Since being unveiled at Superbooth 2025, Frap Tools’ debut polysynth has been met with widespread praise, and the first batch of production instruments sold out quickly after the official launch. A second run of units is now available, and the company have also been hard at work on a firmware update that delivers some enhancements and bug fixes.
The Magnolia's new 1.10 firmware sees the number of onboard memory slots increased from 200 to 400, while MIDI CC implementation has been rolled out across all of the instrument’s parameters — there’s also now the option of using MIDI over USB-C as well as via the instrument’s DIN connections. New settings options make it possible to customise the Magnolia’s velocity and aftertouch curves, and users are now able to change the brightness of the top-panel LEDs. Along with the new features, the update also tackles some known bugs.
Frap Tools say they are currently working on a utility and librarian software application, but in the meantime, owners of instruments from the first batch can update them via an executable file that can be run from a Mac or PC. Information on how to carry out the upgrade can be found on the Magnolia product page.
What’s New?
Here’s an overview of the what the latest firmware update has to offer:
- Adds 200 memory slots, bringing the total to 400.
- Adds full MIDI CC implementation (in and out) over every parameter.
- Adds MIDI over USB.
- Adds user-definable velocity and aftertouch curves with 11 degrees of hardness/softness.
- Adds the possibility for the user to define the LED brightness. It is possible to choose two factory presets (high or low brightness), or to define a custom user setting with independent controls over the red, white and orange LEDs and the display.
- Fixes a bug that prevented the keyboard from retaining parameter values after the Static Value display was used.
- Fixes a bug that incorrectly played incoming MIDI notes.
“We put all our signature sound tools inside — analogue triangle-core oscillators, through-zero FM, wavefolders, analogue distortion and a wild, resonant filter. It’s a powerful instrument, capable of a wide gamut of sounds that range from soft, glass-like pads to earth-shattering distorted leads. And a hands-on modulation matrix allows you to connect 16 sources to 32 destinations by just pushing a button and twisting a knob. Needless to say, we always design every single circuit from scratch, and the Magnolia is no exception to this — it’s an actual shrunken version of our popular Eurorack modules without any stock ICs whatsoever! We at Frap Tools are all thrilled — and even a bit jittery — about the Magnolia's release.” — Simone Fabbri, Founder & Product Designer, Frap Tools
Availability
The 1.10 firmware update is available now from the Frap Tools website. The Magnolia is priced at €4199.
