Really appreciate feedback anyone has.

TL;DR:

1. I have 26hp left for VCAs, other modulation (EGs), and some effects. What am I missing that you would recommend?
2. If I get rid of the Plaits (possibly redundant, as well as the 2HP Mix that lets me hear it), then I have 32hp to work with.

Goals, in order:

1. Single Eurorack case that lets me do drums and a bassline. Maybe one extra voice as a lead, drone, or fx if there's (mixing) room. I like DnB, Techno, Dubstep...
2. $2k budget. I am WAY over this at ~$2.9k (minus Vult Freak, owned already). I see no other way out. I am going to have to beg the wife for forgiveness.
3. Integrate with MacBook, for add'l modulation and/or recording multiple voices at once.
4. Room to expand. I'd love to get a new module every month, not a fan of having to get another case so soon... but I can sell the Caixa in the future, NBD. I'm also a big believer in "constraints breed creativity", so having only 104hp usable is more likely to keep me creative, not less.
5. Aesthetics. Least important requirement... but an all-black rig looks pretty cool, NGL.

Currently own:

1. MacBook w Ableton Live 11 Suite and VCV Rack.
2. Korg SQ-64, Dirtywave M8, and Novation Tracks for external sequencing options.
3. East Beast. Was originally planning on using this in my first Eurorack, didn't realize how much space it took up, almost no room for anything else already...
4. Vult Freak. God I love this filter.

Current Modules Line-up:

1. Caixa 104. Gorgeous case. I already use the built-in modules for most patches in VCV Rack (except balanced inputs), so this is a great deal.
2. PPW, Alan and Enigma are for “portable”/“exploration” modes. If I don’t have a laptop hooked up through ES-8, or the new SQ-64, I can still jam. I LOVE Turing Machine (Alan for less HP), that's the only non-negotiable module in this line-up.
3. I want powerful drums. vpme.de QD sounds amazing. It takes up a huge amount of space though.
4. Manis Iteritas. I like filthy basslines. The Osiris is an alternative; though it's 2hp wider, I love wavetables.
5. Plaits (Knit for 6hp). May remove, see Q's below.
6. Big empty space in the middle is for modulation, see Q's below.
7. Vult Freak. Can operate as two filters at once. Already own this one, so it's going in.
8. 2hp Mix. This is only for add'l voices like Plaits since the built-in mixer only has two (stereo) channels.
9. ES-8. Pricey, but I really want to integrate with VCV Rack and this seems to be the best way. (I have a MOTU M4, but it's in a semi-permanent place in my home studio for my monitors and not a portable option.)

Questions (repeat of above w/ add'l info):

• How many VCA's would you recommend for 104hp? I don't know what I need for modulation. Looked at a ton of options, see the loose modules below the rack. I currently have the 2 built-in Caixa LFOs, Pamela's, and Turing. Definitely need VCAs, how many would you recommend for 104hp? I need 1+ envelope generators too, and definitely want to duck the bass with a VCA. Maths is super popular, but it takes up a lot of room... but if it'll also let me mix in an additional voice, maybe it makes the most sense. It does too many things for me to remember what it's capable of, without ever having played with one in person.
• Should I get rid of plaits? I'd love to have one extra voice, but I already have Manis and QD (and QD is technically 4 voices?), plus the built-in Caixa stereo mixer only has two channels. I threw in the 2hp Mix for this reason but that's another $99 and that's probably too small for performing. Would you chuck it? Removing that and the 2hp Mix frees up 8hp for more modulation space. Or at least future expansion.
• Recommended FX unit that would fit too? There are zero effects. In standalone mode w/o MacBook some stereo spread or light reverb would be nice. Maybe a disting? Those are "menu-divey" but I don't see myself playing with that a lot when jammin'.

Didn't realize the "loose modules" outside the rack wouldn't show. Not that it matters, I just don't know what I'm looking for when it comes to EGs, FGs, and VCAs. Also, here's a direct link to the rack.

EDITED Mar 11th 2023, 23:35

hmmm... it's quite a common newbie issue but you might be trying to do too much in too small a case... see my signature and spend some time thinking about the contents of it - a few days at least...

saying that, pam's can do both envelopes and lfos and will be more than enough for now and I wouldn't worry too much about having enough vcas - just buy a good quad cascading one for now and see how you get on... by good I mean a mutable veils (or more likely a clone) or an intellijel quad vca

Thanks Jim! I wasn't familiar with "cascading" VCAs, and looked into it. Looks like I can treat a section of it as a simple unity mixer, so that helps to mix another voice in!

I took out the Plaits and 2HP Mix for now and added a Veils clone. I'm gonna leave 20hp blank for now until I get everything received and figure out whether I really need another voice, more utility modules, etc etc.

I highly recommend the Delta-V as a great envelope generator / LFO / VCA. Basically a mini maths!

I highly recommend the Delta-V as a great envelope generator / LFO / VCA. Basically a mini maths!
-- Praveen

Thanks for the recommendation, this wasn't on my radar before!

I pulled the trigger on most of it. I got the Caixa 104, PPW, Alan+Enigma, QD, and the Veils clone. I'm holding off on the Manis Iteritas and any FX unit. I also wasn't able to find the ES-8 in stock anywhere (new or used), so I have an alert set up for that.

@JimHowell1970 I get what you're saying about utility modules. I'm hoping that once I play with what I've bought, I'll have a better feel for what I need. I like that the Caixa comes with balanced ins/outs, 2x buffered mults, a precision adder, 2x lfos, S&H, noise, and a stereo mixer. So I'm trying to figure out what other sorts of utility modules I'm really missing out on. Suggestions in that area?

Any reason you don’t go for an ES-9? I went through every expert sleepers interface trying my hardest to avoid aggregate devices but the ES-9 turned out to be the all in one solution I needed. So many inputs and outputs it’s great.

Any reason you don’t go for an ES-9?
-- Praveen

I have 104HP available in the Caixa, and the ES-9 takes up 16hp, a full 15% of the available space. It's also redundant with the Caixa built-in outputs, I don't need the extra 1/4" main outs or the headphone jack.

The ES-8 only takes 8hp. I'm also thinking about the Befaco AC/DC which only takes up 6hp (albeit with 4 outs instead of 8). I'm still looking for other module options, so I can 1. integrate with VCV Rack as an add'l modulation source, and 2. record multiple lanes at once into Ableton Live.

If I keep expanding (let's face it, I probably will), and get a more permanent case in the studio, then the ES-9 would be perfect there as I'll have a lot more room.

Totally get it!

I just went through this. Thought I was just going to start with a single 64hp addition to my Moog SubH / DFAM setup and within a few months I'm at 2 64HP Moog racks and 1 84HP Roland case with 2 separate small pods for functional setups (1 for Pulsar sequencing and 1 for just my ES-9 / heart of the systems).

I know it's already way outside your expected budget etc, but something small like this might be a good addition in the future. I tried so hard to avoid the ES-9 / Aggregate device but now I wish I just started with this instead of going through the ES-8 etc route.