How to Document Your Behringer WING Routing
Your WING holds hundreds of routing decisions — every channel source, every bus send, every output patch. The console knows all of it, but the moment you need that information on paper (for a deputy engineer, a venue tech, an insurance claim, or next year's rebuild) you have nothing to hand. This guide shows you how to turn a snapshot into clean, shareable routing documentation in a couple of minutes.
Note: Everything here works from a standard WING snapshot (
.snap) file. You never connect Wing Tools to the console — you export a snapshot and upload the file.
Why Document Routing At All?
A console's routing lives in volatile places: the desk itself, a USB stick, and your memory. None of those survive a swapped console, a borrowed engineer, or a six-month gap between shows. Written routing documentation gives you:
- Continuity — a deputy or support engineer can walk up cold and understand the patch.
- Recovery — if a show file is lost or corrupted, the document is your rebuild blueprint.
- Handover — rental houses and venues can prep and verify a desk before you arrive.
- Proof — a dated record of how the system was configured, useful for production paperwork.
Doing this by hand — photographing screens or copying values into a spreadsheet — is slow and goes stale the instant you change a send. Generating it from the snapshot keeps the document and the desk in sync.
What You Need
Requirements
- A WING snapshot file (
.snap) saved from your console. - A Wing Tools account. The Routing Generator is available on the Basic tier and above; a limited PDF export works on Free.
Exporting a Snapshot From the WING
- On the console, go to the Library / snapshot screen.
- Save the current state as a snapshot, or use an existing one.
- Copy the
.snapfile to a USB drive (or pull it via the WING's file tools).
Tip: Name snapshots descriptively on the desk —
FOH-festival-2026beatssnapshot-07. The name carries through into your documentation.
Generating Routing Documentation
Basic Workflow
- Open the Routing Generator and upload your
.snapfile. - Review the parsed channel list — Wing Tools reads every channel, bus, main, and matrix from the snapshot.
- Choose your output format (PDF for sharing, Excel for editing).
- Download. That's it — no manual transcription.
A typical export gives you, per channel, the name, color, source (e.g. AES50-A.30, Local.5, USB.12), and where it is sent. Buses, mains, and matrices are documented the same way, so the full signal path is on the page.
Choosing a Format
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| Sharing with deputies, venues, and rental houses; printing for the show file | |
| Excel | Further editing, custom layouts, importing into production paperwork |
| HTML | Quick on-screen review and searching |
What Gets Documented
A complete routing document covers the whole console, not just input names:
- Channels — name, color, physical source, and bus/main/matrix sends.
- Buses — names and their send routing (e.g. monitor mixes, effects sends).
- Mains and Matrices — output structure and feeds.
- Stagebox / physical I/O — which inputs land where, ideal for patching the stage.
Important: Because the document is generated from the snapshot, it reflects exactly what is in that file. Re-export after you make routing changes so the paperwork never lies.
Beyond a Static List
Once your routing is in Wing Tools, a few related tools make documentation far more powerful than a printout:
- Signal Flow (Premium) — see the routing as an interactive diagram and trace any channel's path from input to output.
- Routing Diff (Premium) — compare two snapshots and document exactly what changed between shows or rehearsals.
- Snapshot Linter (Pro) — catch routing mistakes (muted buses, missing talkback, phantom power gaps) before they reach soundcheck.
- Stagebox device labels — printable labels for your SD/DL stageboxes so the physical patch matches the document.
Tips and Best Practices
- Document the final state, not the soundcheck mess. Export your snapshot after the patch is settled.
- Keep a dated copy per show. Pair it with Routing Diff and you have a complete change history.
- Name and color channels on the desk. Good housekeeping on the console produces good documentation automatically.
- Share the PDF ahead of time. Venues and rental houses prep faster and make fewer mistakes when they can see your patch in advance.
Troubleshooting
My snapshot won't upload
Make sure you exported a .snap file from the WING (not a show/scene from a different console). If it still fails, check the Reference section for supported snapshot format versions.
Channel names or sources look wrong
The document mirrors the snapshot. If a name looks off, it is almost always off on the desk too — re-check the channel on the console, re-export, and regenerate.
Next Steps
- Routing Generator: Full reference for the PDF/Excel export options.
- Signal Flow: Turn your routing into an interactive, traceable diagram.
- Routing Diff: Document what changed between two snapshots.
Questions? Check the Reference section for troubleshooting tips.