I was wondering if anyone’s used an LZX system as a sort of TBC to stabilize glitch effects, and if can function in that way how the stabilization colors the glitched signals compared to say a Panasonic WJ-AVE5.
A while back I’d gotten a Hotronic AP41 off Ebay but it seems to over-flavor glitches and introduce its own rather than stabilize output for capture. (It might not be fully functional.) That experience has made me a little wary of rolling the dice on a used WJ-AVE5s mixer on eBay–though it seems that’s a common suggestion for the problem I’m trying to solve.
I’ve got an LZX ESG3 encoder module which I’d pre-ordered thinking I wanted to build out an LZX system but changed my mind. So it’s sitting unused. Had an idea to add a TBC2 in front of it to function as a sort of TBC. Anyone use their LZX system in this way?
I don’t have experience with LZX stuff but do use an AVE-5 in my rig primarily for TBCing dirty signals before going to a V-4EX at the end of the chain. It does a great job at never dropping out, but definitely adds its own flavor to the corrected output, which I think looks pretty cool despite not being completely stable. I’ve also played around with a sync_ope which might be more suitable for rock solid glitch correction. Not sure how one might compare with the features of a fancy LZX TBC module, but it’s considerably more affordable and very compact so probably worth picking up if you’re looking for a more accessible solution.
aside from rescanning a CRT, there’s no way to capture a glitchy signal to digital without “altering” it in some way (adding a flavor as you say). that said, the panasonic mixers are a good middle ground option. the hotronic works well if you need a really perfect sync signal (used to be more necessary for using older analog-to-digital capture cards).
i have the LZX TBC2 and to be honest i am not super happy with how the input signals look. i’ve messed with the settings endlessly but the same signal that looks fine on everything else will become washed-out on it. i favor the syntonie VU003B unless i need multiple video inputs to my eurorack. ironically, i would use the hotronic rack unit as a kind of proc amp to allow me to compensate for the light/faded look of the TBC2 module.
so bearing in mind that i’m a little biased against it due to that issue: i can’t speak to how well it handles glitchy signals, as i haven’t tried to push its limits in that regard, but i would not rely on it to replace a “real” TBC in a rack or mixer unit.
TBC2 is for inputting Video into the LZX 0-1v modular space. You would need an LZX ESG3 Sync generator to then output video signal. It is not inexpensive. That said,TBC2 handles glitch very well. If the signal gets too glitched out, it will freeze on the last frame until it gets a better signal. This can be a rad performative effect.
@Deepflayke – I have an ESG3 and a couple of other modules–this is why I thought about adding the TBC2 to form a limited system for this limited use case. It sounds like you have and use one–do you notice similar brightness issues like @palomakop described? Or are you getting the expected brightness of the video you’re inputting? Maybe I’ll post on the LZX Discord to see if there’s anyone local in NYC who might loan me a module to demo with my existing gear.
Since my initial post I picked up a functioning WJ-AVE5. In my initial tests I’ve not been thrilled by how it changes the glitch images but am still experimenting. Is there a way to adjust how aggressive the digital frame sync is?
side note, you can also use syntonie VU007B to encode the rgb back into an output signal (composite, s-vid, y pb pr). does not have the attenuators but is a bit more affordable.
I don’t really notice brightness issues in part because I’m usually keying part the input video signal and then processing it further in my video synth where I can make any brightness adjustments. The only time I’ve noticed brightness issues is between different sources,VHS and DVD, which is mostly due to the various qualities of VHS tapes and how clean the heads are on the player.
If you already own an ESG3, and some modules, then the TBC2 makes sense for your video synth (get the quiet fan upgrade kit!). That and a VH.S crossfade or an LZX FKG3 can do a lot of heavy lifting with whatever other modules that you have. That might be a different rabbit hole for the topic of this thread.