I completely agree. When I have found a way to work it into a mix, it kind of requires the Zoia to be at the core of the song. I've felt the same about other trendy ambient-ish pedals like the MOOD - a lot of fun but hard to integrate into a song/recording.
Awesome video. More zoia vids pls. You understand to just get to the sounds! This pandoras box needs no explanations, that's what the patch breakdown videos are for. Or hours of diving all the modules to brute force learning the patch.
I’m way into Eurorack and play guitar as well. I understand why some people would hate the interface! I got the Eurorack version and use it for both. I however have many many effects!
I've had a Zoia for two years. Really powerful pedal with great sounds and an unprecedented amount of flexibility. However, over time I've become fatigued working with it. The Zoia desperately needed USB connectivity and a desktop editor from the start, and does not have that. This means that everything you do on the unit, including flipping through pages in your presets and typing out names of blocks, requires a button push in the grid. Playing with the buttons was fun at first, but got tedious and clunky real quick when I was trying to build more advanced presets. Relying on an SD card slot for file transfers was a bad bad BAAAAD choice.
Yeah, I have to agree. USB connectivity/desktop editor seems like a no brainer. Honestly, not sure why they decided to go the SD card route. Besides the fatigue of using the buttons to build new patches, it's also pretty difficult to adjust patch parameters in real-time because you have to remember which button is which. That can vary wildly for each patch. Much less intuitive than turning knobs on a standard pedal.
I dig that second preset i can get the same kinda thing with my kinotone ribbons if its set right but I don't think it stays as clean as the zoai another reason why i need one and a microcosm lol
LOVE a Telecaster with a Bigsby...who doesn't..!!! Interesting pickups, what are they.? Just got a Zoia... Christ it's intimidating, but I reckon it will be worth the effort. Great review
It's a little unintuitive. Copied from chmjacques on reddit: Download the patches you want. On your computer, copy the patches to a named folder. 2a. If the patches share the same numerical prefix (e.g. 001_zoia_zoiapatch.bin and 001_zoia_anotherpatch.bin), you will need to assign each patch to an individual numerical prefix (e.g. 001_zoia_zoiapatch.bin is edited to 002_zoia_zoiapatch.bin), otherwise only one of the patches will load. Copy the named folder to the microSD card. Place the microSD card in the appropriate slot of the ZOIA. Enter the config menu (shift + gears/bottom right corner). Scroll down to "patches from SD." Select the folder you want to load patches from and follow the directions on the screen to confirm that you want to load that folder.
@GuitarHutGearZoneReviews1181 Thank you for such a clear and concise explanation! I really like sounds that come from Haino Glitch but I'd like to be able to control the modulation better cuz it's a little hectic. I've heard there is a patch similar to chase bliss mood that I tried to upload but to no avail I will use your instructions and follow up with you 😉 shalom!🙏🏿👍🏿
I bought it and quickly sold it... Menu diving on that tiny screen to try and tweak settings is beyond ridiculous... It's in dire need of a software interface, but they omitted the connections... There's no polishing this turd... Next...
Lol. Yeah I mean it could definitely be more convenient. If there wasn’t such a big repository of user patches then I probably wouldn’t use it much myself.
Damnnn… sounds even better than I remembered…
Thumbnail is hilarious
Lol thank you it took me a few tries to get the right amount of glare on my glasses
Thats rad the zoai has the building blocks to make a sax synth damn i didn't know it went so deep
Yeah it has a few oscillators and a sampler. It can also send/receive midi so you can use it control other synths or even your DAW
empress!!!! awesome; lovely chords and smooth review~!
I love my Zoia but I find it really difficult to fit it into a mix in a nice elegant way, but I love being able to get a taste of so many pedals
I completely agree. When I have found a way to work it into a mix, it kind of requires the Zoia to be at the core of the song. I've felt the same about other trendy ambient-ish pedals like the MOOD - a lot of fun but hard to integrate into a song/recording.
Dry/Wet in stereo?
@@klonewavverr2909 Yeah, could work but would be a bit inconvenient for gigs
Awesome video. More zoia vids pls.
