‘Tis the season to get nostalgic so in this series some of the Production Expert team are looking back at their Products of the year for 2019. In this article Production Expert Technical Editor, James Ivey takes a look the Patch from Flock Audio.
The Flock Audio Patch
I first saw the Patch from new company Flock Audio back at NAMM 2018. I remember being very impressed that someone had finally managed to solve a genuine studio problem with what on the surface looked like quite a simple solution. However the more I chatted with company CEO and founder Darren Nakonechny about the issues he had to overcome to get the Patch to function as it now does, the more I realised that Patch is not just an automated replacement for a conventional cable-based analogue patch bay, it is, in fact, a new way to make your analogue hardware more useable more of the time without having to worry about what cable goes where and how this is patched into that. The Flock Audio Patch gave me back my analogue gear and allowed me to use it more of the time for pretty much any studio situation I can think of.
What Is Patch
At its heart, the Patch is a 64 point (32 in and 32 out) digitally recallable analogue patch bay. Keep thinking of it like that and you won’t go far wrong. However, what makes Patch different is that it can store and recall dozens if not hundreds of patch configurations and recall them at the click of a mouse.
Patch Features
64 Point connection (32x32)
32 Channels of 48V phantom power
2 Input / 2 Output Front panel connections
Create, Store and Recall your routings
Advanced “Multing” capabilities
Multiple system expansion (Up to 8 Units)
OS-X and Windows compatible software
Software and firmware updates
Safeguard warning notifications
DB-25 Connectors
No label templates required
No patch cables required
Living With The Flock Audio Patch
Having spent not an insignificant amount of time pulling the studio apart and re-wiring to accommodate the Patch system I was, what you might call more than a little hopeful that I was going to love it as the idea of pulling it all out again to swap back to the “old way” of patching did not appeal to me. I can safely say that Patch as changed my studio world. When tracking, I love the fact that I can instantly swap a mic pre into the record signal path if I want to record with a different flavour without faffing with pulling plugs or swapping cables. I can quickly audition hardware EQs or compressors that are connected to the Patch matrix without having to remember where they are patched as it’s all labelled in the Patch app. Even though I do still have the analogue cable patch bay built into my Audient console, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have moved a cable in it since the Patch was installed back in May 2019. It really is that good.
You can find out more about the amazing Patch by Flock Audio at their website and you can also check out my two-part review of the Patch from installation to commissioning below.