I’m looking to get a multi-fx pedal to get more FX and better reverbs than SP-404 mkii’s onboard input FX options. Right now I’m considering Empress Zoia. Its reverbs look solid, lots of FX options, and having played with modular in the past I’m already somewhat accustomed to that kind of thinking. But I’m curious if anyone has any other suggestions? Quality reverb is a must. It doesn’t need to be top shelf, just “very good” is good enough, and then other FX that favor an experimental approach. Much thanks advance!
Mod duo is a similar concept , programmable fx box … has a nice web interface too.
Korg nts-3 ( the kaoss pad one ) could be cheap option , or the older kp3 .
Or just plug 404 into pc / Mac via usb audio … I assume you can do that ?
And endless fix boxes for synths / guitars etc
There’s nothing unique about 404 so every thread that asks ‘ xxxxx with which fx box’ is relevant. … and there are thousands of those threads on every music forum.
Recent benn Jordan vid also had him rate his gear inc fx , he’s a bit of a perfectionist for reverbs .
As it happens, I recently bought Empress Zoia for for this express purpose (ostensibly - in actual fact I merely had some money to burn and since I didn’t have an effects unit yet, it seemed like a justifiable purchase).
Alternatives I considered and rejected were:
- Mod Duo / Dwarf (can only be programmed via a web interface, reverb is impulse only)
- EDIT: I may be mixing up the Mod Duo / Dwarf with the Poly Beebo, which I also considered and rejected
- Eventide H90 (limits you to the stock algorithms, ie effects configurations)
- Korg NTS-3 (too cheap / flimsy, somewhat limited in how you can chain effects together)
- Helix Stomp / FX (limited in how you can chain effects together, maximum number of parallel signal paths is two)
So Zoia it became.
Reverbs are excellent. Other effects are pretty good as well. Haven’t really felt the need to use the distortions yet, though,
Programming it is as easy and pleasant as the YT tutorials make it out to be.
It’s dead simple to quickly whip something up that the SP404 is lacking. To really do the unit justice, though, you’d have to study it, I guess. In that it’s the perfect antithesis of the 404.
Zoia takes a bit to learn, I make simple patches and use a lot from patch storage (if you haven’t seen that website then go check it out)
1400+ patches for the Zoia ready to use, to study how they are built, or to tweak and make your own.
The Zoia is also a synth and sampler (with current beta firmware) so you could sample it into the SP404. It’s also a sequencer.
I believe you can cue the headphone out on the SP to make an FX send. You could sit on the couch with just the Zoia and make patches.
All the coloured little buttons look cool. That’s all I got.
Zoia 100%. Reverbs for my taste are excellent, but for me the star is delay with modulation. It’s the definitive FX unit.
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Thanks everyone for chiming in! I looked into some of the ones I hadn’t heard of like the Mod Duo. But it looks like Zoia will win out so far I think!