Empress Zoia users thread

BintyTwanger77

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 :-)

You’re always encouraging people to go stereo, you’re incorrigible... ahem (looks for cheap used AC10) 

Jonathanthomas83

BintyTwanger77 said:

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 :-)

You’re always encouraging people to go stereo, you’re incorrigible... ahem (looks for cheap used AC10) 

Haha, I'm terrible, I know!

I think John Petrucci said something along the lines of "once you go stereo you don't go back"...you cannot unhear how good it sounds. I'm in love with the sounds I'm getting, serious, and would encourage anyone to try it out.

My next goal is wet/dry/wet...then you'll be in trouble @BintyTwanger77 ; :-)

BintyTwanger77

Jonathanthomas83 said:

BintyTwanger77 said:

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 :-)

You’re always encouraging people to go stereo, you’re incorrigible... ahem (looks for cheap used AC10) 

Haha, I'm terrible, I know!

I think John Petrucci said something along the lines of "once you go stereo you don't go back"...you cannot unhear how good it sounds. I'm in love with the sounds I'm getting, serious, and would encourage anyone to try it out.

My next goal is wet/dry/wet...then you'll be in trouble @BintyTwanger77 ; :-)

Fuck, I might go into hiding...

Paul_C

I spent 40 mins recording some guitar through the two Zoias today, and then made this:

https://sonickoalas.bandcamp.com/album/strange-haircuts

Jonathanthomas83

Paul_C said:

I spent 40 mins recording some guitar through the two Zoias today, and then made this:

https://sonickoalas.bandcamp.com/album/strange-haircuts

Congratulations mate, some great sounds and experiments there. Must be so rewarding to hear and complete a recording. I wish I had the discipline to see it through.

personalnadir

Paul_C said:

I spent 40 mins recording some guitar through the two Zoias today, and then made this:

https://sonickoalas.bandcamp.com/album/strange-haircuts

Sounds great! What’s your recording setup? 

Paul_C

I record onto a Tascam DR-07 sitting in front of my Katana (I could probably record direct, but this works so I've never bothered to do it differently).

Once I've recorded 20mins or so I copy the .wav file onto my PC and then chop it up and muck about with it in Audacity.

I don't add effects at this point other than occasionally use a bit of reverb, but I do slow tracks down a lot, stagger the left and right tracks and reverse bits now and again.

A bit of EQ to remove the highs if the track's hissy, fade in and out a little to get rid of clicks and edit out anything annoying (I left a sneeze in recently because it amused me )

Other than that I leave it up to luck, so running a track along with the same track slowed down by 50% will make for some interesting harmonies a lot of the time, but it might mean the odd bit sounding weird.

Mostly I noodle around using the D Phrygian Dominant scale, but I did a fair bit in G major today for a change (a lot of the notes are the same). Other than that I have a few "tunes", patterns and chord progressions I use from time to time as they often sound wildly different through different pedals.

It might not be wildly popular, but it's mine and it keeps me entertained, which is all I want from it.

Jonathanthomas83

Paul_C said:

I record onto a Tascam DR-07 sitting in front of my Katana (I could probably record direct, but this works so I've never bothered to do it differently).

Once I've recorded 20mins or so I copy the .wav file onto my PC and then chop it up and muck about with it in Audacity.

I don't add effects at this point other than occasionally use a bit of reverb, but I do slow tracks down a lot, stagger the left and right tracks and reverse bits now and again.

A bit of EQ to remove the highs if the track's hissy, fade in and out a little to get rid of clicks and edit out anything annoying (I left a sneeze in recently because it amused me )

Other than that I leave it up to luck, so running a track along with the same track slowed down by 50% will make for some interesting harmonies a lot of the time, but it might mean the odd bit sounding weird.

Mostly I noodle around using the D Phrygian Dominant scale, but I did a fair bit in G major today for a change (a lot of the notes are the same). Other than that I have a few "tunes", patterns and chord progressions I use from time to time as they often sound wildly different through different pedals.

It might not be wildly popular, but it's mine and it keeps me entertained, which is all I want from it.

That's amazing, and I love your ethos and ability to tie it all up neatly into a day's work. Nice one!!

You've got a lovely stereo image on those tracks too, given you're not using a stereo setup! I get what you meant earlier in the thread now, too. Your workflow works well! ha :-)

personalnadir

Paul_C said:

I record onto a Tascam DR-07 sitting in front of my Katana (I could probably record direct, but this works so I've never bothered to do it differently).

Once I've recorded 20mins or so I copy the .wav file onto my PC and then chop it up and muck about with it in Audacity.

I don't add effects at this point other than occasionally use a bit of reverb, but I do slow tracks down a lot, stagger the left and right tracks and reverse bits now and again.

A bit of EQ to remove the highs if the track's hissy, fade in and out a little to get rid of clicks and edit out anything annoying (I left a sneeze in recently because it amused me )

Other than that I leave it up to luck, so running a track along with the same track slowed down by 50% will make for some interesting harmonies a lot of the time, but it might mean the odd bit sounding weird.

Mostly I noodle around using the D 

Phrygian Dominant scale, but I did a fair bit in G major today for a change (a lot of the notes are the same). Other than that I have a few "tunes", patterns and chord progressions I use from time to time as they often sound wildly different through different pedals. 

It might not be wildly popular, but it's mine and it keeps me entertained, which is all I want from it.

Thanks, that’s super interesting - I love the clarity you are getting. I’m getting quite a muddy tone going straight into an interface with cab sim. Not sure if I need to tweak the settings or if it’s my set up. Might try Audacity instead of the ancient copy of garage band I’m using.

