Always glad to help if I can. I have a similar background as you with many years of hardware synth and software experience, but I got a little disillusioned/uninspired with computer recording and stopped making music altogether quite a while back. More recently, I got super inspired by the possibilities of modular and dove back in headfirst. Best decision I ever made (though my wallet disagrees).
One of these days I'm going to have to get Akemie's Castle too. It sounds so good. My only connection to Max/MSP is I know that Autechre make some insane stuff with it. Maybe I'll find the beauty in software again someday.
Take care and have fun!