Advice for Modular Newbie.

Hey Everyone, fairly new here but really enjoying the ride so far!

After getting my feet wet with a Doepfer MC I‘m building out my first „real“ „System“. Already got the case built (2x60TE) and most of the upper row+some of the lower Row collected.
I‘m sticking to Doepfer modules for now as I wan‘t to avoid getting massive GAS and spending way to much money. The exeption is the disting mk4 here to avoid that Moment when you‘re missing a Bandpass Filter or a VCA or want something to trigger Sounds with while no Keyboard is around.
That being said the main goal here is to build a flexible but fairly straightforward Bass synth for riffing with an external sequencer or Keyboard. The BBD is fo trying out Karplus and general Sound-Design purposes (havent bought that one yet).
I‘m looking for any advice here to avoid frustrations with the finished system. I was going to go with dual Low Pass Gates but I really want to try the A101-6 as a second Filter/Phaser/Phaseshifter because it seems like a lot of fun.

PS: can I share the Case to the Thread from My Modular? if so then how? Otherwise I will make the System viewable publicly on my Page. [edit: figured that one out]

EDITED Apr 15th 2021, 10:49

Bump?

Edit:
I played with what I already have this morning. I quickly realized sed that I probably will need another Mixer. Thus I decided that focussing on some Essentials would probably be more sensical than having a Disting, which does a lot but I don‘t think it outvalues a simple Mixer here.
Also I‘ve really been Thinking about getting a more Complex Oscillator rather than buying a second A110-2. sadly most other Manufacturers Modules don‘t use the CV/Gate Bus, so I can effectively drop the Bus Access. Sadly that looses me a Buffered Multiple for CV and Gate Signals...
However that would mean I have room to fit Plaits, which I already know and love from VCV-Rack.

Any Thoughts?
Would be much appreciated.

Looking at this I made a few changes, mostly swapping out larger Doepfer modules with smaller alternatives that do the same thing or more. Take a look:

Quick thoughts:

1) Links and Kinks are great and open up a lot of modulation space, and a Links in particular is definitely better than a double buffered mult in the same space.
2) O/a/x2 does twice what the Doepfer attenuator does for about the same price.
3) Same with the Dual XFade and it's also smaller (though it doesn't have FX send, you could swap with a Rosie instead potentially)
4) Shakmat SumDif can act as a Buffered Mult and also do cool math and Mid/Side processing.
5) I snuck in a Ladik filter as having an oldschool analogue filter is always nice.
6) Shrunk your headphone module into the HPO since you already have a mixer.
7) Swapped one of the Doepfer LPGs for a Takaab to give you some more options and different character.
8) Fit the disting back in.

Overall I think you'd have a lot of fun with the racks you've shared here, but I'd encourage you to be open to modules other than Doepfer to help spice things up and pack some extra functionality in.

Thanks for your Feedback!
Really appreciated. I get the point about being open to other manufacturers Modules, The only real reasons for me to go with Doepfer initially was #1 save some money Since I‘m located in Germany and Modules are cheap on the used Market #2 to keep it simple, there’s so many Manufacturers out there it‘s easy to be overwhelmed by so many cool Modules.
Sadly I will have to stick with a few things for now since I already bought them and don‘t really want to reinvest before sorting out some basic purchases first.
Links and Kinks definitely seem like a great addition especially and the alm O/Ax2. Sadly I already oen both the a-183 and the Buffered Multiple...
Same thing with the hpo, the Alm would definitely suffice but i Already bought the Doepfer Headphone Amp.
I am a guitar Player and Engineer first and foremost, thats why I went with a lot of 6,5mm TS/TRS Modules since it makes interfacing a breeze, especially live. I also have some great Effects Pedals that I want to Interface with the synth in the Studio thats why the A138, seemed convenient. Maybe I should really consider buying the rosie and losing the Headphone amp and Crossfader..
I will include a copy of the Rack that actually shows the Modules I already bought.