You understand to just get to the sounds!
This pandoras box needs no explanations, that's what the patch breakdown videos are for. Or hours of diving all the modules to brute force learning the patch.
I’m way into Eurorack and play guitar as well. I understand why some people would hate the interface! I got the Eurorack version and use it for both. I however have many many effects!
I love the way you play guitar
How the Empress company got hold of alien technology, I don't know, but it's 500 bucks well spent. It's the EVERYTHING pedal.
I got mine recently, but am still begining to play with it.
Have fun!!!!!! Definitely check out patchstorage.com
The YT bootcamps are worthwhile
I've had a Zoia for two years. Really powerful pedal with great sounds and an unprecedented amount of flexibility. However, over time I've become fatigued working with it.
The Zoia desperately needed USB connectivity and a desktop editor from the start, and does not have that. This means that everything you do on the unit, including flipping through pages in your presets and typing out names of blocks, requires a button push in the grid. Playing with the buttons was fun at first, but got tedious and clunky real quick when I was trying to build more advanced presets. Relying on an SD card slot for file transfers was a bad bad BAAAAD choice.
Yeah, I have to agree. USB connectivity/desktop editor seems like a no brainer. Honestly, not sure why they decided to go the SD card route.
Besides the fatigue of using the buttons to build new patches, it's also pretty difficult to adjust patch parameters in real-time because you have to remember which button is which. That can vary wildly for each patch. Much less intuitive than turning knobs on a standard pedal.
I dig that second preset i can get the same kinda thing with my kinotone ribbons if its set right but I don't think it stays as clean as the zoai another reason why i need one and a microcosm lol
Lol the Kinotone seems extremely cool though
LOVE a Telecaster with a Bigsby...who doesn't..!!!
Interesting pickups, what are they.?
Just got a Zoia... Christ it's intimidating, but I reckon it will be worth the effort.
Great review
@@ronniboi312 they are some sort of mini humbuckers. Not sure of the brand as I bought the guitar used.
More ZOIA plz
I’ll see what I can do.
Sub'd cause dope video
I bought a Zoia and still am confused how to program it
Yeah it isn’t necessarily the most intuitive. There’s some tutorials on CZcams. I basically rely on other people’s patches on patchstorage
Ive not been able to sucessfully upload patches to the zoia any pointers?
It's a little unintuitive. Copied from chmjacques on reddit:
Download the patches you want.
On your computer, copy the patches to a named folder.
2a. If the patches share the same numerical prefix (e.g. 001_zoia_zoiapatch.bin and 001_zoia_anotherpatch.bin), you will need to assign each patch to an individual numerical prefix (e.g. 001_zoia_zoiapatch.bin is edited to 002_zoia_zoiapatch.bin), otherwise only one of the patches will load.
Copy the named folder to the microSD card.
Place the microSD card in the appropriate slot of the ZOIA.
Enter the config menu (shift + gears/bottom right corner).
Scroll down to "patches from SD."
Select the folder you want to load patches from and follow the directions on the screen to confirm that you want to load that folder.
@GuitarHutGearZoneReviews1181 Thank you for such a clear and concise explanation! I really like sounds that come from Haino Glitch but I'd like to be able to control the modulation better cuz it's a little hectic. I've heard there is a patch similar to chase bliss mood that I tried to upload but to no avail I will use your instructions and follow up with you 😉 shalom!🙏🏿👍🏿
I bought it and quickly sold it... Menu diving on that tiny screen to try and tweak settings is beyond ridiculous... It's in dire need of a software interface, but they omitted the connections... There's no polishing this turd... Next...
I remember my first complicated pedal too
Lol. Yeah I mean it could definitely be more convenient. If there wasn’t such a big repository of user patches then I probably wouldn’t use it much myself.
no one wants to hear about what you do with your turds or how many connections they have
Skill issue
I really really dislike the workflow and overall sound quality from this unit. Found it to be a hyped up gimmic and sold it after a few weeks.
The “chase bliss thing in your thumbnail is absolutely dumb AF. Cool sounds tho
I'm just having fun with it. Love my Dark World