New euro rack hobbyist looking for feedback on my rack design

Recently really got into hardware music, and I want to build a euro rack, I have this rack designed but I'm wondering if I'm forgetting anything. I Mainly wish to make drum and bass inspired music, but also make some forms of minimal house / minimal techno like music. Externally I also have a Arturia MicroFreak

Disclaimer: newbie myself as well. Also looking to build a rack so I have read a lot about many modules. So I also read about Brains and the Microfreak, both of which use Mutable Instruments' open sourced Plaits source code. So they'll share quite a few instruments (I don't know which exactly). Looks like you are well covered in the percussive area with other modules, which kind of implies you are planning to use the Brains for something your Freak can already take care of.

If you are planning to make Drum 'n Bass, which module will take care of slicing and sequencing breakbeat? Just curious.

Heyo I’m not planning to slice and sequence a breakbeat, I’m not planning on making standard drum and bass just music inspired by it, so around the same tempo with growly bases, which the waverazor should supply.

I will be using my micro freak for sequenced melodics, while the brains will probably act like some sort and of poly meter or drone. I might be replacing it with something else later but right now it seems to be my cheapest option, I’m not trying to cheap out but this rack is already more expensive than I was planning on ahaha. I’d probably later want to replace it with something else but I don’t know what yet, I could replace it with two simple doepfer oscillators but I don’t have enough sequencing power for another voice, I do have enough ADSR though.

I'd spend more time looking at mixing - at a quick glance it looks like you don't have enough channels and don't have enough submixing - mix drums before filtering for example

How are you intending to quantize your 2hp TM? - DM me if you want to buy a used 2hp TM and Trim (quantiser) pair...

too much space dedicated to sequencing, sound sources and compressor (there are many much smaller ones that do just as good a job and are possibly available - iirc wladorf discontinued all their modules) - and not enough space for modulation or utilities (see my signature for some hints!)

It seems like you're using up a lot of hp with your compressor and mixer. Although I imagine you'll be using the Roland 531 as your main mixer, it's handy to have several submixers in your system. Perhaps you intend to use the Doepfer A-130-8 as a submixer, but the Frap Tools 321 and Intellijel Triplatt (listed below) offer many useful features in addition to mixing.

For a smaller compressor, you should look into:
Steady State Fate - Autodyne [4hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/steady-state-fate-autodyne
Noise Engineering - Librae Legio [6hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/noise-engineering-librae-legio
Cosmotronic - Messor [8hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/cosmotronic-messor
God's Box - Lollipop mk2 [12hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/god-s-box-lollipop-mk2

For submixers I really like:
Frap Tools - 321 [6hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/frap-tools-321-
Intellijel - Triplatt [6hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/intellijel-triplatt
Joranalogue - Mix 3 [6hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/joranalogue-audio-design-mix-3

A possible alternative to the Roland 531:
AI Synthesis - AI007 Quad Mixer [12hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/ai-synthesis-ai007-quad-voltage-controlled-mixer-vca
Toppobrillo - Minimix [14hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/toppobrillo-minimix-black-panel
Cosmotronic - Cosmix [16hp] https://www.modulargrid.net/e/cosmotronic-cosmix

Good luck and have fun!

Just a reminder about the MicroFreak: It has a CV and Gate output as well as clock in and output. So you can clock it from your modular rig but you can't sequence it. I eventually got rid of mine because of this so just wanted to highlight it.

As general feedback I would say that your rack looks like the rack of someone that has done research about modular but has no experience actually using one. I know that might sound a bit harsh but I also think it's perfectly natural. The thing about modular is that (especially among beginners), there's always this drive to try to maximize "functions per HP" and try to squeeze as many functions as possible out of your modular. In theory, this makes sense since modules are expensive but in practice, it leads to frustration and an unusable system. Planning a rack is a useful exercise to do, myself I have a couple of racks here on MG where I just play around with different ideas. I'm not gonna tell you to look into module X, Y or Z but rather: Buy the least amount of modules you can start with then figure out what you're missing or what's frustrating you about your current setup, then try to solve that problem. It can definitely be worth having fewer modules if the ones you get fits you better and makes your system more fun/easier to use.

I've never seen anyone that's been able to plan a full system without actually using it and I don't think this system is any exception to that rule. I think your system is very unbalanced and probably not very ergonomic but the best way for you to know how to balance your system is to start small and slow. The only thing that I know for sure is that your modular system will never turn out the way you plan it to.

Just a reminder about the MicroFreak: It has a CV and Gate output as well as clock in and output. So you can clock it from your modular rig but you can't sequence it. I eventually got rid of mine because of this so just wanted to highlight it.

that would be a good reason to sell it and put the money towards modules to me

As general feedback I would say that your rack looks like the rack of someone that has done research about modular but has no experience actually using one. I know that might sound a bit harsh but I also think it's perfectly natural. The thing about modular is that (especially among beginners), there's always this drive to try to maximize "functions per HP" and try to squeeze as many functions as possible out of your modular. In theory, this makes sense since modules are expensive but in practice, it leads to frustration and an unusable system. Planning a rack is a useful exercise to do, myself I have a couple of racks here on MG where I just play around with different ideas. I'm not gonna tell you to look into module X, Y or Z but rather: Buy the least amount of modules you can start with then figure out what you're missing or what's frustrating you about your current setup, then try to solve that problem. It can definitely be worth having fewer modules if the ones you get fits you better and makes your system more fun/easier to use.

I've never seen anyone that's been able to plan a full system without actually using it and I don't think this system is any exception to that rule. I think your system is very unbalanced and probably not very ergonomic but the best way for you to know how to balance your system is to start small and slow. The only thing that I know for sure is that your modular system will never turn out the way you plan it to.
-- exzs

this is all great advice - another thing to realise that comes up again and again is how small modules actually are... 1hp = 1/5" - they are very small and a lot of new users are surprised by how small modules actually are... lots of small modules next to each other will be impossible to play - especially if they have trimmers (not to mention how inexact trimmers can be) - fewer, larger modules with less panel furniture are much nicer to actually play!

I use a small 4u setup with Queen of Pentacles and Chainsaw for drums and pads and Eloquencer sequencer and have good results. Here is my workflow when I want to jam out and capture happy accidents

I have OB-4 for tether free monitoring and record loops to turn the OB-4 into a modular radio. Now looking at battery pack to use for the 4u case to jam outdoors without need to connect to power.