Well this might not seem like much of a change, but at least I‘ve been able to fit a little more utility in here with links and an additional Low Pass Gate with the LXD.
Thanks troux for stating you Opinion!
There‘s still no disting, no Analog Filter and only one Offset Generator/dedicated Attenuator.
Maybe I‘ll miss the disting, I don‘t know yet but the disting seems a bit menu divey at times and I‘m not sure if that wouldn‘t kill my creativity..
As Per the dedicated Filter I actually really like the Doepfer 101-2 in dedicated Low Pass mode. The attenuators however.. hope that doesn‘t break the build, yet I can always upgrade later.
This now feels like something I‘d actually want to Play with + some space to actually play with knobs. (Note this build also pushes the Meanwhell PSU I use about as much as I‘m comfortable with, using about 90% of the -12V power rail when warmed up.)
If there’s any more Input I‘d be really thankful.

(Edit Links is now replaced by disting, check further down the Thread)

EDITED Apr 19th 2021, 14:40

Honestly that sounds like a really smart and reasonable approach, and so far it sounds like you're making good decisions. Selling modules that aren't working out or that are taking up too much space can be a good idea sometimes, but I took another crack at this assuming you kept everything you have right now:

Basically, I've swapped one of the LPGs from your planned build for a Disting and a 4HP VCO by Doepfer (that can also function as an LFO). Ultimately there's no right or wrong in modular, but the Disting does a ton and can really help you figure out the direction you want to go with your modular. Want to make generative? It's a quantizer. Want an interesting voice? It has tons of VCO algorithms. Want to play samples? It does that too. Want to record on the fly? Yep, it's got a recording mode.

Anyway, hopefully this has been some useful perspective, and looking forward to hearing some of your tunes!

Looks like we were posting at about the same time, so I'll add one point: in my experience the Disting is only menu dive-y when you want it to do something new. Most of the time you pick a mode and it might stay in that for weeks while you try different things out. I'm not a salesman so I'll leave it at that lol but imho it's worth adding here.

That’s also a great Idea it seems!
definetely an Option, 3 , potentially 4 even, Oscillators, 2 with Bus Acess+ keeping the Bus Accces as a mult at the cost of loosing a filter/vca. Wow I‘ll really have to think this through carefully. Amperage seems to be somewhat pushing it but should still work.
This is another variation of the Rack in my last Post.
Thank you again for your time and opinion!

Maybe someone else can chime in and share their 2cents. To me the Last 2 (and maybe this one?) seem like valid options, but take it into somewhat different directions.

(edit: seems the picture didn‘t update I swapped links for disting)

EDITED Apr 18th 2021, 13:50

Went way further on this...and found some issues, most notably with the BBD module and a couple of others, all of which have depths of 60mm or worse. So instead of continuing with the same line of thought here, I opted to get a bit divergent and show what you can get to when you eliminate the Doepfer-primary constraint.

Yeah, pretty different, alright. For one thing, the layout is now properly consolidated, with audio on top (except for the FX send/return module) and control on the bottom.

Top row: This starts with the A-119. Then instead of the full-sized Plaits, I went with Antumbra's 6 hp clone. That then opened up more real estate, and so I chucked the Doepfer VCO in favor of a very satisfying double VCO from Noise Reap, their Paradox. This is sort of the "poor man's complex VCO"...the VCOs can influence each other via FM, internal regeneration, etc. Between that and the Plaits clone, I'd say that your sound generation is dealt with. I moved the Quad VCA/Mixer by these, which now lets you have CV over VCO levels going to the filters. And as for the filters, there's a neat complement there...the G-Storm Delta VCF is cloned from Korg's Delta (and Poly-61, plus a couple other Korg polysynths around that time) and gives you LP and BP functions with a smooth, paddy feel. The OTHER VCF, however, is a Nyle Steiner design, notorious for its strident and sometimes brutal lead voice capabilities. LxD is after that, meaning you could easily LPG the VCF outputs if desired, in addition to the "normal" LPG uses. Then I took this into full stereo via the Happy Nerding Panmix Jr., which then feeds to a Befaco OUT, providing isolated 1/4" outputs, headphone preamp (with a CUE input!) and master level control.

