruments and 4 outputs going to 3 pedalboards and one direct to the interface. All inputs are active and you can switch which output all ins are going to as a whole? Same thing for between the pedal boards and amps where the pedalboards are going into 3 inputs and there are 3 outputs (2 to amps and 1 to direct interface). Is something like that possible and a cheaper more effective solution?
