This thread has helped me immensely! Providing an update here in case someone like me is looking for advice in the future and can see where I started and where I’m winding up…
It’s pretty clear I didn’t have a solid enough understanding of the basics/fundamentals — I found this tutorial which I found to be the best explanation the basics I’d seen:
With that under my belt I dove into VCV as suggested, as well as an iOS app called “miRack” to try some ideas out and see what I actually needed to get the kinds of results I’m interested in. This was super eye opening, and gave me a hands on understanding of the suggestions that I needed way less randomness and logic, and more sound shaping and control. This has led me to the following revision as my ideal starter kit:
And then my “day 1 / minimum viable rack” which is where I’ll start my purchases:
Feeling pretty good about where things are are, but more than open to any further suggestions!