ParaZQ — mono and stereo emulations of the Empress ParaEQ

Specifically, the sadly discontinued Empress Effects ParaEQ with Boost. This patch came from a question from Rafael Giménez-de la Vega asked on the ZOIA FB group and… insomnia. I did a little research to answer the question (read the manual, etc.), then it was in my head, and I couldn’t sleep. So, patch.

The patch is fairly simple: three bell multi-filters placed in series to form the parametric EQ bands.

I included a mono (left in, left out) and stereo version (since ZOIA can do this). They are identified by M and S in the patch name.

The controls mirror the Empress pedal as closely as I could get them to.

There are controls for three frequency bands:

Low Frequency – 35Hz to 500Hz
Mid Frequency – 250 Hz to 5kHz
High Frequency – 1kHz to 20 kHz

Frequency (low, mid, high) sets the center frequency of the band.

Gain provides a cut or boost of -/+15 dB.

Instead of a Q toggle, there are Q radio buttons for each band, with wide (top), medium (middle), and narrow (bottom) options.

The input pad control is fulfilled by ZOIA’s own input pad.

There is also a footswitchable boost (left footswitch) with up to 20 dB of boost. It affects the gain control of the output module. The original pedal provided up to 30 dB, but ZOIA’s output gain module only boosts 20 dB; I didn’t figure it was worth stringing another VCA in the signal path to achieve 30 dB, but you could, if you wanted.

The default settings are neutral/flat, with a 6 dB boost dialed in for the left footswitch.

The patch only consumes ~15 (mono) – ~21% (stereo) of the CPU, so I pushed all the controls to one side, in case you wanted to add something before or after the EQ circuit and add controls to the right side of the control page.

When you adjust the controls, the CPU may momentarily jump, because multi-filters do that.

The insomnia is waning and EQ is… EQ, so no demo. But if someone with an Empress ParaEQ wanted to A/B them and post it in the comments, I would really appreciate it.

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