Zoia: Interesting device

[potul]

Hi folks

not DIY related, but I found this interesting for all kind of digial noise making

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsFT5Ta9RBQ

[potul]

5 years later....
I sold some gear last months to get funds for a new guitar, and I ended up with some spare cash, so I got a used Zoia. I must say, it's an amazing piece of gear, really well engineered. But it's also a very deep rabbit hole.

Its workflow reminds me of Larry's SpinCad designer. Basically you have a collection of blocks you can use, and interconnections between them. Either audio connections, or control connections. Some blocks are really basic simple blocks (delay lines, lfo, oscillators, filters, input/output, etc...), and some are more elaborated self contained effects (chorus, flanger, delay, granular delay, cabsim, overdrives....).
You can control things via MIDI, and also send MIDI to other devices.

With this thing you can build your own effects using the basic building blocks, or create a multi-fx patch (mini pedalboard) using already available effects, but also go into the modular synth world.
I'm really having fun with it.

Regards

Mat

[Mark Hammer]

A remarkably powerful machine.  Me, I'd love to get my hands on a Euroburo, which is the expanded Eurorack format Zoia with a bunch of CV ins and outs.  They have a scratch & dent sale on right now.  I'm tempted.

Empress is a local business.  Shortly after it was debuted at NAMM before COVID, Steve Bragg came over to my place and gave me a demo of what it could do.  He plugged in his little Arturia Keystep and turned it into a synth.  When I gave him a demo of reprocessed delay (output of one channel fed to the input of the other channel) with a TC Alter Ego and my guitar, it intrigued him.  He whipped out his little black notebook, sketched out what would need to be connected to what, and duplicated it on the Zoia.

VERY powerful machine.  Thankfully, there's a big community of users and loads of helpful videos, and a snowballing pile of patches for downloading.

[PRR]

Link to Zoia
https://empresseffects.com/products/zoia
Ouroboros
https://empresseffects.com/products/zoia-euroburo

[potul]

I've had it for one week now, and I have not been able to dedicate much time to it... but so far I've been recreating a couple of basic effects, to get familiar with the workflow.
It is really powerfull, but it can be tricky not to get lost, as soon as you start spaning into multiple pages. It's not easy to visualize the connections between modules, as you need to check them one by one. So it's going to be important to document things properly.

I'm still learning how to efficiently duplicate and reuse algorithms once I'm happy with them.

Regards

Mat

[mark2]

Have you cracked it open?

Is it an STM32 DSP platform?

[Mark Hammer]

I'm jealous, Mat.

[potul]

Have you cracked it open?

Is it an STM32 DSP platform?

I didn't have the chance to open it. I'm still in the phase of testing already existing patches and learn the different blocks. I just built my first patch, trying to recreate a "seek wah" type of sequenced filter.

[potul]

I just saw in Reddit somebody from empress confirming they use an Analog Devices Blackfin processor for the DSP and a PIC24 for the UI