Getting Started Getting Started: Patch Matrix
Monday, 24 June 2024
The following is intended as a beginners guide to the Patch Matrix and its features in Master Patch
The Patch Matrix lives inside what is known as the 'side slider'. The side slider can be found on the left hand side of the Band Page and gives access to a number of focused pages for different tasks.
Upon clicking on the Patch Matrix button you will be taken to the Patch Matrix Page, which features two main areas.
- The ribbon menu
- The patch matrix
The Ribbon Menu
The ribbon menu contains additional functionality related to the patch matrix.
- Clear Patch
- Allows the user to clear all or a part of the existing patch. This can be useful when you need to clean blocks of inputs together after a change has been made. Clear all is useful when you need to completely start over with a clean patch.
- Show/Hide position
- Shows and hides an additional column next to the 'name' column of the patch matrix which contains the 'position' data from the channel list. This can be useful when the user is making a patch and cannot remember physically where on stage the patch originates.
- Channel disable
- On occasion the user may experience a malfunctioning part of the line system, or a 'dead line'. The channel disable button allows the user to mark a specific part of the line system as unusable. This means that patches will not be able to be made to these channels. It also means that all channels currently patched to this channel will be unpatched - the user is asked to confirm their choice before the operation is executed.
The Patch Matrix
Patching in master patch is very easy. Simply click into a cell and a patch will be made. This will then be reflected throughout the suite. Users can also click and 'drag' a patch which can help when making blocks of patches quickly.
Master Patch is built with some additional safety features to help the user.
- Path steal warnings.
- If the user attempts to make a patch that result in either a 'double' patch or a 'stolen' patch then the user is asked to confirm this is the action they would like to proceed with. It is also not possible for the user to patch an input channel from two separate input locations meaning that double patch errors are not possible to make.
- Shading on patched cells
- Cells that have been patched will shade in a darker colour than unpatched cells, in this way as the user traverses the patch matrix it is clear which channels have been patched, and which channels of input devices are already in use.
- Parallel patching
- When input devices are assigned to the same Gang Group and one of those hang groups has had a channel patched to it then it will show on the other members of the gang group. This is also true of shading on patched cells, as the user hovers on one column the corresponding columns of the gang group with also highlight.
Patching within the patch matrix is not the only option available to the user, the patch can also be altered from the Input Devices Overview pane of the Side Slider, as well as directly from the channel list on the Band Page.
