Thank you Lugia. That is great advice. I have realised that I have enough 'sexy modules' and am now looking for a good cook and conversation maker module...(lol), but me joking aside you are definitely making sense. What I would say is that the reviews a beginner sees are not just a temptation to buy a product but actually show you what each module can do(hopefully)..and that in itself is educational and saves a lot of head scratching and manual diving,for a newbie, but like you point out, not so much of the nuts and bolts modules seemingly get any love.
So I have had a look around and am now considering these modules as part of the unitised subsets you mention.
I see Befaco do a stereo mixer the STMIX, only 6HP mixes audio and c.v.
V.C.A. wise I could go down the quad route with the classics. or I have just seen an article on Gearnews for an ERICA synths new release a PICO V.C.A. 2..although i have a new row to fill i am still aware of the limited space.
other modules which I am interested in are the Happy Nerding 3X MIA..
and the SELECT 2 by Joranologue (dual cv processor)..
I am also tempted by Joranologue morph 4 to beef up any modulation duties..and for it to certainly make conversation with the rest of the rack
Does this make sense are am I duplicating are missing more important examples.?
...once again thank you for your advice