Frap Tools Magnolia
Marking their first foray into standalone instrument design, Magnolia is an elegantly crafted keyboard synthesizer by Eurorack gurus Frap Tools, combining modular sonic sensibilities with a familiar keyboard interface and polyphonic expression. Building upon the design work established in modules such as Brenso and Cunsa, Magnolia packs features like analog through-zero FM, wavefolding, and linear filter FM that'd be commonplace within a contemporary modular synthesizer. But Frap Tools has purposefully spent a lot of time and energy in defining what can and cannot be done with Magnolia, ensuring that it remains an expressive instrument with focused direction, rather than an open-ended box of sonic possibilities as Eurorack systems tend to be.
Most keyboard synthesizers offer two or more identical (or very similar) voltage-controlled oscillators per voice, affording the ability to blend waveforms and apply tuning offsets for richer sounds. Magnolia takes a different approach, developing its two VCOs into discrete "West Coast" and "East Coast" identities. The first oscillator directly builds upon Brenso by featuring analog through-zero FM and "flip" sync, plus wavefolding and timbre-shaping in the style of a Buchla Model 259-type complex oscillator. While these aren't sounds typically associated with keyboard synthesizers, the ability to shape these sounds with velocity and polyphonic aftertouch offers a fresh new spin for sonic territories previously restricted to modular formats. The second oscillator is a bit more traditional for a keyboard synth, featuring variable waveform shaping, pulse-width modulation, and fine-tuning controls. Mixing and matching these oscillators together affords Magnolia an impressive range of sonic potential—and we haven't even moved past the oscillator section!
All great keyboard polysynths feature a killer filter section, and Magnolia is no exception. Based on the filter used in Cunsa, Magnolia offers discrete high-pass and low-pass filtering stages with independent cutoff and resonance controls. You can also engage linear FM on the filter, with a variable amount and selectable source/destination routing to pick and choose how the filters are modulated. Use these filters to tame harsh wavefolder frequencies, roll off rumbly low-end, or sculpt a custom band-pass architecture. And from there, the output VCA allows you to shape amplitudes and pan voices across the stereo field.
In tune with its modular roots, Magnolia provides no shortage of modulation options. The oscillator, filter, and VCA sections feature their own loopable ADSR envelope generators, with bipolar scaling controls where applicable. There's also a flexible LFO section, capable of radical waveform shaping and interesting reset (or not) behaviors available as you play notes. Additionally, keyboard pitch tracking, velocity, and polyphonic aftertouch are available as modulation sources, too, putting powerful per-note expressivity under your fingertips (literally).
If all of this wasn't enough, Magnolia is a bi-timbral synthesizer, meaning that its eight voices may be split or layered across two patches at once. There's even a Morph function, seamlessly blending between two patches at will—even patches that sound totally different from each other.
For the modular-inclined synthesist looking for a keyboard instrument or a keys player looking for some experimental sensibilities, Frap Tools Magnolia is sure to impress and inspire for years to come.
Magnolia Features
- 8-Voice analog keyboard synthesizer
- Builds upon Eurorack modules designed by Frap Tools
- Fatar keybed with polyphonic aftertouch and adjustable curves
- Bi-timbral synthesizer—supports two patches at once with Morph, Dual, and Split modes and independent MIDI channels
- Two oscillators per voice: one "West Coast" and one "East Coast"
- Analog through-zero FM, wavefolding, and Flip sync available on oscillator one
- Variable waveforms, PWM, and fine-tuning on oscillator two
- Independent 24dB/oct low pass and 18dB/oct high pass filters with resonance
- Linear filter FM
- 3x loopable DAHDSR envelope generators on oscillators, filters, and VCA
- Three LFOs with waveshaping
- Generous and easy-to-use modulation routing system
- Per-part arpeggiator and 16-step sequencer
- 200 preset memory slots
- Global analog distortion effect
- 2x global digital effects slots with chorus and delay effects
- Velocity-off modulation source for unique expressive controls
- Polymove polyphonic randomization source
- Freely assignable macro knob
Product Details
- Dimensions: 39" x 15" x 4.3" / 990 x 380 x 110 mm
- Power: Internal 100/240VAC input power supply (IEC cable included)
- Weight: 33.07 lbs / 15 kg
