Multi-FX Starter Pack

This is a pack of 30 multi-effects patches.  The intention behind the pack is two-fold:  one, to supply some ready-made multi-effects patches to anyone who might have a need for them, and, two, to provide some patches that might be modified or used as templates for those interested in using ZOIA as a multi-effects unit but are unsure of where to start; these patches are designed to be easily broken down and the signal paths followed.  

To the first end, I have tried to make these patches as ready-to-use/plug-n-play as possible; they may be "starters," but they are meant to be playable from go and patched accordingly.  (You may still want to adjust parameters to taste, of course, as my idea of plug-n-play and yours might diverge quite a bit, but I have taken time to tune the patches so that they sound good to me.)

Patches 0 - 9 are mono (left input to left output).

Patches 10 - 19 are mono to stereo (left input to both outputs).

Patches 20 - 29 are stereo throughout.

There are gain patches, modulation patches, ambient patches, mixes of these, etc.  I tried to do a little of everything.  Mono patches favor gain; stereo patches favor ambient sounds; but I tried to make sure there were different types of patches in each group.

To that second end, of creating readily understood and moddable starters, these patches have been designed with some specific characteristics in mind.

1.  Modules are color-coded:  interface modules (such as audio inputs/outputs and stompswitches) are always white, audio routing (usually switches) is red, effects modules and audio processors (e.g. filters) are either aqua or magenta, expression pedal inputs are always green, CV is always blue, and ganged controls (used in stereo patches where no stereo version of the module exists, these controls allow the simultaneous adjustment of parameters in doubled modules; e.g. using two filters in parallel, a single yellow control will control the cutoff frequency).

2.  Nothing has been renamed; no modules overlap one another; wherever possible, I have tried to keep any connected modules as close as possible.  Signal flow moves down the page.  Each patch begins with a white input module in the top left corner of a page and ends with an output module at the bottom right corner of a page.

3.  The only connections that are made across pages are audio connections or, in a few instances, stompswitch modules which control more than one effect (e.g. tap tempo for two delays) or more than one audio routing (e.g. series/parallel routing).

4.  Most patches have quite a lot of CPU headroom available for further modification/additions to the signal path/routing options, etc.  (Except patch 29; three plate reverbs'll take up a lot of CPU, but boy do they sound pretty.)


A quick note about expression routing:  All of the patches have been routed for expression, but depending on how you want to use your expression pedal, you may want to adjust the parameter it controls and the connection strength between the expression module and that parameter.  If you want to have the expression pedal lower the set value, place a cv invert module and connect the expression module to its input, then reconnect from the cv invert's output.



A special thanks to my patrons on Patreon for their support: Rob Flax, Stepan Grammatik, brockstar, Mats Unnerholm, D Sing, Will Scott, drew batchelor, Miguel, Steve Bragg, Joab Eastley, Tomi Kokki, Mitch Lantz, Ben Norland, Daniel Morris, Roman Jakobej, Mark Crosbie, Steve Codling, Timothy Cleary, Soren Made, and Ken Luke!

I'd also like to single out Mats Unnerholm, who provided valuable feedback and insight as I was forming the idea for this project.  Thanks for all the help, Mats!

If you would like to support my work on ZOIA, please visit patreon.com/chmjacques



0.  Gainfully fun

Fuzz (efuzzy) into overdrive (germ) into tone control.

Left SW -- fuzz bypass
Middle SW -- overdrive bypass
Right SW -- tone control bypass

Exp -- routed to tone control mid frequency (allows for filter sweep/phaser sounds)




1.  Angry robots

Bit crusher and aliaser into random-modulated ring modulator (triangle, 75% mix) into home-brewed envelope filter (low-pass, up).

For modding purposes, pay attention to the gain compensation at various stages (see connections to audio switches); due to the gain increases (bit crusher) and band-limiting (everything else, which results in gain losses) balancing some of these modules can be tricky.

With the CV connections, playing around with the connection strength and the bias of the control the modules affect will yield different ranges.


Left SW -- bit crusher and aliaser bypass
Middle SW -- ring mod bypass
Right SW -- envelope filter bypass

Exp -- aliaser frequency



2.  4-track punk

An overdrive (pushed) into a boost meant to simulate input clipping on a cheap 4-track into a vibrato, culminating in a 1x8 lofi cab sim.

