Empress Zoia users thread

Paul_C

After a period of moving and re-labeling I now have five patch folders with 64 patches in each, a total of 320 !

I've only tried around 100 so far, so there's going to have to be a lot of loading in patches and skimming through them first, followed by a deeper examination later.

Obviously there are a lot of patches which will be similar, but nevertheless I'm amazed at how many I've enjoyed with very little understanding of the intricacies - I'm definitely going to be picking up a second one (for starters).

markblack

@Paul_C would it be possible to get a copy of your folders (if its not cheeky to ask), sounds like a good collection. I have a zoia but i just don't have time to sift through the patch store at the moment.

Jonathanthomas83

I second that @markblack, I'd love for you to share your folders, @Paul_C if possible.

I'm lacking time at the moment, hence me being quiet on this thread, but your enthusiasm for the Zoia has relit the fire and set me off exploring again so I've changed the title of the thread to be more inclusive of everyone and hopefully we can make this a nice home for all things Zoia related on tFB.

Paul_C

I've messaged Mark with a link to the first two on my website - I'll put them here if anyone wants them:

http://www.arrowheadguitars.co.uk/pics/zoia/

http://www.arrowheadguitars.co.uk/pics/zoia%202/

As I said to Mark, the patches in the first folder should do something without needing to do anything (other than possibly hit the left footswitch), but to get the most from them (and to get a lot of the others to work) you will probably have to go back to patchstorage to find the appropriate page with the instructions for use.

Jonathanthomas83

Paul_C said:

I've messaged Mark with a link to the first two on my website - I'll put them here if anyone wants them:

http://www.arrowheadguitars.co.uk/pics/zoia/

http://www.arrowheadguitars.co.uk/pics/zoia%202/

As I said to Mark, the patches in the first folder should do something without needing to do anything (other than possibly hit the left footswitch), but to get the most from them (and to get a lot of the others to work) you will probably have to go back to patchstorage to find the appropriate page with the instructions for use.

Amazing, @Paul_C , thank you! I'll check those out when I get back home.
How are you using your Zoia, in respect to where it is in your chain? Do you use it in stereo?

Mine is a bit quiet and need to work out why and what settings I need to change. Way more basic than where you're at right now :-) thank you again, Paul!

Paul_C

Other than a Vox Tonelab which I mostly use as a tuner (there's a very small amount of compression on the patch it starts on) I've got the Zoia first in the chain at the moment, and I'm using it in mono.

I want it first so I can run the synth patches through all my other pedals, once I learn how to use them.

I have had to balance one or two patches, so all of the ones in the first folder should be fairly similar in output.

There are some which are quiet (for me at least) and I think that one or two are going to need modifying to add a volume control to them.

Paul_C

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Mine is a bit quiet and need to work out why and what settings I need to change. Way more basic than where you're at right now :-) thank you again, Paul!

I did read in the manual that the default setting for the pedal has a -6db pad on the input which can be increased to -12db and reduced to 0db depending on how hot (or not) the signal is.

Paul_C

The other thing with my patches in the first folder is that I spent half an hour yesterday editing the names you see on the screen to add capital letters as some creators use capitals and some *looks at @personalnadir " don't.

markblack

@Paul_C cheers for that. Very kind.

personalnadir

Paul_C said:

The other thing with my patches in the first folder is that I spent half an hour yesterday editing the names you see on the screen to add capital letters as some creators use capitals and some *looks at @personalnadir " don't.

Oh, genuinely didn't know you could do capitals, even though all the patches I recommended have them in their titles. (Or maybe I did and I forgot?). I've just checked all the patches I'm using and it's pretty much just me who's not using them. Maybe that will be my thing from now on?

personalnadir

How are you using your Zoia, in respect to where it is in your chain? Do you use it in stereo?

Check out the Patchulator 8000. I use that to allow me to change the pedal order. It's a stereo patchbay, but I alternate between using it either in stereo or mono (and the Zoia) depending on the signal. I did see a volume drop when using my setup with some drive pedals, but this was fixed by moving the tuner (with its buffer) to come after them (thank you again to ICBM for the tip). Note: I have the V1.5 Patchulator (the earlies versions were mono), but I think the new 2.0 version should work as well

Paul_C

personalnadir said:

Paul_C said:

The other thing with my patches in the first folder is that I spent half an hour yesterday editing the names you see on the screen to add capital letters as some creators use capitals and some *looks at @personalnadir " don't.

