BinaryOpUGens are created as the result of a binary operator applied to a UGen.
(SinOsc.ar(200) * ClipNoise.ar).dump; (SinOsc.ar(200).thresh(0.5)).dump;
The use of the binary operators * and thresh above each instantiate a BinaryOpUGen. Do not confuse the operators themselves (which are methods) with the resulting BinaryOpUGen, which is an object. When applied to other classes they may not return new objects, and can behave in a more straightforward manner. See for example [SimpleNumber].
The operators >, >=, <, and <= are particularly useful for triggering. They should not be confused with their use in conditionals. Compare:
(1 > 0).if({"1 is greater than 0".postln}); // > returns a boolean
with
( // trigger an envelope
{
var trig;
trig = SinOsc.ar(1) > 0.1;
Out.ar(0,
EnvGen.kr(Env.perc, trig, doneAction: 0)
* SinOsc.ar(440,0,0.1)
)
}.play(s);) // > outputs 0 or 1