Nobody likes buying utilities. Utilities are boring. Right? Well, that's an easy thing to assume. When we first configure our modulars we tend to get swept up in the joy of exotic oscillators and filters and perhaps don't think to spec 'sensible' things like attenuverters, comparators, mixers or envelope followers.

As time goes on, however, the more we realise utility modules are the magic glue of modular. We could buy a 'west coast' VCO, but armed with two VCOs, a crossfade module, some VCAs and a wavefolder, we could patch one together. Sad that your oscillator doesn't have a 'fine tune' control, or octave switches? If you have a Doepfer VC polarizer or a precision adder, it does.

Make your own

Utilities unlock latent functionality in your other modules, and their usefulness compounds, until one day you realise your modular is already capable of doing something you were about to get a dedicated module in order to do.

Take compressors for example. Obviously there's an ocean off-the-shelf, and there are some excellent models in eurorack too, but let's think like we own a modular, and see if we can use 'boring' utilities to actually make one and compress a drum beat through a little patching.

And the interesting control chain we make in doing so can lead to other ideas. What if we use our compressor CV chain to modulate a BBD delay time, or drive the pitch of an oscillator, blended in with our drums? Hang on, this is starting to sound like fun!