Expanding on semi-modulars (Neutron/O-Coast)

Hi,

I've gone from a Neutron/Keystep/SQ1 to a Deepmind 12 (totally wrong move and now sold) to an O-Coast (totally the right move!) I'd like to add a few modules, but not sure where to go next??

I think the gap I may have is that I don't have something driving rhythm into my tinkering and I've some poor/weak effects on my mixer. I suspect a bank of VCAs and Mutable Instruments Grids may be a good option? Pamela? Muxlicer? Or perhaps Erica PICO dsp could be a good tool to bring on board to help me figure out what I'm missing through easy-access trial and error - albeit I prefer knobs and wires over menus...

Any thoughts on quirky pairings that have some depth for a pair of semi-modulars would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Mick

I think the gap I feel I may have is that I don't have something driving rhythm into my tinkering and I've some poor/weak effects on my mixer. I suspect a bank of VCAs and Mutable Instruments Grids may be a good option? Pamela? Muxlicer? Or perhaps Erica PICO dsp could be a good tool to bring on board to help me figure out what I'm missing through easy-access trial and error - albeit I prefer knobs and wires over menus...

Any thoughts on quirky pairings that have some depth for a pair of semi-modulars would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
-- therumdiaries

For effects I'd recommend an FX Aid (regular or XL) over a Pico DSP, I own both and the variety and quality of the algorithms on the FX Aid is way better.
For rhythms I think it depends on your preferences: if you want a collection of patterns that you can modulate Grids is great (in case take a look at the Shakmat's White Gallop and Noise Engineering's Numeric Repetitor), but if you prefer more intentional programming you should go with a more traditional sequencer (if you want something small to start with I like the Dnipro DOT). IMHO Pam is always a great module choice for every system but if you don't like menu based stuff it could be not ideal for rhythm sequencing.
The Muxlicer is a powerful and versatile tool, but if you plan to use it as a sequencer you should know that because of a firmware change Befaco made to make it work along some Make Noise module there are revisions of it that looks for the falling edge of the clock signal to advance one step, and that might cause you trouble to have it sync to other modules. There is a fix available but you'll need a ICSP Programmer to upload the new firmware.

Thanks @oliodnb for the suggestions - I'll check out White Gallop and Numeric Repetitor for sure. I need to make the plunge soon - Christmas is coming!! : )