Left SW -- overdrive bypass
Middle SW -- boost bypass
Right SW -- vibrato bypass

Exp -- vibrato rate



3.  80s night

A fairly aggressive compressor into a hi-gain overdrive (plexi) into a chorus.

Left SW -- compressor bypass
Middle SW -- overdrive bypass
Right SW -- chorus bypass

Exp -- chorus mix




4. Hi-gain hijinks

An amp-like overdrive (plexi) into a hi-gain overdrive (edgy) into a heavily scooped tone section, culminating in a 4x12 cab sim.

Left SW -- overdrive 1 bypass
Middle SW -- overdrive 2 bypass
Right SW -- tone control bypass

Exp -- tone control mid band 2 frequency




5.  Spaced

Fuzz (efuzzy) into an 8-step sequenced low-pass filter into a delay with mod (tape).  Change the sequencer steps to change the sound of the filter.

Left SW -- fuzz and filter bypass
Middle SW -- tap tempo for filter sequence
Right SW -- delay bypass

Exp -- delay time




6.  Swirly

A deep phaser (6 stage) or a liquidy flanger (thru-0) into a tap-tempo controlled delay with mod (old tape).

Left SW -- switch between phaser or flanger
Middle SW -- tap tempo for delay
Right SW -- delay bypass

Exp -- phaser/flanger time




7.  Lo-fi fun

A vibrato into a chorus into a lo-fi cab sim.

Left SW -- vibrato bypass
Middle SW -- chorus bypass
Right SW -- cab sim bypass

Exp -- vibrato rate




8.  Get subby

A simple square wave synth (monophonic, tuned one octave down) into a fuzz and fixed filter with a wet/dry blend (adjust using the audio balance on the second page).

Left SW -- fuzz bypass
Middle SW -- filter bypass
Right SW -- effect bypass (passes clean signal only)

Exp -- filter frequency




9.  Mix-n-Match

Choose from an overdrive (edgy) or a bit crusher or an aliaser or a bit modulator (XOR against -6 dB signal) into a flanger (60s) or phaser (4-stage, set very fast) or tremolo (square wave) into delay with mod (clean) or ghostverb.

Left SW -- choose between overdrive, bit crusher, aliaser or bit modulator
Middle SW -- choose between flanger, phaser, or tremolo
Right SW -- choose between delay or ghostverb

Exp -- flanger/phaser/tremolo rate




10.  Angelic

An octave-up pitch shifter (followed by a low-pass filter to help cut some of the sharpness) into a chorus into a clean ping pong delay.

Left SW -- pitch shifter bypass
Middle SW -- chorus bypass
Right SW -- delay bypass

Exp -- delay time



11.  Woozy

A delay with mod (BBD) into a plate reverb into a vibrato.

Left SW -- delay bypass
Middle SW -- reverb bypass
Right SW -- vibrato bypass

Exp -- delay feedback (a BBD delay will begin to oscillate as its feedback is pushed)




12.  Signal strength

A fuzz (scoopy) into a tremolo (Voxish, 100% depth) into a delay with mod (tape).

Left SW -- fuzz bypass
Middle SW -- tremolo bypass
Right SW -- delay bypass

Exp -- tremolo rate




13.  Swinging phaser

An overdrive (germ) into a phaser (6 stage) into a panner controlled by a triangle LFO (to adjust panner speed, change LFO rate; to adjust its rate, adjust the signal strength to something below 50%).

Left SW -- overdrive bypass
Middle SW -- phaser bypass
Right SW -- panner bypass

Exp -- phaser rate



14.  Dirty spaces

A delay with mod (BBD) into an overdrive (plexi) into a stereo phaser (6-stage).

Left SW -- delay bypass
Middle SW -- overdrive bypass
Right SW -- phaser bypass

Exp -- delay time




15.  Clean gain

A compressor into an overdrive (classic) into a room reverb.

Left SW -- compressor bypass
Middle SW -- overdrive bypass
Right SW -- reverb bypass

Exp -- reverb mix



16. Grub brain

A fuzz (scoopy) into a bandpass filter with a high resonance (think parked wah) into a ping pong delay (tape).

Left SW -- fuzz bypass
Middle SW -- bandpass bypass
Right SW -- delay bypass

Exp -- filter frequency



17.  Classic (stereo) amp

An overdrive (classic) into an order-switchable combination of room reverb and stereo tremolo (Fenderish), ending in a 1x12 vintage cab sim.

