A patch bay can make life in the studio much easier while saving wear and tear on jacks, but it can also make it much more expensive. The bay itself needn't cost much, but the cables in a properly equipped studio represent a significant fraction of the hardware investment. Even making your own cables won't save that much. Cable is cheap; the expense is in the plugs. If you go for a balanced rig, which is recommended, it costs that much more.

So much for the negative. A properly set up patch bay saves significant time and effort. It allows you to leave all your gear permanently connected, but also to interrupt those connections by inserting instruments and other devices into the signal chain by simply plugging in. My 48-point patch bay even has five operating modes which dictate what happens when something is plugged in to the front panel.

I highly recommend getting one or more depending on the complexity of your studio. I also recommend labeling all jacks and cables, front and back, as you will never remember where everything goes, which defeats the time-saving aspect. Radio Shack has a couple of inexpensive labeling kits for panels and cables.

HTH,

Richard

"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."