Discovering the Patchbay: The Utility I Didn’t Know I Needed

In earlier posts, I’ve mentioned that my original studio setup was extremely minimal. At the time, it consisted of a computer, a set of video monitors, a pair of audio monitors, and a controller keyboard. I also had an M-Audio ProjectMix, which functioned as both an audio interface and a DAW controller—but even with that included, it was still a very small, straightforward setup.

That kind of studio simply didn’t require much thought when it came to routing or connectivity.

Everything changed when I started exploring hardware and decided to build a synth-focused studio. Once I introduced multiple keyboards, drum machines, and groove boxes, connecting everything together became a new challenge—one I had never really dealt with before.

The First Stage: A Mixer as the Hub

The first step in this transition was connecting all of my synths directly to the Zoom LiveTrak L-20. At the time, this mixer was relatively new to me, but it fit the bill perfectly. It gave me enough inputs, worked well for both recording and monitoring, and felt like a logical central hub for a growing hardware setup.

For a while, that worked just fine.

Then, at some point—I honestly can’t remember exactly what triggered the idea—I started thinking about patchbays.

A Completely New Concept (for Me)

Before this redesign, an audio patchbay had never crossed my mind. I didn’t think I needed one, and I didn’t really understand what problem it was supposed to solve. Still, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided it would be worth exploring.

I went to the local shop to see if I could rent one. It wasn’t officially on their rental list, but after talking to the right person at the right time, they agreed to let me take one home.

That decision changed everything.

I unboxed the patchbay and immediately started wiring things up.

How Fast a Patchbay Fills Up

The patchbay I rented was a ¼-inch TRS model with 48 patch points—24 on the top row and 24 on the bottom. At first glance, that sounded like more than enough for a “relatively small” studio like mine.

It wasn’t.

What surprised me most was how quickly those connections disappeared.

Here’s what I had connected just for synth outputs:

• Yamaha MODX – 2 channels
  
• Roland FA-06 – 2 channels
  
• AKAI Force – 2 channels
  
• Maschine+ – 2 channels
  
• Korg Minilogue – 1 channel
  
• DeepMind 12 – 2 channels
  
• MiniBrute – 1 channel
  
• DrumBrute – 1 channel
  

That’s 13 channels right there.

And here’s the catch: when you hear “48 patch points,” what you really have is 24 channels. On a standard patchbay, signals come into the back top row and out of the back bottom row. One channel uses two jacks.

So with 13 channels already in use, I only had 11 left.

Seeing the Bigger Picture

Another way to think about it is this: the LiveTrak L-20 is a 20-channel mixer, and each of those mixer inputs was also connected through the patchbay. That meant only four channels on the patchbay weren’t already tied to the mixer.

If I wanted to connect something like my Scarlett 2i2, that would immediately consume two of those remaining four channels.

And all of this was just for audio outputs.

If I had decided to route synth inputs, filters, or insert points through the patchbay as well, the number of connections would have doubled very quickly. A single synth can easily require four channels if you want full access to both its inputs and outputs.

From Curiosity to Essential Infrastructure

Fast forward to now: I have three 48-point patchbays in my studio—and I’m already running out of space on them.

Despite that, I can honestly say I can’t imagine my studio without them.

What started as an experiment with a piece of gear I thought I didn’t need has become the central nervous system of my studio. With short patch cables on the front of the bay, I can route almost anything to anything else without crawling behind racks or re-patching long cable runs.

Still Expanding in 2026

Even in 2026, I’m still finding new ways to use my patchbays. For example, I’m currently considering routing the detector inputs of my compressors so I can experiment more easily with side-chaining. With three compressors, that alone would add six more connections—and that’s how patchbay space disappears faster than you expect.

Do You Need a Patchbay?

The honest answer is: not everyone does.

I certainly didn’t need one when my studio was just a computer, monitors, and a controller keyboard. But the moment I expanded into hardware—multiple synths, mixers, interfaces, and outboard gear—a patchbay became indispensable.

If you’re setting up a studio and think a patchbay is pointless, you might be right—for now. But if your setup is growing, it’s worth taking a serious look. Like me, you may discover that once everything starts talking to everything else, a patchbay becomes something you simply can’t live without.