Compatibility of discontinued LZX visionary series with current orion and expedition lines

Hi. I’m new to the video synthesis hobby and have been eyeing putting together an LZX eurorack system. I have a local guy who is offering to sell me some LZX modules, but they all seem to be from the discontinued visionary series line. I’m curious if these older modules are compatible with the current Orion or Expedition series of units? I know it seems the sync cable/voltage seems to be different between the lines. Any insight on if I should buy or skip these modules would be appreciated. Thanks!

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They use the 14-pin sync bus according to this rundown. Visual Cortex and Cadet I both have sync connectors for this, you will just need to buy or make a 14 pin ribbon cable to connect them to your sync generator. They also use 0-1V signals for patch connections as attested by the description of the Voltage Interface I module. I’ve seen a lot of pictures of other people’s rigs that have a mix of old and new modules. The Analogue Haven page for LZX has some specs for some of the Visionary modules. Be aware that these tend to be deeper than Expedition series modules, I’ve seen some folks here using standoffs to get them to fit in a Vessel or other shallower cases.

Note: I, unlike many forum members, do not have any Visionary series modules. Maybe you can get him to sell them to me instead? :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks, Sam. I went ahead and bought the remaining modules he had. (Color Video Encoder, Sync Gen, Flip Flops, and 2 Waveform Generators.) Even though the color video encoder and sync gen modules may be a bit redundant with the visual cortex that’s in the mail, it’s not that often that LZXs pop up on craigslist. I’m sure I can find some use for it eventually or find a good home for it if it turns out I don’t use it.

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I own a bunch (not the ones you just bought) and they work just fine. Cortex has a 14 pin socket so you can buy the cable and slave it all to cortex.

I use a bunch of Visionary series modules with Expeditionary and Orion modules and they work great together. For sync you can either build the sync distro board kit that reverselandfill makes, or just use the 14 pin sync for the modules that support it, and run one of the Visionary Color Video Encoder’s RCA outputs back through your front panel into the Expeditionary and Orion sync chain (this is what Lars suggested when I got my first Expeditionary module to use with my old Visionary gear).

i started with the visionary but have been getting some of the new stuff too including the visual cortex. the visual cortex has a sync out so you can use the ribbon cable to slave the color video encoder. no need for the video sync generator here. this enables me to have two independent outputs and works great. at this point i have a full 12u of LZX so i have all of my modules requiring sync in one half of the case. my visionary VWG’s sync via busboard connection with the help of this cable: http://www.analoguehaven.com/lzxindustries/syncbusbridgecable/
heres the sync distribution ribbon cable: http://www.analoguehaven.com/lzxindustries/videosyncdistributionchaincable/

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Hi,

Just picked up a Video Sync Generator and Colour Video Encoder second hand.
Wondering if there’s manuals or documentation for these?
Don’t seem to be on the github repo - Wondering the differences between these and the Cadet schematics as I have some PCBs arriving (hopefully tomorrow!)
Some info on the headers and possible mods would be great.

Cheers