We are proud to announce the release of version 1.5 of PatchCAD which introduces a major new template designer with a powerful new editor and support for stereo-spaced and custom-spaced patchbay layouts.

The Editor

In the heart of the update is a big redesign of the Custom Patchbay Template window which features a new editor that supports three types of patchbay layouts: Mono Spaced, Stereo Spaced and Custom. Based on the layout type selection, the behaviour of the layout editor at the bottom of the window will change:

• Mono Spaced – Since the distance between each socket is the same, you will only be enter to enter the width of the first cell and it will be copied automatically to all the cells in the patchbay.
• Stereo Spaced – The sockets will be grouped as pairs and the distance between each pair will be required.
• Custom – You can freely enter any width for any socket for patchbays and panels with a combination of different connectors.

For each of these layouts, any number of gaps can be added to the design. Previously, PatchCAD only supported a single gap in the middle for the patchbay for what is knows as a divided layout, but now a gap can be added in the middle or anywhere else for patchbays that group sets of sockets like found on the Ghielmetti ASF 2×34:

Hovering with the mouse or entering into one of the fields at the top of the window will highlight the relevant area on the editor at the bottom to clearly show what the numbers are referring to. For example, hovering with the mouse above the “Designation strip left padding” text box will highlight the area of the editor marked as “Left Padding”.

A step by step guide to creating a custom patchbay template can be found here.

A list of all updates, bug fixes and changes includes:

Version 1.5.0.0

• ADD: New custom template editor!
• ADD: Support for stereo-spaced patchbay layout.
• ADD: Support for multiple gaps in a patchbay layout.
• CHANGE: PatchCAD now checks for new patchbay templates at lauch.
• CHANGE: Improved check for updates.
• FIX: User tamplates unavailble if main templates are not present.
• FIX: Check for valid input when prompted for how many rows to divide the patchbay to when adding a patchbay.
• FIX: In a project with patchbays of different heights, when removing a patchbay from the project, the patchbay heights would be incorrect.

Version 1.4.3.0

• CHANGE: Improved check for PatchCAD and temapltes updates.
• FIX: Error when clicking on Create before patchbays database was loaded.
• FIX: Incorrectly drawing cells on patchbays with one line per row.
• FIX: Right maing cutting guide incorrectly positioned when a patchbay fits on a single page.

Version 1.4.2.0

• ADD: Ability to write inside the divider column on patchbays that have a dividing gap.
• ADD: Hint label when a project isn’t open to click on New Project to add patchbays.
• CHANGE: Allow auto number/letter/complete functions across more than one row and cells that span more than one row.
• CHANGE: Toolbar icons rearranged to show auto number, letter and complete buttons together.
• CHANGE: Updated shortcuts toolbar.

Version 1.4.1.0

• FIX: Error on launch under certain conditions.

Version 1.4.0.0

• ADD: New templates manager panel.
• FIX: Automatically redownload templates database file if PatchCAD detects that it is corrupted.
• FIX: Going back to the main window without choosing a colour on the text and background colour pickers leaves the picker form open in the background.

Version 1.3.0.0

• ADD: Support for more than two lines per designation strip.
• ADD: Filter patchbays by type
• CHANGE: List of patchbays doesn’t show the numbers of rows a label strip is split into. Instead PatchCAD will ask how many lines to split the strip into when adding a patchbay.
• FIX: Potential error when using auto-complete on an empty cell.