Newb putting his first build together

Looking to put my first rack together. I'm looking to do some exploring around generative/chaos patterns and would like to avoid menu diving (DATA is for visual feedback, mk4 because it seems worth it given the functionality/cost).

I have a Beatstep Pro that I'd like to hookup and compliment or drive parts of the modular, thus Mutant Brain.

My plan is to stick to a 7u case, so naturally I found the widest semi-portable case I could at 126hp. https://www.mdlrcase.com/eurorack-case-7u-126hp-performer-series-pro/

This is what I'm thinking to get started:

This is how I would fill the rack, today, if I had to:

What am I missing? Which modules would you swap out?

you don't need a mutant brain for a BSP to talk to a modular - it's got cv/gate/velocity and trigger outputs already...

I would recommend a lot more research and thinking before spending any money - a couple of pointers:

in the first iteration - Pams can do euclidean - so not a lot of point with the euclidean circles too

in the second there's a melodic quantizer - scales, but no melodic voice or vco to use it to send quantized pitch to... and only the scales for pitch sequencing - I'd get frustrated with this...

how are you mixing? sub mixing before filters/effects and end of chain? ok I see the cockpit2 - but that's not really going to do a satisfactory job - spend some time thinking about how all the voices and effects will interact... are any stereo? do some mono sources need panning into a stereo field? no mixing for cv...

no vcas... why would you want/not want these?

I'd rather have a second fx aid than a pico dsp - awkward size 3hp and less versatile - but I don't think you need it, anyway...

take out everything except what you absolutely need and then add back slowly, justifying precisely why you want/need every module - ie do I need this and why?

take a look at my signature and ask yourself why? you've got way too many sound modifiers and possibly modulation sources - not a balanced rack even for a percussion rack - & I'm not sure that's 100% what you're after here - seems more confused than anything else

Jim’s right- I’d ditch the Euclidean Circles and Mordax Data module in a case this size and replace them with something like the Intellijel Quad VCA and a good cv mixer and perhaps add a logic module.

Pam's does Euclidean, but in a more set-and-forget way, so if you want playability, Euclidean Circles is a reasonable combo with Quad Drum / Qex. But it does take up space. You might think about the other wide modules here (Morphagene, Qpas, Maths) and consider alternatives. There's also a fair amount of overlap among O_c, CVilization, øchd, Sloths, and Wogglebug. It's not so much that one can be covered by the others, but that there's a lot of similar kinds of modulation here and not much to modulate. Jim has good advice on thinking about voices and their paths through a possible system. Try not to fill the case more than 3/4 full in any potential plan, to leave room for discovery and expansion.

yes I agree about euclidean waves - but as a starter - I think it's better to get pams and then, if and only if, there is frustration with not being able to change euclidean ratios on the fly , get euclidean waves - Pams forces you a bit more to think about what you are doing, from what I can tell (not having euclidean waves) so may be a better learning tool too - rather than just wiggling away...

That's a good point. And it is possible to get a little more direct interaction with Pam's by appropriately configuring the CV inputs and driving them with a suitable utility – again requiring thinking and patching rather than just twisting knobs.

Don't forget, there's also the Temps Utile. Frankly, the more I look at that thing, the more I think it might actually be a bit above the O&_c in terms of usability.

Thanks for the feedback, y'all. I'm not going to be spending money anytime soon, but tweaking/researching/thinking about a future purchase certainly passes the time.

Based on feedback, I've updated the 'initial' build. Still several overly-wide modules that I'm researching good alternatives for. I swapped the Tool-Box for an eãs. The Cold Mac looks super interesting, though it seems like there are lots of complaints around its learning curve. Most of the changes come from narrowing down my sources of randomness and I settled on Sloths over the others (but CVilization seems awesome, maybe that'll win be back).

Honorable mention: Desmodus Versio and Rangoon (Rings clone/derivative) have caught my eye.

I don't see any modules that are particularly wide there...

any smaller and you'd lose ergonomics or functionality and you have plenty of space to have both of those which are equally important... at least imo

Cold Mac is unobtainable new, and if you can find one used, you will pay a hefty premium. Probably best to figure out what you wanted most from it and find a substitute for that functionality. CVilization can do a lot but unless you use it daily, you'll need to keep the cheat sheet close at hand. One thing to remember is that any Versio module (including Desmodus) can be flashed with any of the other firmwares, and there is scope for user firmwares as well. Rings (and therefore Rangoon) also has alternate firmwares.