First rack, feedback and suggestions appreciated

Hello! I've been making music on and off for ~18 years, primarily with max/msp, but also with a few hardware synths, including a Korg MS-10, and I've decided recently to make the dive into Eurorack after wanting to for years. So, I've put together a first rack. It's a little intense and I'd love to get some feedback on the design and anything that might seem redundant or that might be missing. FWIW I've decided I'm on the Euro train, so while I understand the "go slow" advice, I will not be listening to it, warning in advance :p

I am primarily looking to make drone-y ambient-ish work (including microtonal if possible) and also dance, particularly acid/IDM, driven by my laptop running max, which I think I've prepped myself for with the rack in question. There are 3 synthesis techniques (pluck, akemie, Erica VCO => A-120) that I can leverage (ideally simultaneously with the ES-8), a ton of modulating capabilities with the LFOs and VCA matrix, some additional nice filtering with the Doepfer, and I've wanted a spring reverb for years so the A-199 rounds it out.

Having worked with max/msp for about 18 years now I mostly feel prepped with for a modular mindset, but there are a few points I'm unclear on, so questions:

1) I guess the biggest is, does the design broadly make sense? I feel like it does, but I'd love to hear from others.
2) I'm going to be honest, I'm not quite sure I 100% understand what the Pamela's New Workout does, but it seems critical for properly driving things from the ES-8. Am I understanding this properly? Are there better options that I'm missing?
3) Is a Stages and a Maths too much given that a Maths can also do envelope generation?
4) Is a stereo Mixer (the Erica V2) overkill in this setup? (this one is more subjective but I'm curious)
5) The HPO is added so I can listen in easily, but I think the ES-8 can route back into my laptop, so I'm wondering if maybe the HPO isn't really needed? (not that that's the real cost issue here, but still)
6) Just generally, any recommendations of modules that would fit here, things that are outright missing, or that might be superior to ones I've selected?

I know this is a pretty big rack for a starter and that I've got a lot to learn still, but I've worked with almost all these approaches in the past (just not in this format), and I'm really excited about the potential. Thank you for your help in finding the right answers here!

EDITED May 12th 2020, 05:14

I quickly put together a similar rack based on your ideas that makes a little more sense for me, personally. It's a bit more expensive, but it seems like it covers most of the bases you might want. The reason people will tell you to go slow is to make sure you get the best outcome for your money. I planned a rack that was extremely similar to yours for my first purchases, and I'm glad I slowed down a little because I only ended up buying one or two of my originally planned modules. My original plan would not have been very fun at all. At least spread out your purchases over a few months... You will start to realize what you really need as you add a few things to your case.
Pamela's New Workout will be the master clock for your rack. This is how you would sync everything together so everything is in time. I'm clueless about Max, but I'm guessing your master tempo would come from Max through the ES9 into the clock input on PNW so everything is linked together (the ES9 also has a headphone output, so the HPO would be redundant). I also have no idea about the sequencing capabilities of Max, so I threw a Varigate 4+ in there so you can do some sequencing standalone, away from the computer.
Batumi and Zadar give you a huge variety of modulation choices with the 3xMIA serving as attenverters. You will want some plumbing, so the Links and Kinks suit that purpose. The Dixie II+ is a more fully featured VCO, and the Polaris filter is more versatile than the Doepfer, giving you something smooth and something more aggressive/acid-y in a single filter. I rounded it out with a stereo effects processor and a Disting to give you a bunch of extra functions. Others will likely have some good recommendations, so think long and hard about their advice.
Have fun and good luck!

@farkas Thank you for a very thoughtful reply, and a nice looking, more focused rack, I think I learned a lot already! To the "taking it slow point," I'm not necessarily planning to buy everything in one go, but a few things are kind of early commits for me (e.g. I love FM synthesis and the Castle looks incredible) so I want to lean into them at the beginning and get some early bang for the buck as it were. Realistically, I think I'd probably buy about half of this upfront and go from there.

