Happy Friday everyone. Thanks for all the support and advice so far on this forum.
I’ve just got my DFAM which is both my first analogue and also first modular piece of gear. Very happy with the sound and the infinite tweaking ability. It’s definitely given me the immediacy I was looking for. I’m now feeling even more encouraged to have a go with eurorack. I know I could go to other muff-related forums but I like this one. I have often read that the best thing to do is work out what you want to achieve first so that you don’t want to waste time and money wandering down all sorts of blind avenues. For me I think it’s going to be techno and rhythm-driven jamming with hand-on tweakability.
I’m starting from scratch here so I need a case, power, output (to go into my speakers/headphones) and some modules to get started. So basically I’m trying to decide what would be a good first few modules to really take advantage of the DFAM and expand on that for techno-oriented sound design and tweaking on the fly.
Case-wise I’m leaning towards Tiptop Mantis. I know it’s plastic but it’s cheap and it’s big enough for me to grow into. I don’t really care about industrial strength (it will live in the house, no gigging etc) or having boutique wooden build. It’s a functional item for me (at this stage) and I’d rather spend the money elsewhere. £270-ish for 6U 104HP including power seems like great value.
My first thoughts around modules are to get something that has multiple LFOs and/or CV sequencers so I can tweak parameters on the DFAM in a polymetric way and make the sequences more evolving and break out of the 8 steps length. e.g. 5 step sequence that changes FM amount, 12 steps that changes another parameter etc. This idea leads me to something like Malekko Varigate 4+ or voltage block or similar which can output multiple streams of CV and is quite tweakable and performance friendly. Alternative is some LFOs to vary parameters over time with control over shape, speed, amplitude etc built-in so I don’t need extra VCA to modify the CV before it hits the DFAM. Varigate 4+ also can do gates or a gate/cv mix so I think I can actually use that as a supplementary step sequencer for DFAM or other future modules.
I also thought about some sort of dedicated drum modules to augment the DFAM. That is to say that the DFAM can generate some quite wild and wacky rhythms, basslines etc but a solid kick/hat/snare to support that would be great. I know this isn’t very “modular” but I’m just getting started and I can grow into bigger things later. 2HP have cheap kick/hat/snare modules which sound pretty good to my ears.
I have given a lot of time to looking at these 2hp modules which have a lot of variety and are both cheap and small. They seem to be well-reviewed also. Basic FX like delay, comb, reverb, freeze/stutter are £100 or so and take up very little space. They could be easily manually tweaked or CV-triggered by the Varigate or the DFAM and add extra variation to techno sequences.
I’m looking to have fun jamming at home for my own enjoyment. I appreciate that eurorack is likely to involve a bit of buying and selling over time and so I figure that I should start with cheaper and/or multi-function devices and view it as a learning curve. I don’t want to buy loads and loads of single-function building-block modules right now. I’m trying to ease myself into it both financially and in terms of learning.
The truth is that I simply can’t afford to throw a fortune at this hobby in one go so it’ll be a step-by-step process. I’m not going to blow a small fortune on credit cards etc, it’s just not my way!
I welcome any advice as long as it’s constructive!! Been pleasantly surprised at the supportive and friendly tone around here so far 