Going to have to try the Phrygian Dominant, i’m strictly C major at the moment. 

Paul_C

I run the Katana on the clean channel set so I get a slight break up if I dig in, particularly on the lower notes.

It does surprise me how decent the signal is despite it running through 25 pedals (although I think an awful lot of them are buffered, which no doubt helps).

Without a doubt I have "refined" my approach to making tracks from where I started just over three years ago, so instead of taking most of an evening making one or two tracks I could make four times that if there's enough going on in the wav file I record.

Since I made that album I've done another four tracks this evening - though I should also point out that the recent tracks are often very short, one or two minutes, compared to the older ones which were often 8 - 10mins long.

personalnadir

I think you’ve got the length of the tracks nailed and the tone.

I’ve always respected a track that can deliver a song in a short amount of time: Keene Brothers: Evil vs. Evil is the perfect example of this. I believe there was also a compilation of 30 second punk songs that a friend had

On the subject of two Zoias, what’s been you favourite patch combination so far?

Paul_C

I was hoping you wouldn't ask that, as I didn't make a note (I'm very slapdash as to what is used on any given track, which makes for some amusement when I listen back to older recordings as I usually have no idea how I made the sounds )

There are quite a lot of your patches in the recordings I made today, including Skippy, Bit Amp, Floopers, Naphtali, Halocline Tether (I think, maybe not), Multi Cockle and Baud 4 U.

Because what I'm looking for a lot of the time are happy accidents or at least unexpected combinations, all of the presets which mess around with the rhythm and/or pitch are generally more useful to me than ones which are a bit more rigid in what they do.

I don't use distortion/fuzz/overdrive much, as a clean sound allows the detail to be heard (I've recorded wav files with lots of fuzz on but often there's only one useful track in something like that) a little fuzz or noise in delay repeats is ok though. I also like filters a lot.

While I joke about getting three Zoias things can get cluttered quite quickly, so realistically I don't think three would be that useful, sadly

personalnadir

Paul_C said:

I was hoping you wouldn't ask that, as I didn't make a note (I'm very slapdash as to what is used on any given track, which makes for some amusement when I listen back to older recordings as I usually have no idea how I made the sounds )

There are quite a lot of your patches in the recordings I made today, including Skippy, Bit Amp, Floopers, Naphtali, Halocline Tether (I think, maybe not), Multi Cockle and Baud 4 U.

Because what I'm looking for a lot of the time are happy accidents or at least unexpected combinations, all of the presets which mess around with the rhythm and/or pitch are generally more useful to me than ones which are a bit more rigid in what they do.

I don't use distortion/fuzz/overdrive much, as a clean sound allows the detail to be heard (I've recorded wav files with lots of fuzz on but often there's only one useful track in something like that) a little fuzz or noise in delay repeats is ok though. I also like filters a lot.

While I joke about getting three Zoias things can get cluttered quite quickly, so realistically I don't think three would be that useful, sadly

Cool, will give it a listen! It's really cool to think that people are making music with patches I worked on. Just put another 3 up today!

Paul_C

personalnadir said:

Paul_C said:

I was hoping you wouldn't ask that, as I didn't make a note (I'm very slapdash as to what is used on any given track, which makes for some amusement when I listen back to older recordings as I usually have no idea how I made the sounds )

There are quite a lot of your patches in the recordings I made today, including Skippy, Bit Amp, Floopers, Naphtali, Halocline Tether (I think, maybe not), Multi Cockle and Baud 4 U.

Because what I'm looking for a lot of the time are happy accidents or at least unexpected combinations, all of the presets which mess around with the rhythm and/or pitch are generally more useful to me than ones which are a bit more rigid in what they do.

I don't use distortion/fuzz/overdrive much, as a clean sound allows the detail to be heard (I've recorded wav files with lots of fuzz on but often there's only one useful track in something like that) a little fuzz or noise in delay repeats is ok though. I also like filters a lot.

While I joke about getting three Zoias things can get cluttered quite quickly, so realistically I don't think three would be that useful, sadly

Cool, will give it a listen! It's really cool to think that people are making music with patches I worked on. Just put another 3 up today!

I just tried (and liked) them

You make patches as quickly as I make albums !  (I put a second album up today made from bits from the same .wav file)

I'm slowly adding and taking away patches from the two Zoias in the hope that I can settle on 50 - 60 on each with room for trying out new sounds.


Maybe having a third Zoia for trying new patches would be a good idea  

personalnadir

Thank you, I enjoyed your latest album, you've got some good sounds going on.

Paul_C

personalnadir said:

Thank you, I enjoyed your latest album, you've got some good sounds going on.

I'm just listening again at the moment - track 3 is your Bit Amp into your Bit Amp.

personalnadir

Paul_C said:

personalnadir said:

Thank you, I enjoyed your latest album, you've got some good sounds going on.

I'm just listening again at the moment - track 3 is your Bit Amp into your Bit Amp.

Oh wow! Didn’t recognise it. Sounds great in series. It’s quite a cheap effect, that’s got me thinking about a patch with a couple of them in parallel with a filter splitting the signal going into them - might behave like an EQ section on an amp 

Paul_C

Still using mostly Zoias, I bought some stickers to remind me which is which

personalnadir

Paul_C said:

Still using mostly Zoias, I bought some stickers to remind me which is which

What a problem to have! Have you had a go at any patches?

Paul_C

No, not yet - I bought the Zoia Notebook to go with all the other material I have and fully intend to get round to it eventually, but right now I'm just having fun with existing patches and now and again adding other pedals to the mix.

I've moved their position in my set up so I've got a few pedals in front as well as after which changes everything again