I've been doing exactly the same thing. It's great.The last few days i finally had time to really dig into Avenger (mac user).
I must say, i am totally blown away now by this beast.
I focussed merely on "sounddesign" in Avenger, thus, making weird bleeps/noises/glitchy sounds/zap sounds/impacts etc.
In my previous synths I never started from Init Preset, but with Avenger I just love it as there are so many choices available, and everything is reasonably obvious.
The joy increases
Not sure I need preset packs yet (though I thought I would), as there's still too much fun to be had looking under the hood.