The only comment I have back on this build is that max has pretty incredible sequencing capabilities (not built in though, you have to build it all yourself) so I probably don't need the Varigate. That said, maybe it'd also be nice to just plug and play as it were and not worry about always needing a laptop for that piece of the puzzle. I'll reflect on that a bit and I'll dig in to the modules I'm less familiar with here as well.

Thank you again for your help!

Always glad to help if I can. I have a similar background as you with many years of hardware synth and software experience, but I got a little disillusioned/uninspired with computer recording and stopped making music altogether quite a while back. More recently, I got super inspired by the possibilities of modular and dove back in headfirst. Best decision I ever made (though my wallet disagrees).
One of these days I'm going to have to get Akemie's Castle too. It sounds so good. My only connection to Max/MSP is I know that Autechre make some insane stuff with it. Maybe I'll find the beauty in software again someday.
Take care and have fun!

@farkas I took a look at your rig, and no joke about your wallet lol. Lots of great units in there though, I can see I want a lofi junky already! Take care yourself, and thank you again.

Yeah, the Lofi Junky is basically Boards of Canada in a box. I have to use it sparingly so I don't end up sounding like a complete amateur Geogaddi ripoff. Haha. I'm actually using it on a track right now, though, and I'm getting some deep early Cocteau Twins vibes. It's really cool if used in moderation.

Always wondered about the Lofi Junke, but reckon I can achieve similar with what I already have - albeit not in such a neat little package!

Love Cocteau Twins.. please share? :)

I shared a short video clip on Instagram when I started it a few days ago:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CABd5OCBYNq/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

However... I just unplugged everything and abandoned that track a few minutes ago. I got frustrated and moved on. Haha
I'll probably come back to the sound in a few days, but I couldn't quite get a decent song out of it yet. The Cocteau Twins-ish sound was Voltage Block -> Triad -> Chainsaw -> Milky Way -> LoFi Junky with an lfo modulating volume.

Cool - shame it had to go!

I would revisit - but obviously that's up to you :)

Thanks for the patch tips - I might see if I can think of something similar given I have none of those specific modules hehe

Thought I'd update everyone with the current state of things:

Some early thoughts/questions:

Overall I have to say I'm thrilled and this is a pretty incredible format, so thanks to to you @farkas for your help. It's fascinating making sound in such a different way (which is its own question I guess: how the heck do you actually get a working process with these?!! => instead of just noodling, but I'll save that for another day) and this site and all the great content here made the leap a lot easier.
Challenge-wise, I'm not sure the Pressure Points is working out as I'd hoped, though that's probably partially because I'm missing a quantizer. That said, I'm thinking I'd rather have an Arturia KeyStep. I'm curious how other people use the PP and if it's a lasting feature of a lot of people's racks as I could definitely be missing something?
What's next? I definitely want another oscillator and I'm thinking about getting a Serge NTO. Do these live up to the hype? They're expensive and use up a lot of HP, but a lot of artists I respect seem to be Serge fanatics (not necessarily because of the NTO, but still), so I'm thinking it'd be fun to try. Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this one.

Thanks as always for any help, and hope folks are staying safe (and protesting too!).

Taken a pretty good beating (virtual) today for taking the knee!

... people don't understand!! They think it is weak!!

But it's about showing respect and accepting others as equal human beings - simple!

... in return you get millions of people showing you respect in return - it is not weak - it is powerful!

Take the knee!!

Absolutely @kel_ !

I like Pressure Points as an interactive way to add some humanity into my rack. Often, sequences sound a bit too rigid or robotic, so I like to do chord changes on the fly or trigger percussive sounds or add some modulation to something with my imperfect timing. It's not a substitute for a keyboard by any means, but I'm not much of a keyboard player anyway so PP is just a fun way to switch up a static patch. I've been patching two pitch sequences to an Acid Rain Technology Switchblade (switch) and using the gate outs of PP to switch between sequences while taking the CV outs to other modules.

That was my hope for it @farkas, but so far I don't find myself ever wanting to use it. Could just be me missing that quantizer though