#61

Thanks for your responses! This is very helpful info.

One of the problems I’ve had with previous everything-boxes is the sound quality, so its great to hear these are same processor and similar code as your other effects. I’m hearing (anecdotally and actual audio) great things though about Zoia! Regarding sharing of files, will the files to be shared on Patch Storage be text or pictorial explanations of patches or will they be in the proprietary format and we just pop them onto the SD card.

Very excited, have pre-ordered and can’t wait!

#62

Ya looping will eventually be longer. We’ll use the SD card to save loops, like on our Reverb and Echosystem. But it’s going to be a lot of work.

As for Pure Data, it was just the inspiration for ZOIA. We didn’t port any code from other systems.

The patches are binary files which you can load via the SD card. Whether the format is “proprietary” is a matter of semanics I guess. The binary is just a bunch of data which the ZOIA loads/saves. If people express an interest in the editor, I have no problem with releasing the files that read/write that data.

No it’s all just C. Oh how I wish there were Lisp compilers for embedded stuff! :slight_smile:

Ya that is definitely a limitation. I happen to like the limitation (I may be biased), having to figure out how to make the most of what you have. Like say you’re making a 4-voice synth. Having a dedicated plate reverb for each voice is going to eat up all the CPU pretty quick. Summing all the voices to one reverb is usually the way to go. I can almost always get the result I want, but it takes some creative thinking.

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#63

Yeah Im no coder so I was only trying to offer info on what you were using. I wasn’t sure it was any kind of help mentioning that.

Godspeed. I know it was quite the trial. I wish you all the success.

#64

Thanks for popping in on this thread and answering everyones questions @empress_effects!

I have a quick easy one for you, what are the limitations of the sequencer modules available? How many steps are possible with one instance? Do they eat up a lot of CPU?

Thanks!

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#65

This would be lovely to see rather than reverse engineering the presets by hand… :slight_smile:

#66

@empress_effects
Will there be an option down the road to upgrade the processor?

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#67

I just created a 32-step 8-track sequencer (that’s the max steps and max tracks) and it took up 2% of the CPU. Compared to audio processing, the CV processing like sequencers, LFOs, and ADSRs are low CPU users. An 8-step 1-track sequencer takes up at 1%.

Unlike computer motherboards where you can sometimes drop in a more powerful processor, DSP processors generally can’t be swapped like this. Plus they’re soldered to the board. But if ZOIA turned out to be popular and it seemed like a more powerful version would do well, I’d definitely consider creating a more powerful version of the ZOIA. But these kinds of projects take years (as you may have noticed with the ZOIA), we’re a pretty small team.

Ya that would be very painful! :slight_smile:

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#68

@empress_effects

Steve, first of all congratulations on getting this out! I’ve been interested since I first saw the Knobs video.

A slightly cheeky question: is a euro module version of ZOIA something that’s possible? All these features + cv in a module would make it the most versatile toolbox out there!

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#69

After the DuoX news this morning I ended up cancelling that preorder and buying the zoia with the refund. Excited to get this in my hands and talking to the rest of my gear.

#70

We’ve definitely thought about it. I guess we’ll see what the reaction to the ZOIA is, and whether euro people (is the a polite thing to say?) are interested in the idea.

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#71

What DuoX news are you referring to?

#72

Just a couple things while we have you:

  • A pretty please for wavefolding (Ill def go through the idea forum when I get my hands on my zoia).

  • can you say a little something on the inputs / outputs: instrument, line level (un/balanced)? I have my guesses but don’t want to assume.

So excited.

#73

I read yesterday that DuoX were not going to be able to support physical CV in the same way that they were, at least to start. Saw it on their message board.

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#74

Yeah as @12eightyseven mentions there were some changes to the shipping project that made it less desirable for my set up. I’m still excited about the product, but I am going to wait until it cooks a bit more to jump back in. The Empress folks already have some of my money/ headspace (Reverb, ParaEQ) and they have yet to disappoint on the sound front, so ZOIA was a natural switch.

#76

@empress_effects, thanks for stopping over! As I am red-green color blind, I wonder how much the ZOIA is using red/green colours in its grid UI for different functions.

#77

Other than the “on/off” for the four buttons on the left, it seems that you may choose any colour for the modules. Will find out for myself soon :slight_smile:

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#78

I think you can specify the colours yourself if you create your own patches. This leads me to believe this:


My own colour blindness always leads me to shy away from colour driven interfaces, so this possibility is great.
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#79

Well now I feel like a dummy. Ya you’re going to get screwed by the engage/bypass colours being green and red. We can add a colour-blind-friendly mode to the config. Do you know what colours would be best to use to cover all forms of colour blindness, or are there enough of them so that we’d want to have a number of different options?

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#80

Thanks, that’s a very kind offer – but I can only tell which colors don’t work for me. It is practically impossible for me to discern the LEDs with the colors green, red, orange and yellow, and I also can’t discern blue and purple LED colors. So I’d be happy if only use one out of each of these color groups, i.e. yellow and blue. White LED colors work as well.

I sometimes think it would be great if a device using different LED colors to communicate e.g. 4 states would allow users to edit the color mix and brightness (!) for each of the 4 states.

#81

Just to add some background : The colours your mentionned will cover more than 50% of “colourblind” people so it’s safe to go with these limitations as a first “colourblind friendly” mode.

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