the pre-amp might help - but you will still be very quiet within a modular system
you may be able to get away with going straight in to the modular and skipping the pre-amp
you'll still need something to get up to modular level - an instrument interface or a vca that actually amplifies like veils for example
you'll probably also want an envelope follower, gate extractor and possibly a pitch follower
some instrument interfaces will include one or more of these - sonicsmith e1 has all of them and more, i believe
envelope and pitch following are available in the disting in the same algo - so available at the same time - definitely on mk4 and ex, not sure about earlier versions
gate extractor is basic logic - high when envelope is above a certain voltage...
nb pitch extraction is often glitchy - and very glitchy when trying to process anything other than clean single notes
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities