Cabling from the rear of a patchbay is usually run along the patchbay to the side of the rack, before going up the rack and back along to the equipment.
I’m wondering if it makes sense to flip my patchbays (Samson S‑Patch Plus types) upside down in my rack, to put my mixer inputs on the top row and signal outputs on the bottom? This would help keep the rear cables connecting the patchbay to the mixer (above the rack) out the way, but preserve the ‘listen‑or‑break’ function in half‑normal mode. Turning the patchbay upside down also flips the conventional orientation (and printed numbers) of a patchbay, so listening to the signal on the front bottom and breaking it on the front top. Is this a common reconfiguration (especially with a mixer above a patchbay) or is there a reason for the convention being the way it is?
SOS Forum post
SOS Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns replies: I don’t know the historic reason for the ‘outputs on the top’ convention, but I suspect it’s related to the practicalities of wiring between the switch contacts on the old long‑frame jack sockets to set up normalling schemes. Nevertheless, ‘top‑out, bottom‑in’ (as viewed from the front) is the convention, and all pre‑wired and modular patchbays are configured in this way.
There’s nothing to prevent you from mounting your own patchbays upside down but I’d strongly caution against it.
There’s nothing to prevent you from mounting your own patchbays upside down but I’d strongly caution against it, as it’s likely to lead to confusion if anyone else uses your studio, or if you use anyone else’s! You’d have to re‑label everything too, as the socket numbering and switch idents will all be upside down too, of course.
Plus, while I understand that it might initially seem neater if the cables going to the mixer channels can be looped straight into the top sockets using short cables in straight vertical drops, the professional approach is to run (longer) cables horizontally across the back of the patchbay to the side of the rack, and then route them vertically up or down to the appropriate level of the rack, where they route horizontally again to connect to the equipment. This keeps things neat and well‑organised at the back of the rack and, with a small loop of cable left at the edge, allows units to be removed from the rack with the cables still attached, instead of having to dive into the back of the bay to unplug everything before unmounting.
Admittedly, this cabling technique is easier if you can make up your own cables rather than using pre‑made looms, as you can cut each cable to the exact length required, but it’s possible with looms, with a little more effort (and cable ties).