To the page content

Empress Effects ZOIA

70 Customer ratings

4.9 / 5

You have to be logged in to rate products.

Note: To prevent ratings from being based on hearsay, smattering or surreptitious advertising we only allow ratings from real users on our website, who have bought the equipment from us.

After logging in you will also find all items you can rate under rate products in the customer centre.

handling

features

sound

quality

2 Reviews

Empress Effects ZOIA
6.899 kr
Free shipping incl. VAT
In stock
In stock

This product is in stock and can be shipped immediately.

Standard Delivery Times
1
P
the Swiss army knife of fx pedals
Pruneboy 07.10.2020
I use my ZOIA in two ways:
1) an all in one sound design pedal.
- whenever i need something special for live performances and can't be bothered with lugging 3 pedalboards with me for just 20 seconds of sound ---> ZOIA

2) my modular's best friend.
- very nice reverb, delay, granular, amp sim etc... with the possibility to accept CV and 2 separate inputs which can be internally routed and mixed. ((let's say input = synth, input 2 = guitar) = FUN).

it's a bit unwieldy at the beginning but once you get used to the fact that it's not just an fx pedal but also a sound design machine you'll be creating great sounding patches in no time!
handling
features
sound
quality
11
1
Report

Report

A
this machine is nerdy is hell!
Anonymous 06.01.2023
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! :)
handling
features
sound
quality
6
0
Report

Report

i
Zoia is amazing, but could be better
iOnX 03.04.2023
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.
handling
features
sound
quality
4
0
Report

Report

R
Roman23 18.01.2020
This is a good modular device with a fresh concept of interface and Empress did a good job with this idea and implementation.
This is a nice multi-purpose toolbox, the biggest features for me are the ability to add any kind of modulation to the effects (which is missing on many expensive stompboxes) and granular/looper/env-follower/pitch-tracking-shifting madness.
And unlike similar modular devices you can program it in place (or at least without monitor and keyboard as with Organelle or iPad with H9).
Unfortunately this comes by a cost of lesser quality of sound. Maybe I am wrong but initial impression was that the same effects sound a bit worse than reverbs and delays on other Empress boxes and overall sound is a bit muddy. But I haven't seen anyone complaining about that...
Another "con" is a difficulty to figure out what is going on in the current patch, the types of boxes and connections are not visible until you click everything. The bigger screen or ability to use external screen or tablet would be great, but looks like not in the current hardware revision (and this would contradict with the whole idea of Zoia buttons interface, why not touch screen then?)
handling
features
sound
quality
4
5
Report

Report

TA
Swiss army knife of pedals
Tony Amsterdam 24.09.2022
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.
handling
features
sound
quality
0
0
Report

Report

s
Great product
shlomi 22.02.2022
Excellent sound, many options, not easy to use
handling
features
sound
quality
0
0
Report

Report

B
Probably the best multieffect pedal
Bentrushmore 04.02.2021
I use Zoia connected to my synthesizers so much that it has become part of my sound.
Not sure if it's a bad or a good thing, but this thing is smaller than it appears on product photos. Although small, buttons are big enough for even bigger fingers.

Pros:
- good sounding
- lots of modules to use in your patches
- active and helpful community
- many downloadable patches
- no need for a computer to make patches
- looks nice and colourful when in operation :)

Cons:
- difficult to navigate in patches and understand what's going on
- screen very small
- no earphones out
- needs more physical knobs to modify sounds on the fly. Can connect expression pedal, but that's not enough. Also has midi in, so you can add buttons via midi.

Overall it's a really good sounding effect pedal/modular synth box. you can sculpt any sound with it and extend it any way you like. Excellent community publishes patches all the time on patch storage if you're like me and not interested to make your own patches.
Making and tweaking patches is somewhat difficult task and you have to know exactly what you're doing. It has happened that I download a large patch and mess it up by disconnecting modules accidentally.
Nevertheless, I really love what this pedal can do. I have it connected to my synthesizer setup and it really adds to all the sounds I'm generating.
handling
features
sound
quality
0
0
Report

Report

LU
It's fun
LA Uno 19.08.2021
Yes of course there's a learning curve, but once you have the concept it's a ton of fun. dream up any effect and make it. if you have experience with modular synths this helps because it has the same workflow. It's a toy that has endless fun waiting for when you have the time to play.
handling
features
sound
quality
0
0
Report

Report

EE
Inspiring Instrument
Ef El 21.09.2023
It needs time to spend with zoia, but you will exchange it with plenty of inspiring sounds!
handling
features
sound
quality
0
0
Report

Report

P
Powerful and suprisingly easy
Piano8274 12.03.2024
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 :)
handling
features
sound
quality
0
0
Report

Report

Empress Effects ZOIA