The Steel Guitar Forum

Anyone have any experience with these pedals?

I have an Empress Super Delay, the original white version. Excellent sound quality. After 10 years on the pedalboard the company fixed some issues for free. I like the company and think everything they make would be very high quality.
John

+1 for John's comments, I own an Empress compressor, and the build quality and sound quality are excellent. 2-year warranty, doubled if you register on the website. I haven't tried the Zoia, but all the reviews are stellar, here's one of the more interesting ones: https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articl ... s-effects/
And they seem to hold their resale value very well, used ones are selling for 80% to 95% of retail if you do try one and don't like it. Mike

It's an interesting box and a novel concept. In theory it can be a one-stop shop for all of your needs. It can do multi-effects. More interestingly it can do a lot of the things that we need done that usually require a computer or some other box: eg. drones and per the internet at least it can serve it as a JI or any other tuner albeit you would need to tune the strings to specific audible pitches. possibilities are endless. I guess what I was wondering though is if they're using their top shelf algorithms for this box or if they're substituting lesser ones instead.

Haven’t tried this one but I used the Empress tremolo pretty extensively working on a project at a studio here in town ( it was in the “pedals drawer”) and I thought was by a huge stretch superior to any trem pedal I’d used as far as sound quality and response.

Tal Herbsman wrote:... I guess what I was wondering though is if they're using their top shelf algorithms for this box or if they're substituting lesser ones instead.

The Zoia seems to be a real step in a different direction for Empress, not just a replay of their existing stuff. More in-depth background from Steve Bragg in this other interview: https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articl ... -the-zoia/

There also seems to be a robust user community developing, that might be a source of insight. Mike

Mike Auman wrote:The Zoia seems to be a real step in a different direction for Empress, not just a replay of their existing stuff. More in-depth background from Steve Bragg in this other interview: https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articl ... -the-zoia/

Great article Mike. Thanks.

I've had the zoia since it was released and have used it a ton-- Toured with it a bunch, used it in the studio, used it to simplify my pedal boarsd and have created my own things. So I can probably answer questions if you have them. In short it's amazing. The TLDR; would be: I replaced an entire pedal board with it and opened up a ton of possibilities. It's important to understand synthesis and it's important to consider whether what you want is besta accomplished by zoia or another pedal.

Most people seem to have questions about complexity. It's very intuitive if you understand eurorack synths. That's the most important skillset you need. If you want to hone that skill for free, or check out what it feels like, I would recommend checking out VCV rack, which is free. Or if you're committed to the idea or looking for a new hobby-- purchasing a small modular system like a Makenoise 0 coast. If you've got the money and interest that is what I would do. I got into eurorack before I got into zoia and feel I really benefited by doing it in that order and working out the learning curve on hardware rather than zoia. I imagine i would have really struggled learning how synths work if the zoia was the first thing I started with. But that's a personality thing for sure.

The other main thing with zoia is to decide whether the ideas you want to accomplish with the zoia are best made with it or another pedal. Often time that comes down to interface. If the effect you want is an on/off or set and forget effect zoia is great. But if you want to adjust parameters while you're playing, it's nice to have dedicated knobs. Example of things that I could replicate on zoia but I still opt to use the pedal would be the Merris ottobit junior or Red Panda Tensor. Both those pedals to get the most out of them require playing the pedal. To me it's worth it to have the separate interface. It's always good i think to check to see if a pedal manufacturer has made the effect you're looking for. Both to inform your zoia project or to decide that it's better to use their pedal.

Someone also brought up max/msp in another post and I think this person is on this thread as well. I've got a fair amount of experience with that as well. Max is great, but for me it's a last resort. I personally have never had an audio effect idea that has necessitated PC level procerssing. Maybe you do? but I just haven't gotten there. It was the first thing in this realm that i learned so in the beginning I made a lot with it. But these days the only times I've flirted with it have been when I've been working having sound interact with dancers or a room. Max is great If you need to interact with a bunch of hardware and sensors and need the openness that a PC allows. For just audio effects I've not yet truly needed it. But i think in the end it's a bit of a personality thing. If max inspires you go for it! For me i find it a bit stressful and hate using PCs at live shows. Nothing wrong with it, it's just not me. I should also say that I haven't been the programming expert on a project in quite a while. I live in the SF Bay Area and there's almost always someone on the project with better tech chops than me. Super colider seems to be the most popular anecdotally. I know zero about it but if you're looking to take that route it's probably worth some research.

Re: Tal's question about cheap substitutions. From what I can tell and have heard from empress, they are nearly the same algorithms. The delays and verbs in particular sound like empress delays and reverbs as far as I can tell. They also have new dsp lite verb to help save processing power. Those are of a "lesser quality" but still sound find. Of course it's all subjective and you'll make your decisions. I don't prefer the zoia bitcrushing and think the merris ottobit jr. sounds devine. So i run one. I also really like the sound of the xotic compressor over the empress one, so i run one of those too. As I expressed in the other post, it also has to do with what knobs i have immediate access to. Anyways, Point is they're not cheap imitations. They're quality effects.

That being said, if reverb is an important always on effect for you and you aren't looking to modulate those perameters, I would highly recommend running separate verb pedal as reverb algs are huge DSP hogs and will limit what you can do with the zoia. That being said, I don't take my own advice and I use the zoia for delay and verb to save space. But reverb is the only thing that's ever gotten me close to maxing out the dsp processing of the zoia.

nice timing. i bought one literally an hour ago. will post a homemade glitchy lofi PSG delay sound soon...

the max/zoia/modular synth/electronic music talk ain't country but is a nice change of pace for this forum. hopefully it gains some traction.

thanks for everybody's input.