Oh, genuinely didn't know you could do capitals, even though all the patches I recommended have them in their titles. (Or maybe I did and I forgot?). I've just checked all the patches I'm using and it's pretty much just me who's not using them. Maybe that will be my thing from now on?

That's ok - I had to look at the manual to see how to edit patch names, and that's when I discovered that there were letters next to the buttons on the enclosure

Paul_C

Zoia #2 ordered

Paul_C

personalnadir said:

How are you using your Zoia, in respect to where it is in your chain? Do you use it in stereo?

Check out the Patchulator 8000. I use that to allow me to change the pedal order. It's a stereo patchbay, but I alternate between using it either in stereo or mono (and the Zoia) depending on the signal. I did see a volume drop when using my setup with some drive pedals, but this was fixed by moving the tuner (with its buffer) to come after them (thank you again to ICBM for the tip). Note: I have the V1.5 Patchulator (the earlies versions were mono), but I think the new 2.0 version should work as well

I've considered the Patchulator, but they way I make music I don't think I really need one.

My general approach is to make a 20-30min recording using some of my pedals, and then create tracks from that - quite a few of my recent albums have been made from a single basic track.

Once I've done that a few times I will take one or two pedals off the board and replace them with some of the ones currently in their boxes, move some of the ones still on the board around and start again.

So as I don't need to do that in a hurry I haven't yet been tempted by the Patchulator - but never say never - for a long time I didn't see a need for a Zoia . . .

personalnadir

Paul_C said:

personalnadir said:

How are you using your Zoia, in respect to where it is in your chain? Do you use it in stereo?

Check out the Patchulator 8000. I use that to allow me to change the pedal order. It's a stereo patchbay, but I alternate between using it either in stereo or mono (and the Zoia) depending on the signal. I did see a volume drop when using my setup with some drive pedals, but this was fixed by moving the tuner (with its buffer) to come after them (thank you again to ICBM for the tip). Note: I have the V1.5 Patchulator (the earlies versions were mono), but I think the new 2.0 version should work as well

I've considered the Patchulator, but they way I make music I don't think I really need one.

My general approach is to make a 20-30min recording using some of my pedals, and then create tracks from that - quite a few of my recent albums have been made from a single basic track.

Once I've done that a few times I will take one or two pedals off the board and replace them with some of the ones currently in their boxes, move some of the ones still on the board around and start again.

So as I don't need to do that in a hurry I haven't yet been tempted by the Patchulator - but never say never - for a long time I didn't see a need for a Zoia . . .

That makes sense. For me it solves the issue of having several devices go into my interface and allow a little pedal order changing. 

With two Zoia’s I’d be tempted to look at their Transmutron (though I think it’s mono). Being able to split a signal by frequency and send it to different loops and blend between them sounds cool

Paul_C

The second Zoia has arrived and been added to the setup.

Now, you have to bear in mind the sort of weird noises I like to make, but it's fabulous

I could probably spend an infinite amount of time with just the two of them, but having all the rest of the pedals is a nice bonus

I wonder what three would sound like . . .

Jonathanthomas83

Paul, you've got to be putting one in pre, in mono and one post, in stereo, now, surely?! That's the ultimate setup by anyone's standards...I'm jealous!!

Paul_C

Pre and post what? (not sure what you're suggesting).

I've been doing some basic maths, and unless I've become a dribbling idiot (which is possible) I make it that, with five folders containing 64 patches, I currently have 104,200 possible combinations with just the two Zoias, before I start adding the other pedals to the mix.

As some of the patches are synths, which aren't affected by whatever signal is coming in, the actual number is slightly smaller, but it's still a lot.

If I was to add a third Zoia the total number of combinations would be 32,768,000, which is just silly.

Jonathanthomas83

Sorry, I mean pre amplifier/preamp and one post amplifier/preamp. So you can use pre/post effects accordingly. I guess you don't have a use case for that. But iirc, you use the Zoia in mono...now is a perfect opportunity to start going stereo :-)

Paul_C

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Sorry, I mean pre amplifier/preamp and one post amplifier/preamp. So you can use pre/post effects accordingly. I guess you don't have a use case for that. But iirc, you use the Zoia in mono...now is a perfect opportunity to start going stereo :-)

I'd have to buy another Katana (which I have considered )

I spend a lot of time playing with what goes into the right and left channels once I get to Audacity, so I don't think I really need to go stereo, but never say never