Hello Blackmaul,

If it were me, and trying to keep the spirit of what your goals are (drone-synth voice + sample manipulation through Morphagene), I would do something like this:

(May need to click the picture to see the most recent arrangement.)

ModularGrid Rack

Here are my thoughts:

  1. I'm thinking the Cursus Iteritas Percido is a bit too big for the case and freeing up some room for other functionality would be a good idea. As far as I understand, Cursus Iteritas is a stripped down version of CIP that's less than half its size in HP. I think you would still be able to get plenty of the gritty tones you're after with the CI. Also, adding a flexible filter like Belgrad after it will further allow a massive range of other tones.

  2. The 1U Row:
    a. The 1U Golden Master felt like it could be swapped out for something more generally useful.
    b. I'm a huge fan of Intellijel's 1U Quadratt (and the Duatt when you have a little bit of extra space to fill in). Here I'm seeing the Quadratt as a way to more precisely attenuate modulation going into CI and Belgrad and/or mixing the outs of CI, Belgrad (as kind of a dry/wet level with CI or using Belgrad as a resonant oscillator on its own), and Krach (if you want to add noise).
    c. Added Krach to use as a gritty modulation source or to mix in as audio like mentioned above.
    d. Kept the 1U Stereo In module as a way to get external sound into Morphagene. If that's not how you're planning on using Morphagene, then I, personally, would probably swap it out for a different 1U tile.
    e. Added the Sloth Chaos for smooth randomness to the drone, sample manipulation, or effects.
    f. I've never used nor am I very familiar with Ornament and Crime, but I would want to use it a source of modulation in this build - probably LFOs. There may be more HP-efficient options out there for this purpose.
    g. I'm not sure whether it's possible to place the MIDI and Out modules where I've put them, but that seems ideal to me - having the Out at the far right by the final mixer (see below) and the MIDI above the synth voice.

  3. Quadrax is a very flexible source of modulation - something that I think you need more of in the build. It would be ideal to have at least two of it's channels as envelopes (to filter and VCA) if you want to try a more traditional subtractive synth voice architecture at some point with the CI/Belgrad.

  4. Keeping your core of Morphagene and QPAS. I interpreted your inclusion of the QPAS (other than you already own it) as a way to further process the Morphagene's output. Both are stereo, so you could have some interesting things going on there.

  5. Swapped out the Black Hole DSP2 for FX Aid XL (it's less expensive, less HP, and better rated).

  6. Added the 4X Stereo Mix as a compact stereo final output mixer before the 1U Out module. That way you can keep your stereo things in stereo while mixing with your synth voice.

  7. Swapped out the Black Quad VCA2 for Veils (2020). It's slightly less expensive, same HP, and has additional functionality.

  8. Added the RND STEP as another source of randomness. I have no experience with the Disting (I'm not a fan of multi-mode modules, in general), but I think some of it's functions could create interesting things with the RND STEP, so I put those two next to each other.

  9. And sadly, I would do away with the music box module. I could see some really interesting things going on with it and the Morphagene, but I would rather use the HP for something else. You could always sample it for use in the Morphagene without having it in the final rack.

Overall, it looks like a fun build. And, of course, this is just how I would do it. And I certainly wouldn't limit myself to patching it only in the ways mentioned above - those are just starting points. I hope some of that might help you!

Best regards,
Chace