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Bagài

BAGÀI

Multipurpose Thingamabob

bagài / baˈgaːi / s.m. [modenese dialect, from a late Latin bagagium ‘baggage’, formed after the late Latin baga, deriving presumably from the Anglo-Saxon bag (see ancient French bague, Provençal bàgua, ‘bundle’), whose root may be traced down to the Indo-European *pac, ‘to tie,’ from which also ‘package,’ ‘pact’] – ‘thing,’ ‘thingamabob.’ A term used when the actual name of a thing or a person does not come to mind.

A module that is at the same time a clock burst, S&H, audio bitcrush, or fluctuating random voltage generator is indeed a bit elusive to describe in a single word. Even if one tries, some aspects will always be missing.

Why bother, then? Let us just call it “that thingamabob,” or better, “that bagài.”

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Description

Bagài is an analog sample and hold, bitcrusher, and downsampler for Eurorack systems, also capable of generating clock bursts, fluctuating random voltages, and colored noise.

It consists of six highly intertwined sections:

A clock with straight and random outputs (yellow)
An analog noise generator with variable color (grey)
A bipolar fluctuating random voltage generator (white) with variable rate
A sample and hold the circuit (orange) with selectable time scale, slow for modulation, or fast for audio sampling up to 48 kHz.
An 8-bit quantized version of the orange S&H circuit with variable bit depth (red)
A clock burst section (green).

By default, it outputs bipolar random voltages and triggers. The voltages are fluctuating, stepped, and quantized with selectable bit depth. The clocks are straight, randomized, or “burst.”

Once you start patching, you can use it as a S&H, audio downsampler, and bitcrusher, with a sample rate of 48 kHz.

All its major parameters are voltage controllable.

It belongs to the same family as Sapèl, with the following differences.

Sample and Hold with an 8-Bit Quantizer

Bagài features two stepped S&H circuits with open input (semi-normalled by default to an analog noise source).

The quantized one has a LSB selector that defines its bit depth, from 1 to 8 bits.

Random Triggers & Clock Bursts

Besides the well-known “main,” “more than,” and “less than” modes, Bagài also features a clock burst circuit that creates super fast and unpredictable streams of gates that you can combine with the main clock or to any other trigger you want.

Voltage-Controllable Bitcrusher

When used with audio signals, the 8-bit quantized S&H becomes a warm bitcrusher effect with voltage-controllable bit depth!

Dynamic Downsampler

Bagài’s internal clock can switch to an audio rate mode going up to 34 kHz. Patching audio signals into the S&H input will transform Bagài into an analog audio downsampler.

Open Signal Path

Lots of semi-normalled connections allow you to use Bagài in infinite ways: cross-patching has never been this fun.

Start and Stop Controls

You can control both the main clock and the clock bursts via external gates. The main clock also features a button to manually hold it.

Analog Noise

At Bagài’s core is a thermal noise generator that feeds the S&H circuit, creating random voltage streams. The noise output features a knob that changes its color, emphasizing the high or low frequencies.

Fluctuating random voltages and Global Rate of Change

The feature we all loved on Sapèl, now bipolar and with extended range!

	BAGÀI	SAPÈL
Clock generators	1	2
Clock range	~0.05-75 Hz / ~0.025-34 kHz	~0.1–60 Hz
Fluctuating random voltage circuits	1	2
Fluctuating random voltage type	Bipolar (extended range)	Unipolar
Quantized random voltage circuits	1 Bipolar	2 quantized to Octaves Unipolar 2 quantized to Semitones Unipolar
Quantization approach	Fixed source amplitude, variable bit depth (1-8 bit)	Fixed 6-bit, variable source amplitude
Unquantized S&H circuits	1	2
Unquantized S&H type	Bipolar	Unipolar
S&H source	Built in Thermal noise or any external signal	Built in Thermal noise
Random clocks	1 section with Simultaneous More than, less than, and burst	2 sections Selectable more than or less than
Probability distribution	On the fluctuating random voltage	On every generator
Burst Section	1	N.A.
Noise Sources	With tone control	Blue, white, pink, red
Noise Generators	1 built in thermal noise	4 built in thermal noises

Specs

Size	12 HP
Depth	38 mm
Current draw	190 mA @ +12 V 90 mA @ -12 V
Recommended warmup time	30 min
CV input impedance	>90 KΩ
Clock input impedance	>100 KΩ (on positive pulses) ~30 KΩ (clamping negative pulses)
Built-in clock frequency (1)	~TBA– >70 Hz
Clock output (period)	~2 ms
Clock output (amplitude)	~10 V
Sampling glitch	filtered
Noise output level	10 dBU RMS
Noise output tolerance	+/-3 dB

FAQ

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A. Use

Is it normal that the module gets warm?

Our modules are packed with high-quality components that demand a proper power supply and can get sensibly warm.

That is its normal temperature and we can guarantee their performance.

B. Design

Why Frap Tools uses so many capacitors?

We have two main kinds of capacitors.

The first one is necessary to AC-couple the audio signal: they prevent any unwanted DC offset, and they offer protection against wrong connections. For this reason, you can patch nearly every input to every output, and the worst thing that can happen is some pops or some silence.

The second one is power filters to guarantee a cleaner current flow across the case. They might sound a bit over the top, but we must remember that a Eurorack system is not something that comes straight out of the factory. Instead, every Eurorack setup is unique and may change according to the musician’s need. For this reason, we want to add as much protection as we can, both to avoid issues with our modules and to ensure that even the other modules behave correctly. We use a wide mix of capacitors in our modules: ceramic, electrolytic, tantalum, and multilayer. They can be assembled thru-hole or SMD, according to what gives the best balance between result and space. For example, all the electrolytic capacitors are mounted thru-hole because they perform better according to our tests.

However, the capacitors have zero impact on the power draw, on which you can read in this other FAQ.

Why do Frap Tools modules draw so much power?

Power draw should always be related to what a module does.

Generally speaking, there are modules like SAPÈL that undoubtedly consume more than other random generators. However, SAPÈL is a double module, so a fair comparison would be between it and a pair of similar modules. The same can be said for FUMANA, the most power-demanding filter bank. However, it is also the only Eurorack filter bank with 32 analog bandpass filters, half of which have a 48 dB/oct slope. So, also in this case, a fairer comparison would be between FUMANA and TWO other 16-band filter banks, which leads to similar power consumptions.

More in detail, we engineer our modules to be safe to use. To protect both the modules and the rest of the case, we add a proper buffering stage to every input and output: even if a single buffer doesn’t draw that much power, all the ins and outs piled together can significantly impact the final power draw.