Using Patefact

1. The basic principle

Patefact edits files, not devices. The app never connects to your network and never talks to any hardware. It reads a preset file, displays its contents as a matrix, lets you change anything in it, and writes the file back out.

The workflow is therefore always the same:

1. In your control software, save the preset as an XML file while the devices are still on the network.
2. Open the file in Patefact and edit it wherever and whenever you like.
3. Load the saved file back into the control software.

2. Opening a preset

There are four ways into a preset:

• Welcome window: A list of recently opened files appears on launch. One click is all it takes.
• File → Open or ⌘O
• Drag & drop: Just drag the XML file onto the window.
• Start fresh: "Create New Matrix", or ⌘N, creates an empty preset into which you add devices by hand.

The welcome window can be switched off via the "Show at Launch" checkbox, if you'd rather land directly in a document.

3. Reading the matrix

The matrix is the heart of the app. It shows which signal goes where, and is always laid out the same way:

• Along the top, labeled vertically: the senders, i.e. each device's TX channels.
• On the left: the receivers, i.e. the RX channels. Below each channel name, small text shows what it's currently connected to.
• In the grid: the intersection points. A filled dot means that receiver is subscribed to that sender's signal.

Devices are groups. Clicking a device name collapses or expands its channels, so you keep an overview even with many devices. Next to the name it shows how many channels the device has.

The counter in the toolbar

Top right you'll see something like 16 / 16 connected. The second number is the total count of receiver channels in the preset, the first is how many of them actually have a source. If the numbers differ, there are unfed inputs. That doesn't have to be an error, but it's the fastest clue that something is missing.

Legend

The Legend button shows what the colors and symbols mean: which dots are active connections, what sender and receiver markers look like, and how incompletely captured devices are marked.

4. Navigating large networks

Filters

Above the matrix are two separate search fields: one for senders (TX), one for receivers (RX). They work independently. Type a device name on the left and only its receiver channels stay visible; type something at the top and the column selection narrows. That way you can carve exactly the slice you need out of a network with hundreds of channels.

If nothing matches the filter, the app says so explicitly instead of showing an empty area.

Zoom

The magnifying-glass buttons shrink and enlarge the matrix, the percentage next to them shows the current level. Reset restores 100 %. Zoom is useful when you either want to see many channels at once or need to hit a single intersection point precisely.

Appearance

The button with the half-filled circle switches between Automatic, Light and Dark. Handy if you work in a bright office during the day and a darkened production room at night.

5. Making and breaking connections

This is the most-used action in the app, and it takes one click:

• Connect: Click the intersection of a sender and a receiver. The dot appears, the connection is live.
• Disconnect: Click an existing dot again. The connection is removed.

A receiver channel can only ever have one source. Connecting it to a new sender replaces the previous assignment.

Tooltips

Hover the pointer over a sender and Patefact shows every receiver fed by that channel. That answers "where does this signal go" without any searching. How long you have to hover before the tooltip appears is set in the app settings.

If something goes wrong

Every change can be undone: ⌘Z undoes, ⌘⇧Z redoes. Both commands are also available as arrow icons in the toolbar. As long as you haven't saved, nothing is final.

6. Devices in detail

A double-click on a device name in the matrix opens the detail view. (A single click just collapses or expands the device.) The view has three tabs.

The "Device" tab

This is where the device's properties live:

• Audio parameters: sample rate, bit depth, unicast latency, and whether the device is PTP master. Latency is chosen from fixed steps from 0.25 ms to 40 ms.
• Network: IP address and subnet mask, as captured at export time.
• Clock and PTP: subdomain, plus the status of PTPv1 and PTPv2.

At the top you can change the display name. Below it, unchangeable, is the Dante name, the identifier under which the device appears on the network.

The "TX" and "RX" tabs

These list all of the device's sender and receiver channels respectively. This is where you rename channels. The number in parentheses next to each tab name tells you how many channels there are.

The toolbar at the top

Four buttons sit above the tabs, on the right:

Deleting a device

Delete lives at the bottom of the detail view, deliberately gated in three steps so no device disappears by accident:

1. Check Remove device from matrix. Only this makes the button next to it usable in the first place; before that it's grayed out.
2. Click Delete Device.
3. Confirm the prompt Really delete this device?

The device is removed from the preset along with all of its channels. If you cancel the confirmation, the app also resets the checkbox, so your next attempt starts back at step one.

7. Adding devices

The Device button in the toolbar, or ⌘⇧N, creates a device that doesn't exist yet in the preset. This is how you plan installations whose hardware doesn't exist yet.

The dialog asks for:

• Dante name: the technical identifier, e.g. My-Device-01
• Display name: the readable name, e.g. My Device
• Number of TX and RX channels
• Sample rate

You set the default values for new devices once in the app settings, so you don't have to configure them every single time.

8. The device library

If you keep working with the same devices, save them once and recall them afterward in two clicks. The "Add Device" dialog has a second mode alongside manual creation for exactly this.

Saving a device to the library

Open the device in the matrix and click the bookmark icon. It moves into the library along with its channel count and audio parameters.

