Rack for live sound manipulation (long samples, field recordings) + inevitable minimal rhythms

Trying to pack this into 104hp 7u, failing so far

This is my third foray into the modular game, first time was with a modcan behemoth – now getting more specifically into sound-processing, though always nice to have sound generation capabilities too...
Going for an initial compact setup – that ideally can fit into a 7u Intellijel case. Eyeing a bigger MDLR but ...

Thoughts on a good compact performance mixer? Muting seems like a great thing to have there. I have several mixing options I'm considering on the bottom row.

The Brenso sounds amazing, but maybe taking up way too much space for this setup.

Not included but modules I'm interested in: Hermod modular brain, and the Rossum Assimil8or (maybe overkill).

I could probably use an LFO in there somewhere as well. (* added the Hatumi)

newest edit here:

EDITED Oct 14th 2020, 09:07

I like the Toppobrillo Stereomix for a compact mixer. It covers all the bases I was needing.
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/toppobrillo-stereomix-2-silver-panel

The mutes on the Toppobrillo would be great to have. I think I also need to cram a quad VCA in here somewhere.

As they say, you can never have too many VCAs. The Toppobrillo does have VCAs on each channel, though it's always useful to have more for other duties.
Have fun and good luck.

Brenso vs. something like Cs-L in a setup like this one? I don't want to compromise too heavily purely because of space, but the Brenso is indeed taking up quite some HPs

That seems like a matter of taste to me. I've sort of avoided the Frap Tools stuff because of their oddball user interface choices, though they are doubtlessly very powerful instruments. Cs-L looks like a great choice. I like my Furthrrr Generator, but it's 30hp, so takes up more space than the Cs-L. I stumbled across a complex oscillator blind shootout somewhere, and preferred the sound of the Furthrrr and surprisingly Make Noise's DPO. Maybe see if you can do some head to head comparisons.
Let us know what you decide.

@farkas where I ended up more or less. Overall a much more compact setup.

And for a smaller rack I didn't want to go for such space eating oscillator (nevermind that the RS Serge NTO and the Generate 3 equal the size and cost of a Brenso. The NS Serge modules may make their way into an all Serge skiff at some point – I was intrigued by the rather old-school spacious panel layouts and do like the Serge sound).

Still weighing a Contour 1 vs a Falistri and whether I'll really use the FH-2 that much, or the Sapel for that matter. I definitely agree about the UI of Frap Tools panels (though I've also read they do, eventually, make sense)

This looks like a lot of fun. One of these days I'm going to grab a few of the Serge modules. They sound so good.

Here's the acid test for legibility of panels:

If you take the module in question into a room that's lighted like you'd find onstage in a basic gig situation and you can't figure out what the HELL is going on with the panel markings, then you probably need to find a module of that sort from a manufacturer who understands more about what working musicians need than they have this compulsion to do snazzy designs that fail under those working conditions. If you have any of those newfangled app-controlled colored LED bulbs, just drop your lighting to about 25% of normal, then change the color to a deep red and/or a deep blue. If you CANNOT read the markings legibly enough to make patching and control decisions at the pace your music requires, then you probably need a different module for that function.