it looked nicely build.
that it looks nicely built (unless you are using a magnifying glass) is not a great indicator of well built!
Tho' a few people on some modular communities has the same results with theirs.
yes I know - however, I don't necessarily take a lot of notice - what someone hears as noisy - almost all analog is noisy compared to the mixer in a DAW!! - or 'unacceptable bleed - see above responses from both me and @Lugia - again compared to bleed on a DAW mixer (non-existant) is user perceived at best
Very often, the "hiss" comes from the source, at my place bc I often use saturation or overdriven signals, that is where I use enveloped VCA just before the mixer's inputs, when needed, to get rid of the noise, when the muxer is quiet, that is a cool technique to get a clean-yet-overdriven signal. A bit off topic, sorry..
-- -ADR-
as I said my gain staging may be different than yours... have you tried using the built in vcas?
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities