TBC2 expander availability and glitch handling
Category: Forum · Tags: tbc2 · Posts: 8
#1 — Mateo · 2026-05-18
I’m considering adding a TBC2 to my system, I have a few questions:
- Is the expander available? If not is it easy to DIY?
- How good is the module at dealing with glitched composite signals? I’m building a portable system and want to keep as much of it eurorack as possible
#2 — Entropist · 2026-05-21
In my experience, the TBC2 does not like glitched signals. I ran compsoite from a Fluxus Duo getting fed by a Structure into it and lost frames as soon as I started turning knobs on Fluxus. 1v rgb from theTBC2 was going into a Videomancer outputting hdmi.
If I recall from older posts, the TBC2 was not really designed to handle glitched signals.
#3 — sean · 2026-05-25
Yeah, TBC2 is very picky about what you put into. It really only likes signals that are quite stable and fully up to spec. Even a VHS tape directly from a VCR might defeat it, let alone anything intentionally “glitched.”
It is less a “time base corrector” (in the sense of taking a less-than-perfect signal and restoring it to something whose timing is up to spec) than a scaler and “frame synchronizer” (taking two stable signals and making their timing match).
I don’t mean this as necessarily a criticism. It is what it is, and it does a lot.
But/and I do think it is important to go into the purchase of a piece of gear knowing what it is and can do for you, rather than what one hopes it can do. This can sometimes be hard to suss out, so good on you for asking the question.
…Case in point, I bought the Expander hoping to use it with standard Apple dongles, but found that it 100% doesn’t work with those, since they apparently require some amount of basic info to be relayed back from an output device — which the Expander does not do. (I only noticed after purchase that LZX only specifically mentions component over DSub from a mixer as a use-case). So, my hope of removing a device (i.e. more than just a dongle) between laptop and TBC2 was dashed. If I am going to need a box between the two, might as well just keep converting to component.
Which is all to say, I have no idea regarding upcoming Expander availability, but if you need an Expander and can’t find one, you’re welcome to buy mine!
#4 — Entropist · 2026-05-28
I ran into a similar problem with the expander. Even with EDID emulator I couldn’t get VGA from my PC into TBC2. Ended up using an HDMI to component converter and that worked pretty well
#5 — Mateo · 2026-05-29
Thanks for the responses. Looks like I’ll have to look elsewhere for my glitch capturing needs!
#6 — sean · 2026-05-30
Best options I know of to get glitch signals into LZX system are:
- Rescan CRT using a camera and feed that into system.
- Using a Syntonie Stable (or Underscores Sync_ope, if still available) to retain sync. This does change the character of glitch somewhat, from the demos I’ve seen, but still retains plenty of glitchy goodness.
- Using a Syntonie CBV-001 (or other similar options) to glitch individual 1v signals after converting to LZX format. Totally different look than composite glitch, but still pretty nice IMO. Less “classic” glitch but also potentially less overplayed, more “graphic.”
- In-system feedback patching. Same limitation as 3, but also still potentially nice (though in my experience far less variance in possibilities than CBV-001).
#7 — Mateo · 2026-05-31
sean wrote:
Using a Syntonie Stable (or Underscores Sync_ope, if still available) to retain sync. This does change the character of glitch somewhat, from the demos I’ve seen, but still retains plenty of glitchy goodness.
I have a Stable: it’s great but it definitely changes the character of the glitch, which is why I’ve been exploring TBC options. I think part of the issue is that it completely replaces the sync signal, unlike the Sync_ope which has a dry/wet control, but that’s not currently available. There’s also the Mismatcher connect mini which I’m planning to try.
sean wrote:
Using a Syntonie CBV-001 (or other similar options) to glitch individual 1v signals > > after> > converting to LZX format. Totally different look than composite glitch, but still pretty nice IMO. Less “classic” glitch but also potentially less overplayed, more “graphic.”
Yeah, that’s definitely something I’m meaning to explore, I need an encoder/decoder first though, which is why I was asking about the TBC2 vs other options.
#8 — sean · 2026-05-31
If you want to fully preserve composite sync corruption effects while restoring valid sync to the signal (which will be necessary to getting the video into an LZX system), really your only option I think is rescanning.
I can’t say I’ve ever been quite patient enough to perfect that process myself, but others certainly seem to be quite good at it. From what I’ve gathered/experienced, seems a matter of having the camera properly synced to the monitor, optimal focal length, good alignment, and a slight de-focusing.