and another no more sound sources... 4 is more than enough in this size case!
I also agree that maybe more than 4 channels of sequencing is a good idea - so you can sequence modulation if you feel so inclined
ES8/ES9 - I've got an es8 +es6 but really only use it for audio in and out and clock (& occasional drum triggers) out (using an audio track) - it's a really useful piece of kit of you are combining modular and a computer though and would much rather use that for sequencing than midi
modulation - yes matrix mixer... just do it & I'd probably also go for a 3MIA too - as well as channel 2 & 4 of maths - the 3MIA will effectively be 6 channels of the mid section of maths in this use case - but I'd also not tie Maths up doing basic utilities - it's much more powerful when self patched to do more interesting things - bouncy ball etc etc
complex oscillator - rubicon2 iirc is a great module that can form part of a complex oscillator when patched with another oscillator and a wavefolder - I'd probably go this way as it is more flexible
re people gelling more with clouds than beads - I think at least some of that is down to when clouds was released and there was no competition in that area for a while so people played the shit out of clouds and hence got deeper into it - when beads was released there were other similar modules available from other manufacturers - so to some extent people got beads and compared it to the other granular effects that they had (or were available) and decided to go elsewhere
"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