Using and maintaining the library

• Search: A search field filters the list once it gets long.
• Delete: Entries can be checked and removed in bulk. The app states the count beforehand, because this cannot be undone.
• Export and import: The entire library can be saved as a file and read back in on another machine. That's how you share a device park across a team, or bring it to the iPad.

9. Naming channels

You rename individual channels in the device detail view: double-click the device in the matrix, then switch to the TX or RX tab and edit the name directly in the field. Renaming does not happen in the matrix itself; a double-click there always opens the detail view instead.

Patefact also keeps names unique within a device automatically. Assign the same name twice and the app appends a number, instead of leaving the file unusable.

Renaming in bulk

Naming forty-eight channels one at a time is an evening's work. With Batch Rename it's one operation. You reach it from a device's detail view via "Rename channels in bulk".

You get there through the clipboard icon in the detail view's toolbar.

1. Choose the target: sender or receiver channels.
2. Enter a pattern and set the starting number.
3. Select the channels. All and None toggle the whole list. For a subset, use the range picker below: from channel X, count Y, then select. That lets you grab channels 9 through 16 without checking eight boxes one by one.
4. Check the preview, which shows the old and new name for every channel, and confirm with Rename.

Three placeholders are available in the pattern:

The pattern Wedge {n:02} with starting number 1 produces Wedge 01, Wedge 02, and so on. The numbering only counts the channels that are actually checked.

10. Preset settings

The Preset Info button next to the file name opens the properties of the whole preset:

• Name and description: free text. The description is the place for notes like "State after rig rebuild in Hall 2".
• Clock subdomains: which subdomains appear in the preset.
• Statistics: number of devices, sender and receiver channels, and how many receivers are actually connected.

The statistics are the fastest way to compare two presets without clicking through both. They also show the preset's file-format version and the sample rates present in the preset.

11. Validating before export

The Validate button, or ⌘⇧K, checks the entire preset and opens a report. It separates findings by severity.

Errors

Warnings

At the end there's an overall verdict that makes the decision for you:

• Preset is ready to export – nothing found.
• Export possible, review warnings – it'll work, but look before you leap.
• Export not recommended – there are errors you should fix.

It's worth running validation as the last step before saving. It costs two seconds and catches exactly the kind of mistake that would otherwise only surface at soundcheck.

12. Saving and loading back

⌘S saves to the open file, Save As creates a new one. For changes to a production preset, the second option is worth it: the original state stays intact if you need to go back.

As long as unsaved changes exist, the "Save" button shows a colored dot. If you try to close the window or the app, Patefact asks first, instead of silently discarding your work.

You then load the saved file into your control software. It typically shows a preview of the changes, which you have to confirm before anything reaches the hardware.

13. Working with CSV

Export

CSV Export, or ⌘⇧E, writes out the channel list as a table. That's how you document a routing, hand it to colleagues, or process it further in a spreadsheet.

Import

CSV Import reads channel names from a table. If someone sends you a ready-made channel list, you don't have to type it in by hand.

14. App settings

Reached via Patefact → Settings, or ⌘,. They're organized into three sections.

General

This is where the app language lives: system language or one of the eight bundled languages. A change only takes effect after a restart; the app offers to restart immediately.

New Devices

Defaults for every newly created device: number of TX and RX channels, sample rate from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz, bit depth of 16, 24 or 32 bits, and the unicast latency. If you mostly work with the same kind of hardware, set this once and save yourself clicks for the rest of the year.

Matrix

• Color scheme: Automatic, Light or Dark. The same setting as the toolbar button.
• Default zoom: the magnification the matrix opens at. For large networks, a value below 100 % is worth it, so you see more right away.
• Add new devices collapsed: when enabled, newly created devices start out collapsed. That keeps the view calm when you're creating several devices in a row.
• Tooltip delay: how long the pointer has to rest on a channel before the tooltip appears.

15. On the iPad

The iPad version is the same app, not a stripped-down add-on. Matrix, detail views, validation, settings and CSV export are all present. A few interaction differences come from the device itself:

• Tap instead of click: A single tap collapses or expands a device, a double tap opens the detail view, a tap on an intersection point sets or removes the connection.
• The info panel is collapsed by default and is shown via the button on the right edge. On the Mac it's open right away.
• Settings are reached via the gear icon in the navigation bar instead of the app menu.
• Files come in through the Files app on the iPad. Patefact creates its own area there.
• Share instead of Save As: CSV export goes through the usual Share menu.

Premium covers both platforms together. One purchase unlocks Mac and iPad.

16. Keyboard shortcuts

In dialogs, Return confirms and Esc cancels. In lists, you move with the arrow keys.

17. Lite and Premium

Patefact is fully usable for free. To review other people's presets and for smaller setups, you don't need to buy anything. Premium removes two limits and unlocks two features:

Everything else, the matrix, filters, zoom, detail views, making connections, validation, naming channels individually, CSV import and export, all eight languages, is included in both versions. The number of presets is never limited.

If you hit a limit, the app tells you right there and offers the upgrade. Premium is a one-time purchase and covers Mac and iPad together.

Still have questions?

If something's missing here or an explanation doesn't help, write to me. I take feedback like that and fold it back into the manual.