I have a question about how some of you (you know who you are) who have lots of music gear, especially lots of synths and samples, cope with patching everything. Do you:
1. Use multiple patchbays to keep everything plugged-in all the time (into patchbays, I mean) and only selectively patch the stuff into your mixer or audio interface?
2. Leave only the most-used stuff plugged straight into the mixer all the time, and when setting up a less-commonly-used piece, temporarily plug it in, maybe unplugging something else to make room?
3. Utilize LOTS of mixer inputs or audio interface inputs, to leave everything plugged into its own input, all the time?
I've done all of the above at various times, and probably am somewhere between #1 and #2 right now, not really fully committed to either approach. I have 3 full-size patch bays but I'm using less than 1/3 of the patch inputs, and I have some synths plugged straight into my mixer and others not plugged into anything at all. It seems like a lame approach, but in my own defense, I'm actually only getting active in the studio again fairly recently.
So, I'd like to get a bit more organized and structured approach but I'm actually not quite sure how I want to do it... leaning toward #1.