Thanks, there are a lot of really good suggestions here.
For the vca, I was actually considering switching out the sinc bucina for the wmd dvca. So I’ll probably go for that since I won’t really be taking advantage of the ping input for the bucina anyway. But I do like how it’s an envelope generator with built in vca. I would go for Doepfer stuff but when I was working on the original palette case build, I realized they had too much depth for the case. So I’ve been avoiding them even though I really like all their stuff.
As for the varigate 8+, I was also thinking it’s a bit ridiculous because I will never need that many gates. But with all the features it has, it’s a tough call. The most important to me are being able to save 100 presets and the delay. Plus it’s 16 steps instead of 8 like the varigate 4+ and has more scales. I could definitely do plenty with just the varigate 4+ though. It’s almost half the price, is way less complicated to use, and much more reasonable for the small setup.
The Data is just there because I really like it haha. The screen is way too nice and also I would like to use it as an additional oscillator or lfo. Also I was planning to use it as the clock and syncing in to the varigate. Then I’ll know for certain about the tempo besides just going by ear with the slider from varigate 4 or knob on the 8. It can put out two separate waveforms as well that can be offset. Being able to actually visibly see what’s going on seems way easier to me too, so it’s another tough call.
And the plan was to double the 2hp mix as the attenuator but another one I was looking at was the SSF quad-atten. If the mix wouldn’t suffice, then I’ll look into a stand-alone attenuator for sure. I’ll definitely look into the Joranalogue Contour or Make Noise Function though. I’ve heard of maths for sure but ironically it always seemed too big. Ignore the varigate 8+ haha. And the BIA is my favorite sounding voice from the noise engineering family. All I was really wanting is drum and bass and it seemed like the perfect thing. I especially like the independent knobs for the inputs. I’m not against the idea of adding an analogue oscillator though. There’s just so many to choose from and with the slim depth of the case, I’ve been ignoring the Doepfer ones but that would be my first choice. I’ve seen the dixie II and Pamela’s new workout that you mentioned and was strongly considering them not long ago. I’ll check out more on those and these other modules you suggested. The Joranalogue Contour new to me so it’s definitely worth a look.