Bottom row: Disting, Doepfer Noise/S&H, and then Maths. After that, there's an Antumbra Dual VCA, a clone of 1/2 of a Veils, then a Shakmat Sumdif adder/subtractor, and a Tenderfoot 3-in attenuverting mixer...all three of these are intended to work together to alter/modify/mangle modulation signals, which makes much more out of the Maths and Quadrax than they have in of themselves. Next is the aforementioned Quadrax, with its Qx expander, and then Malekko's SND/RTN, which gives you CV over wet-dry balance to an external effects box.

The result is about $500-ish more, but also fixes your +12V rail issue by lowering the draw by about 140 mA. Plus, it has M0AR all over it...more VCOs, more VCAs, more filtering, more modulation, more manipulation potential. And compared to where this started, this is a HUGE upgrade in terms of functionality and sonic capability. All part of the fun that is Eurorack...there's ALWAYS other options out there!

This is the third time I'm writing the response now and I'm starting to feel a bit pissed off, so excuse this abbreviated response. I thoroughly read your Post and studied your suggested build and am really thankful you took the time and effort to respond!

In Short:
Depth is not an Issue with my Case I built the Case to fit a flight case and it's not shallow in any sense of the word.
Though I was already expecting that someone would take to the BBD since it's quite specific and large for such a small case, Yet I'm quite partial to that Module.

As you so fittingly stated, your suggestion is just MoAR all over and a lot more intricate than what I had planned out so far. I'm quite happy to see plaits, LXD and disting make an appearance, since I'm pretty much sold on those. That being said building out the system as per your suggestion really is out of the question for me at the moment, I'd rather grow into the hobby a bit more naturally than pretty much start from scratch at this point. It just makes more sense to me that way.

That being said I would really appreciate your opinion on a few specific things:
Firstly aforementioned BBD, although I might be stubborn on that one I admit.
Secondly what's your opinion on the last two suggestions posted in the Thread, should I rather go Troux' route or should I go with the second mixer and stick with my last suggestion? I find it really hard to decide if I have enough utility and VCA's. Maybe I should swap the mini Mixer for two attenuverters or Offsets. Any help on that front would be much appreciated.
I know this might be much to ask of an experienced user who probably feels the build is a bit boring and inefficient the way it is. Anyhow I hope you can share some thoughts.

Again sorry for not going into detail that much, hope my reasoning is still fairly understandable..
Thank you again for your time and effort I'm really grateful for any suggestions.

EDITED Apr 19th 2021, 14:32

if you can't decide if you have enough or need more of something the simple and probably best answer is to postpone that decision until you can actually make it

buy a one or a couple of extra modules now and then work out what you need from playing with it

it's even easier if you buy the disting now - set it up as the modules you may think you want - it has vcas and quite a few different utilities, alng with quite a few other things - all of which are 'decent' or better fr what they are - and have a play, get used to using those algos (use favourites to simplify the module) and if you find yourself using disting as a vca then get a vca, or whatever

particularly if this happens for vcas - get more channels - a triple or quad cascading vca for example

if you think you need a mixer early on again get the cascading vca - its a vc-mixer!!! and it's vcas

the other great modules I have that work like this are maths and stages - they do what they do on the surface and then you can program them to do many many other things - i don't know about a stages illustrated manual, but the maths illustrated manual is a phenomenal learning tool - read it even if you don't have a maths or want a maths - you may need one afterwards

Thank you Jim for this great piece of Advice.
I will just put disting in next and after that some sort of vc mixer or cascaded vca like the a-135-2.

All the Best and many thanks to all of you guys.