new to modular, any thoughts?

Hello, so I wanted to get into this hobby for a while and I think it's finally time for me to do so. Here is what I would like to do with the system once it's finished:
1. sequence the thing with something that is relatively straightforward, has several voices and gives me the possibilities to make up quirky rhythms, the idea was that I'd use Hermod with external midi controller to quickly record in the ideas, not 100% sure about this idea yet, still considering sequencers like Rene
2. one voice would be used for melodies through the 258t (already own it)
3. the Rample I chose for drums, I like it cause of the program change. this would be mainly used as another voice or two
4. I quite like the Morphagene, I looked for a digital module that can generate ambient stuff and this one seems to be pretty interesting.
5. the rf nomad is there for occasional more texture, this I would like to mix in with Morphagene or 258tt

Still wondering whether I have to go with Maths, but the functionality seems pretty sweet. I'd plan to use it for envelopes, attenuating, all sort of sequencing things and such.
When it comes to filters I quiet like SEM or MS20 filters, Humpback and Dual Borg seem pretty nice from the demos, not quite sure if I will end up going for both of them, I still have this idea to throw a Metasonix filter somewhere in there, obviously that would require a proper PSU. I shall see about that.
I also like the idea of having two sequencers and having the ability to chain them together, that is why I have added MD, it seems like it would help out with getting the ideas out there and also help with polyrhythms .

In the nutshell the whole idea would be to make sort of a standalone system that can do melodies, drums and ambient while there would be some modules that would add some more dirt to it. I have made several versions of this and this is where I am so far.

https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_1770788.jpg

EDITED Mar 4th 2022, 14:39

and linked

some suggestions:

let's start with mixing:

it doesn't look to me as though you are intending to use an external mixer - as you have the doepfer output module... but there's no end of chain mixer and no mono to stereo conversion - you have a mix of mono and stereo sound sources/sound modifiers - get something big enough that you can mix all your (processed) sound sources and place them in the stereo field - that means panning - you may want cv control over this - you may find that this means multiple modules - there are very few mixers that have mono and stereo inputs with cv-able panning on the mono inputs and send/return functionality - but you might find that a large mixer solves a lot of problems... hexmix & expander & hexvca or wmd performance mixer or tesseract tex-mix might be worth looking at - these mixers will satisfy most of the criteria above (to a greater or lesser extent) including the send/return which is really handy for the fx aid - you might want another 1 or 2 of these - delay/reverb/lofi - or something similar... and quite importantly, they have stereo master outputs and headphone sockets - so you can dump the doepfer module...

& there's not a lot of sub-mixing... so no mixing the 2 vcos in the 258t before hitting a filter for example...

the liivatera mixer is very large and would probably be better replaced with multiple smaller mixers - for example a couple of 3*MIA - remember that you will want to mix both audio and cv

there's a lot of gate to trigger channels, which you probably don't need - maybe keep the g&t - dump the ladik...

lfos: i'd dump the ochd and the eowave and replace with a batumi

vcas: I'd want more - dump both and get a couple of veils... again - you will want to vca both audio and cv

filters: ok 3 is about right - you might find you want a 4th dual/stereo one down the line

sequencing: I'd consideer swapping both the hermod and the md out for an erica black sequencer - 4 channels of up to 64 steps, with gate/quantized cv/modulation and mutes (better to mute the cv than the audio!!) for each and you can plug in a midi keyboard to record sequences - and the interface is much more ergonomic than the md - which if you wanted to use it for generating 'notes', you would also need a quantizer - maybe a 4 channel one... and/or possibly a sequential switch...

other modules: you might find you want a waveshaper - really useful with the 258t, an lpg and some more utilities: a sequential switch, a matrix mixer, some logic... take a look at my signature to find a rough guide to how to get the most versatile modular synth for the least money...

so I think it might be a good idea to add an extra row and I'd probably go for 104hp instead of 84hp - it looks like this is a DIY case so an extra row is relatively inexpensive - remember you do not need to fill it all at once - it's better to go slowly - but I think you will want more space to expand into in the future - based on the row power rack warts there's plenty of power - make sure you buy proper bus boards, to avoid rf issues with flying ones...

oh and Maths - keep Maths - it's a great module - even better if you work your way through the 'maths illustrated supplement' a few times and spend some time working out why it's doing what it's doing

EDITED Mar 4th 2022, 17:36

Thanks for the feedback, now that you pointed it out I realized you are right about the lack off vca's and mixers. Right now I only have a 3x84he case with that 258t, I was thinking of maybe getting another case down the line since I would really want to keep at least the 258t, Rample and Morphagene as sound sources and it seems to me I might be lacking utility modules down the line. As for the Black Sequencer, it seems quite tempting and has many features, I guess right now I am deciding between it, Rene and Hermod, will have to think about that some more. The reason I added MD is it seemed like a nice way to quickly generate a random sequence. I will get back to remaking this some another time.

The reason I added MD is it seemed like a nice way to quickly generate a random sequence. I will get back to remaking this some another time.
-- aedvig

black sequencer has that too - check out magic...

Just make your life easier and get a Make Noise Shared System. Thank me later. I’m loving Morphagene and using the Rene v2 sequencer plus Maths is great for modulating it.