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Thanks for your quick response, Jim, it is appreciated. Some responses to your posts below:
NP

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I think it's a toss up between Tempi and Pams - the interfaces are quite different etc... try to work out which one you'd rather work with through watching videos and reading the manuals - Tempi is more button combination presses and Pams is more menu divey (although quite shallow and easy to learn - all channels have the same menu - but the 'programming' interface is relatively basic - the new screen - on the Pro - is apparantly much better and more informative than just some LEDs)
JimHowell1970

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I thought about Pams (as you will have seen from the rack) and have seen mention of the Pro version, but it seems like there’s a fair amount of menu diving involved and people have said it’s a far more complicated unit than Tempi. Remains to be seen which is better for my use case, if I get one at all. I do like the idea of an all MN case though… (I know this is a silly thing to say)

you said it (the idea of a single manufacturer case being silly) & there are a few advantages - but I think the disadvantages outweigh them... part of having a modular is that it's your custom instrument - single manufacturer modulars in some way dilutes this, imo... yes you can patch it how you want and it includes whichever modules you want, but you're still sticking to a single manufacturers design philosophy... not necessarily a bad thing, but, well, not necessarily the best approach...

re Pams menu diving... it's probably the least menu-divey menu I've ever used... select which channel you want to edit, select menu, select parameter, change parameter, done... and remember that once set up you can save it as a preset and reload it... I find this much easier to deal with than remembering button press combinations (Tempi) and Pams is much more powerful in a lot of ways than Tempi... not just triggers/gates, but also modulation, envelopes, quantized stepped random, etc etc...

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there'll definitely be a learning curve - take it slowly etc... you'll get there - it's not much different than vcv rack - except you'll have a limited number of module and a limited number of patch cables... and be able to physically control 2 differnt knobs at once...
JimHowell1970

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Oddly this is one of the main reasons I want to get hardware, to negate the ‘endless modules’ possibilities and 'endless cables' of VCV. As nice as it is, I think all that choice isn’t necessarily a good thing. At first, perhaps, but certainly not in the long run. I think it lengthens your learning curve and as a result encumbers your ability to make useful stuff, well unless you stick to a handful of modules only. This is essentially what I'm trying to do, by just using a handful of MI modules and some utilities.

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the tape and sound machine - don't know - maybe - the rack above - imo too much to start with and very heavily leaning towards too many voices and effects and not enough moudlation and utiliites - see my signature for some hints!
JimHowell1970

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I know there’s at least one too many Plaits in there, but I do like the flexibility of it as a module that can be used for percussive as well as traditional voices. Any specific ideas on how to improve that silly rack in more specifically would be greatly appreciated! That's one thing I need to get a better handle on, utilities. I don't know enough about them at all.

see my post above - start slowly and grow organically and slowly...

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probably - I use a kick sample in Logic for sync - played from my audio interface (es8) into PNW - works perfectly... I've set up Pams to start/stop/reset based on this clock... I've also heard of people using the run input similarly... I'd suspect that tempi can work the same - you may need some amplification for the clock etc...
JimHowell1970

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Thanks, I have as yet been unable to find a definitive answer to this, specifically when it comes to using it with Cubase. It has all sorts of clock sending options, but this isn’t the typical midi clock stuff I'm used to. It’s quite important that I can do this though, since I would like to, whenever I use more rhythmically orientated and delayed sounds, for it to synchronise and play well with my other equipment and arrangements.

all DAWs are similar... the same process will work with Cubase, ProTools, Reason, Ableton, Fruity Loops etc etc... there may be different short cuts to getting it to work... ie apparently you can use a loop in Logic (& probably other DAWs) to reduce the need to copy and paste etc... but once it's done, it's done and no need to fix what is not broken!

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depends on the midi->cv interface - I'd do some more research before committing to one - the mutant brain - now made by Erica Synths is reputedly a very good and versatile example - also available as a stand alone unit the cv.ocd - if rack space is an issue
JimHowell1970

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This is the thing, I am not sure how this works, at all, and haven’t been able to find much information on it. Is this a module only type of solution, i.e. you need a specific midi to CV module or are there other ways of accomplishing this via some kind of converter box? Or must your midi device specifically have CV out, like the Arturia controllers?

you can use a midi->cv module, or a device with cv outputs... it's up to you...

mutant brain is a multi-channel cv->midi module...

cv.ocd is the exact same thing in an external unit...