Grrrrrrrr...had a much longer and more in-depth reply to this, but MG logged me out before I could hit 'Submit' and it got trashed.
Basically, tho...have a look at the following categories on here: "Clock Modulation", "CV Modulation", "Utilities", "Attenuators" and one I always go off on, "VCAs". None of these are particularly sexy areas, but it's through judicious inclusion and use of stuff in these categories of modules that a lot of subtilty and nuance in programming a modular comes to the fore. While exploring VCV Rack, also keep referring back to MG to see how the hardware implementations of the same concepts being modeled are done, especially when you run into an idea that you can't do in VCV. There's probably a hardware solution, and that'll help you sort out which of those you might need later on when tossing Big Money around.
Also, I'd again stress that getting and learning a patchable hardware synth is critical when moving from a software synth situation, because it's important to learn that hardware controls might not always react the same way in a given patch as software emulations would. Case in point: filter Q, especially setting it to just below resonant 'break-thru'. Fact is that even these days, analog devices may vary from one to another of the same device; back in the 1970s, it was a 'thing' to seek out certain Minimoogs that were perceived to be more 'musical' than other Minimoogs, because tiny variations in circuit components, calibration, control behavior, etc from unit to unit were rather unavoidable and it was felt that there was a certain 'sweet spot' where a Minimoog needed to be with respect to these tolerance variations to make it sound better. One hardware device I forgot to mention in the last reply, and which dovetails nicely into a future Eurorack setup, is the Soundmachines Modulor114, since its panel and power connection are compliant with the Eurorack standard and you can easily remove it from its own skiff and integrate it into a larger system in the future. More expensive than the MS-20 Mini...but it's a rather different creature, too and ultimately not as spendy as going full-in on a Eurorack system right off the bat.