Video Transcript
Patch Matrix
5m 37s
0:07
The TouchMix-30 Pro’s Patch Matrix feature lets you quickly manage your audio inputs.
0:13
On the back of the mixer you’ll find the physical audio inputs, which are represented onscreen by a set of graphical controls and processing for each audio channel.
0:24
Let’s call these “Inputs” and “Channels” respectively.
0:27
As you would expect, the audio for Input 1 is controlled and processed by Channel 1, Input 2 is controlled and processed by Channel 2, etc.
0:36
But there are occasions when it may be useful to route an Input to an alternate Channel.
0:43
Let’s say, for instance, you’re running a music festival and a new band is plugging into the stage snake every hour.
0:49
You may want to rearrange the order these inputs appear on your screen. You can do so using the Patch Matrix.
0:56
But before you do this, there are a few things to understand. The Patch Matrix only affects the digital audio signal.
1:03
Each physical input is still hardwired to its corresponding input trim knob.
1:09
So even if you reroute Input 5 to Channel 8, for instance, that doesn’t change the fact that its input gain trim still has to be set using the Trim 5 control.
1:22
Also, unless you keep track of the changes you’ve made, altering the default patching can make signal tracing confusing later on.
1:29
You know the microphone is connected to Input 1 but why isn’t there any signal showing up on Channel 1?
1:35
So before making a change on the Patch Matrix, ask yourself if it wouldn’t be easier and potentially less confusing to physically re-patch the input.
1:45
If the answer is no, here’s how to proceed. To access the Patch Matrix, simply go to the Menu screen and select Patch Matrix.
1:55
The first time the Patch Matrix is accessed after the mixer is powered on, it may take a few moments to load.
2:01
Once it’s ready, you’ll see the Analog Inputs across the top of the screen and the Destination Channels down the right side.
2:08
A connection path is indicated with lines joined by a blue circle.
2:13
To change a connection, touch the button of the analog input you want to repatch. At that point, the button will turn blue.
2:20
Then touch the button of the Destination Channel where you want to route that input.
2:25
This Channel will also turn blue, and a new connection path will indicate your new routing.
2:29
If you make a mistake, simply touch that channel again to restore its previous routing.
2:34
When you’re done, touch the analog input button again to complete the re-patch.
2:40
Patching a channel will automatically add a textual tag to that channel’s name, to remind you that this channel is now receiving audio from a different input.
2:50
You can rename this channel to delete that tag, but then you might forget about this patch later on, so be careful!
2:57
Perhaps one of the best uses for the Patch Matrix is to route a single input to two or more channels. This is known as “Multing”.
3:05
The term comes from old-school analog patch bays that had some jacks wired in parallel so that a single signal could be patched to multiple destinations.
3:15
You can mult an analog input simply by selecting multiple destination channels in the Patch Matrix.
3:22
So why would you want to do this? Well here’s one example.
3:25
Let’s say you’ve got an acoustic guitar on stage and you’ve dialed it in for the main speaker system.
3:31
But no matter what you do, you can’t get it to sound right in the monitors without compromising the sound the audience hears.
3:38
It would make your life much easier if you had the guitar on two different channels
3:44
so you could EQ one for the main speakers, and EQ the second channel differently for the monitors.
3:51
You could do this by using an XLR Y-Cable to patch the guitar into two analog inputs
3:59
or you could use the Patch Matrix to mult the existing guitar input to a second channel.
4:05
In the Patch Matrix, just touch the input channel – in this case input 11, - and select another channel that you’re not using.
4:13
You can see now that Input 11 is routed to both channel 11 and channel 12.
4:18
Then you can set up the EQ and processing on Channel 11 to get the acoustic guitar sounding right in the house PA
4:25
and then work on Channel 12 to get it sounding right for the guitar player’s stage monitor.
4:31
Another example of why you’d use this feature:
4:33
Perhaps a single microphone is shared by two different people, and you need to EQ each of their voices differently.
4:40
You could mult the microphone to two channels as before, and then use the Mute buttons on the mixer screen to toggle which one is active.
4:48
This same idea applies if you have a vocal part in a song where the singer is supposed to sound like she’s talking on a telephone, or some other strong effect.
4:57
With the microphone multed into two channels, you can apply the effect to the second channel
5:02
and use the channel mutes to switch between the sound of the effect and a normal sound.
5:08
It’s worth noting that you can store a patch matrix setup using the store and recall functions on the Patch Matrix page.
5:16
And, most importantly, you can quickly reset the patch matrix to factory defaults here as well. We’re going to do that right now.
5:24
And that’s it. The Patch Matrix. Just One more way the QSC TouchMix-30 Pro goes beyond mixing to help you get great results – fast.
Lesson Description
Patch Matrix
5m 37s
Learn how the Touch-Mix 30 Pro's Patch Matrix lets you quickly manage your audio inputs.