The Italian modular specialists have packed their signature analog FM circuitry into an 8-voice polysynth built for players who want complex, organic tones without patching a single cable.
Frap Tools has long been a name whispered reverently in Eurorack circles, but Magnolia marks the Italian company’s boldest move yet.
Magnolia brings their modular analog sound into a keyboard format that plays chords straight out of the box. The idea was to take the synthesis techniques that made Frap Tools a cult name in modular, including through-zero FM, wavefolders, analog distortion, and resonant filters, and package them into something that’s immediately playable. The result sits somewhere between a classic analog polysynth and a complex oscillator, capable of the warmth and the kind of unpredictability players love about analog hardware, while adding the polyphony and immediacy that modular setups rarely offer.
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FM on Magnolia is deliberately approachable. Rather than dealing in operators and algorithms, it presents frequency modulation as what it actually is – one oscillator modulating another at audio rate, dialled in with a single large knob. Frap Tools describes it as “a more raw and in-your-face way of doing FM,” and that attitude carries through the whole instrument.
Key features at a glance
- 8-voice polyphony
- All-analog signal path
- Analog through-zero frequency modulation
- 5-octave, velocity-sensitive keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch and adjustable curves
- Bi-timbral programs with Morph, Dual, and Split capabilities
- Two oscillators per voice: an “east coast” one with PWM and a “west coast” one with linear TZFM, wavefolder, and flip sync
- Continuously variable waveform selector
- 18 dB/oct high-pass and 24 dB/oct low-pass resonant filters with linear FM
- Analog pre-filter saturation
- Three loopable DAHDSR digital envelopes
- Three digital LFOs with continuously variable waveforms
- Per-part arpeggiator
- Per-part 16-step sequencer
- 200 memory slots for presets
- Analog global distortion
- Two global digital effect slots with choruses and delays
- Hands-on modulation matrix with explicit visual cue
- Velocity-off modulation source
- Polymove – an expanded polyphonic randomisation source
- Macro knob assignable to every parameter
- 16 modulation sources, 38 modulation destinations, 64 modulation slots per part
- Independent MIDI channels
Playability is central to Magnolia’s design. The 61-key Fatar keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch gives expressive control at the keys, while the Polymove – a polyphonic random generator that creates an independent signal per voice – makes it easy to animate sounds in ways that feel alive rather than programmed. The front panel is designed to be generous and unhurried, encouraging exploration rather than frustration.
Every circuit was designed in-house, with Frap Tools describing Magnolia as “an actual shrunken version of our popular Eurorack modules, without any stock ICs whatsoever.” For those who’ve wanted that modular character without the patch cables, this is the instrument they’ve been building toward.
Magnolia is available now. Visit Frap Tools for more information.
