Hi Lugia,
This is why I learned basics on the free VCV Rack and this week bought my first modular setup with the Doepfer A100 Basic system that only has the core basics like VCO, VCF, VCAs, envelopes and mixer and clock and mults to get experience hands on before I expand. Several very experienced modular friends of mine suggested this as they started with a basic set of Doepfer modules and learned. I was looking at the affordable $300 Cre8audio kit but the demos looked really bad and it was more of a toy than a real music workstation for learning long term. I did spend under 2k but figure it will supplement my other gear and let me explore hands on modular synthesis. Besides, my hands are getting tired of using mouse clicks to setup modular in VCV Rack and its not as fun. I love loopop he knows his stuff but others annoy me as they are gear whores and never explain how basic patches and what a module does by itself. Once I have the basic routing of VCAs and EGs down with the Doepfer A100, I plan to expand the empty 84HP case with a wave shaper/wave table oscillator like the 4ms offerings and a weird new filter like the Belgrad or Dual Borg Richter filter and of course more VCAs and EGs since the basic Doepfer A100 only comes with a single DVCA which won't be enough to modulate new stuff. Looking at the Erogeneous Tones Radar for EG and the Befaco Hexmix for VCAs. I see these used to save money on utilities. I figure that in a few years my modular knowledge will allow me to produce interesting soundscapes without tons of fancy modules. I do like modular sequencers but due to case space and my two Elektron machines, I can wait on those until I start another larger case. I did order the Make Noise 0-ctrl to use for a touchpad modular sequencer with the Doepfer modules and my Make Noise 0-coast as i love this stuff.