Left SW -- overdrive bypass
Middle SW -- order switch:  'verb into trem, or trem into 'verb
Right SW -- tremolo tap tempo

Exp -- tremolo depth




18.  Cosmic fuzz

A gated fuzz (burly; to change the gate, adjust the threshold of the gate module which follows the fuzz) into a delay with mod (tape) into dual flangers running in parallel, outputting to left and right respectively (1970s).

Left SW -- fuzz bypass
Middle SW -- delay bypass
Right SW -- flangers bypass

Exp -- flangers mix




19.  Delay-ay-ay

A delay with mod (BBD, 1:1 tap ratio) split into left and right delays with mod (tape, 2:3 and 3:8).

Left SW -- tap tempo (try changing around the ratios within the modules or using clock dividers for more exotic time ratios)
Middle SW -- BBD delay bypass
Right SW -- tape delays bypass

Exp -- BBD delay feedback




20.  Stereo depths

A phaser (4 stage) into a tremolo (sine) into a chorus, all in glorious stereo.

Left SW -- phaser bypass
Middle SW -- tremolo bypass
Right SW -- chorus bypass

Exp -- rates of all effects, connected at different strengths




21.  Betmax

A mid-focused clean boost (accomplished with a tone control module) into a chorus into a hall reverb.

Left SW -- boost bypass
Middle SW -- chorus bypass
Right SW -- reverb bypass

Exp -- chorus rate




22.  Broken ghosts

A ghostverb into aliasers into a vibrato, culminating in a 1x12 cabinet (that is somehow stereo).

Left SW -- ghostverb bypass
Middle SW -- aliasers bypass
Right SW -- vibrato bypass

Exp -- ghostverb decay




23.  Passing through

A tap-tempo controlled delay with mod (3:8, dirty tape) into a phaser (8 stage) into a ping-pong delay (1:1, clean).

Left SW -- tap tempo
Middle SW -- phaser bypass
Right SW -- selects between:  both delays on, first delay on, second delay on (and back to both delays on)

Exp -- phaser rate





24.  Smashed snarl

A highly resonant envelope-controlled low-pass filter is fed into a high-gain fuzz then smashed and squashed by a very heavy-handed compressor.  High-pass filters end the chain to help clear up some of the low muck as the filters return to their "closed" position.

Left SW -- envelope filter bypass
Middle SW -- fuzz bypass
Right SW -- compressor bypass (not advised while envelope filter is active; expect volume spikes)

Exp -- high-pass filters' frequency (can be used to band-pass the sound)




25.  Wash

A plate reverb is fed into a delay with mod (clean) then split into two choruses running parallel.

Left SW -- reverb bypass
Middle SW -- delay bypass
Right SW -- chorus bypass

Exp -- reverb decay and mix




26.  Shine

A compressor leads either to a slow chorus or a fast vibrato, then into a delay with mod (clean).

Left SW -- compressor bypass
Middle SW -- chorus or vibrato select
Right SW -- delay tap tempo

Exp -- delay feedback




27.  Grungy

A gain-compensated bit crusher (this isn't done perfectly, but the idea is that as you push the bit depth, you won't get blown out by the gain staging; this could probably use some finessing if someone wanted a project; there's also a gate side-chained to the left input to help with the noise when there's no input at all) into aliasers to reduce the sample frequency, with a pair of semi-resonant low-pass filters to smooth out the sound.

Left SW -- bit crusher bypass
Middle SW -- aliaser bypass
Right SW -- filter bypass

Exp -- filter frequency




28.  Ambient repeats

A reverb lite feeds into two delays with mod controlled by tap tempo (one 2:3, BBD, the other 1:2, clean) that can be configured in either series or parallel.

Left SW -- tap tempo 
Middle SW -- reverb bypass
Right SW -- series/parallel select

Exp -- mix control of all effects




29.  Parallel air

Two plate reverbs with long decays (one eq'd to favor low frequencies, the other to favor high frequencies) can be configured in series or parallel.  An additional plate reverb, with an even longer decay can be engaged or bypassed to finish the signal path.

Left SW -- series/parallel select
Middle SW -- third/final plate reverb bypass
Right SW -- sets all mixes to 100%

Exp -- lowers the decay of all reverbs

