At the 2018 NAMM Show, Empress Effects introduced the Zoia, a programmable multi-effects pedal.
The Zoia lets you use modules to construct instruments, effects and utilities. Custom effects can then be saved to SD card.
In the video, Empress VP of Awesomeness Dan Junkins gives an overview and demo of what the Zoia can do.
Pricing and Availability
Tentative release date is Spring, 2018, priced at US $450. Details are to come at the Empress Effects site.
Gotta say, this is a very clever and appealing device. I love how versatile & compact it is. I’m not sure why, but even the sort of cryptic UI is kind of cool to me.
Kind of weird that it has only one multi-control port– so you have to pick between MIDI, CV or Foot?
I guess if you input MIDI you could get all the realtime you need.
Kind of cool that they haven’t hit their CPU ceiling yet. That either means it’s a high ceiling, or they aren’t trying hard enough.
It really is quite alluring, despite the cryptic UI. It doesn’t even seem particularly good at any one thing, but the whole package seems to come together nicely.
> Kind of weird that it has only one multi-control port– so you have to pick between MIDI, CV or Foot?
Agreed. Hoping that port is actually very flexible and they might introduce a breakout box of some sort.
The product is still in development. It looks like they are adding extra MIDI in and out ports if you look at their Instagram. That should help.
What are the audio input/output specs. (sample rate, bit depth, S/N ratio etc.) ?
It would also be useful to know how much latency it introduces between input and output.
I’m guessing this will depend heavily on the effect you have loaded and how it was coded
Running the same software as the Critter and Guitari Organelle. open source PureData. I was about ready to squeeze the trigger on the Organelle when this thing showed up. I may still squeeze the trigger as the Zoia is months away yet.
Interesting, how do you know this is based on Pure Data? I saw a screenshot from a Empress Audio developer pc and it rather looked like a list of modules hardcoded in C++. I wanna ask if processing is per individual sample (like on a DSP, Nord Modular, Reaktor) or per block of samples like Max, VST, Pure Data and so on, which is introducing unavoidable delays in feedback loop and extra latency. Yes, tell us about latency and rates of processing. Everything internally done at audio rate?
an Empress representative in another video on the Zoia said it plainly. Take a look at the youtube clip on the Zoia by Cuckoo đŸ™‚
This was my favorite thing at NAMM this year
Wait, I thought those graphic displays behind the pedals were iPads that served as patch editors, but upon closer observation, it’s just printed cardboard. An iOS editor would be nice but it looks like you don’t really need it. This thing is perfect for the micro rig that seems to be the current trend, I’ll be looking for further updates on this thing for sure.