Doc! Sorry for the really long delay. I've wanted to sit down and reread where we were at and these a long posts, man. It sounds to me like you are on the right track. You're developing experience and stuff. That's all you can do. Keep going. If/when you want to put together a modular setup, then say how much you have to spend and take it from there. There are so many ways to go here it's mind numbing.
MATHS is really cool. I recently was playing around with it and used it to get some amazing bass sounds. I really like MATHS and Optomix as a pair. And Function is excellent, too. If MATHS isn't available as an EG, then you will need something like Function. I like them compared to some other EGs I've used because they can be really snappy or very gracefully smooth and drawn out.
You said something a while back about taking courses locally to learn electronics versus watching YT and teaching yourself. If you have the resources and a little help around you, you certainly can teach yourself. But I would recommend taking a course or two instead. It would probably get you where you want to go faster. It would also engage you with other people interested in similar things. You never know what could happen!
So, where are you at now?
abs