Empress Effects ZOIA

Tailored Integration for My Guitar Setup

The Empress Effects Zoia has become a core part of my setup, seamlessly integrating with my Fender Lead III and Keith McMillen Softstep. This unit also two inputs, one of which I choose for a mic through a transformer, enhancing its utility by allowing vocal effects alongside guitar processing. User Experience: Its interface is surprisingly manageable, despite initial concerns. Quick taps to add or modify effects streamline my creative process, making it straightforward. Performance: The Zoia's reliability is one of its standout features. It consistently performs without issues, a crucial factor during prolonged use. Sound Quality: The effects, from reverb to delay, are polished and enrich the guitar’s output, providing just the right ambiance without distorting the original tones. Setup and Integration: Direct connection of an expression pedal and the Keith McMillen Softstep via a custom MIDI setup showcases the Zoia's flexibility. This setup, involving a Raspberry Pi for MIDI interfacing, illustrates not only the Zoia's adaptability but also its capability to mesh seamlessly with complex configurations. Overall: For guitarists who thrive on detailed sound manipulation and wish for a central unit that's both performant and integrative, the Zoia offers a unique solution. It fits neatly into my setup, proving its worth as more than just an effects unit but a crucial part of my musical expression.

Powerful and suprisingly easy

When I bought the Zola I was a bit apprehensive about the modular aspect since I had no experience in this area, but once I got the Zola and started making patches it was all so clear and easier than I expected. The sounds are stellar, as is build quality and you can build anything you want with this device which is mindblowing. Very happy with my purchase :)

Always wanted one

Don't let all the shiny knobs full you, it is the most intuitive gear I ever used. I could figure it out within 5 minutes without using the manual. Mine will never leave my pedalboard.

Epressive pedal

Very good option for meditation through exploration. Although the device has limitations that are related to the hardware and UI, so don't expect that it will give you comparable experience to computer software or expensive effect processors.

Definitely a small computer, I've been playing with the features and have not explored even 20% of the instrument during the last year, my first try-out patch was midi synthesiser with multiple oscillators, was interesting to see how the amount of effects affect the CPU load.

Inspiring Instrument

It needs time to spend with zoia, but you will exchange it with plenty of inspiring sounds!

Zoia is amazing, but could be better

Zoia is unlike all other pedals. It's a modular synth and the most comprehensive, controlable effects processor! However it could be better if there was an editor. Sometimes I get tired of looking at that tiny LCD... Certain effects could also sound better in my opinion, comparing to empress effects like Echo System and Reverb.

this machine is nerdy is hell!

if you read this, you probably somehow learned that the zoia exists. welcome to the club.

after i saw my first videos about the zoia, i knew that i have to try it out. usually i buy my pedals used and i sell them as easily. i like to think, that they're traveling from musician to musician to help them find their own unique sound haha i guess that makes me feel a little bit better about the fact that im spending too much money on pedals :D

so i sat down and waited for a used zoia to pop up in my area. i waited and i waited. nothing. once i was tired of waiting, i decided to buy it online from a very big music store in germany. in case i hated it, i could still send it back, right? or sell it to somebody else who then could hate it instead of me. and what can i tell you. it came quickly. i tried it out, got addicted to it and never hated it for a second!

i gotta be honest. this pedal has a steep learning curve. there is a lot of menu diving, blinky buttons. to put it simple: the whole system is confusing as f***.

BUT as confusing as it might seem in the beginning: this is more than a simple multi effect. what empress effects built here is a very powerful tool, that can be used for almost anything that has to do with music. plus there are very good tutorials on youtube and even a platform where the very active zoia community shares their "patches", thoughts and ideas with each other. if you dont want to build your own custom effects, you can browse and download patches there - but let's be honest again, the charm of this pedal is that it urges you to understand and to be creative with it.

the zoia can do so many things, here are a bunch of examples of how i use it:

mainly i use it as a guitar multi fx stomp box. you can build your own effect chains, and experiment with building your own sounds - mono or stereo, everything is possible. the only limit here is your imagination (and the dsp that maxes out at some point but until then its so much fun). i personally love that i can build my own delays, reverbs, loopers and modulation effects and in terms of sound quality everything sounds really good.

i'm not really a fan of the zoias distortion effects though, they sound kinda cold and digital (i guess thats because they are).

as outboard gear for studio mixing or live sound purposes! again, the sound quality is super sweet and it can be set up to accept line level inputs to avoid clipping.

you can use it as a synth! it has everything you need to build your own modular synth inside the box. you can build a 4 voice synth (thats what i managed before it maxed out on processor power) and play it through your favorite midi keyboard, or use one of the many analysing tools to build a guitar synth!

it can be a midi controller. you can build sequencers and other midi control devices and hook it up to your favourite synth.

it is even capable of putting out cv voltages to your modular synth system.

so if you're still reading this, and you're curious and fortunate enough to be able to afford it, you should probably go and try that thing out. i have it for quite a while now and i am still mind blown by how versatile the zoia is - if you take the time to learn your way around it! :)

My rigs swiss army knife

I am using ZOIA as sequencer, synth, channel strip for rhodes, guitar rig, or within my semi modular system to expand capabilities of my synths. This little thing is amazing!

This pedal is out of this world. Pc in a box. Love it!

Swiss army knife of pedals

This is an amazing pedal that takes modular synths, fx and functionality to another level. In the form of a multi-fx guitar pedal it is a powerhouse with unparallelled musical potential. Kudos for the community of Zoia patch builders, that extend the horizon of this machine endlessly. It takes some time to wrap your head around the UI, but when you got it, it is very rewarding.