new to this

I'm a long time professional musician. Played keys and synths on a pro level for 25+ years. I've decided to try a bit of modular to complement my setup. I'm by no means new to synthesis, but modular is new :-) Im going into modular to experiment and get inspired. Small loops and sequences to jam to, new and exiting sounds and just to learn and explore. Maybe even connect and sync to funk box app or other apps on iPad.

My rack shown below is going to complemented by: Behringer Poly D, Beatstep Pro, Zoom MS70 CDR, Eventide BlackHole, Behringer Neutron and a Waldorf Streichfett that I already own. I also play Nord Electro And Yamaha Motif and some iPad apps...

let me know what you guys think. Any modules I should look into? thoughts and tips are appreciated :-)

https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_1436403.jpg

actual link to rack -

unless you are buying used or diying edges and peaks are discontinued - and edges is quite big for a vco!

spend thousands on modules - spend pennies on power supply to power them - do you see what's wrong here???

I don't think you need a quad adsr in this rack and it's huge!

do you really need 3 vcfs?

I'd rather have a fx aid xl than the knock off effect unit and the spring reverb

I would want more modulation sources and utilities - Maths (see illustrated manual), stages, a matrix mixer, kinks, attenuation/attenuversion/offset (possibly shades or mia or miso) - imo these are the really interesting parts of modular - modulation and how to combine, modify and distribute it are way more important than which vco/vcf or how many

I'd also want a waveshaper/folder and an lpg

I'd rather have a quad cascading vca with some level of control rather than the octal vca - and with both linear and exponential response - nice try though - veils would be my choice for replacing this

start slowly - a sound source, a sound modifier, a modulation source, a way to play (external probably from what you've listed) and a way to listen - I expect you have an external mixer already (if not get one as it will make more sense with the other things you have already)

Thanks for the input :-) I should probably add that the rack contains stuff I already have. Some modules I've borrowed, others I've bought used and a few of the new. I love spring reverbs though. I guess I'll be looking into some more modulation sources.

I got the Quark (elements clone) for cheap and im really digging it. Haven't spent much time on the Edges. Borrowed it from a fiend. The phaser sounds nice so far and as far as the filters go, I got them used, really cheap except for the Roland that I've borrowed from a friend. All in all I'm in a good position to get to know the different modules without having spent too much money on buying the wrong modules.

The PSU might be cheap, but it haven't caused any problems yet.

I have external mixer, speakers and so on.

Just remember: the P/S is upstream from literally EVERYTHING here, so if it has some sort of catastrophic failure that results in passing a voltage surge across your DC busses, your entire rig will be toast. This is one part of any build that I always insist that builders overspec; there's simply too much riding on having stable, clean and reliable DC to go with something questionable for your power supply.

Otherwise, Jim has a point: this is NOT a large build, and trying to cram large modules into it will inevitably result in taking up space that needs to be there for other modules. Also, you can chuck the mults...the build's too small for these, plus you don't have enough CV destinations to require a buffered mult, as those are for correcting voltage sag issues that can crop up when trying to control several modules on the same CV line.

the buffered mult I got used at a good price. Any reason to swap it for a passive or something completely different? They don't take op that much space

I'm not to worried about if my build is large or not :-) I have one more case, the same size if I need it at one point. Right now im just exploring with the stuff I have and picking up a module here and there...

oh! and any thoughts on placement of the modules? right now I have the beatstep pro in front of the case and the Neutron just sits between the beatstep and the case.

Trying to have the best workflow

not really - maybe move the neutron to the side so that the beatstep pro is nearer the modular

maybe get some longer cables - moving things around can be a good idea from time to time though