So I'm planning to get a 500 series chassis, some mic pre's, and some other outboard gear in the near future. I was just wondering what the best approach would be to set it up so I can patch mics to different pre amps without having to get to the back of my rack. I would assume the obvious answer would be to get a patchbay, but after doing some research I have found it's a little bit more complicated with things like phantom power and "hotpatching", as well as using XLR's vs 1/4 TRS cables. How do you guys/girls have your studios set up with outboard gear? I'd like to be able to run things from the outs on my interface to outboard gear, as well as mics coming in, before going to my interface. Would this be a traditional setup? If not what would?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!