Quartz is often expensive and outsourcing specific tasks to dedicated set(s) of machines is usually accomplished with BC pipes, etc. for a lot less.
I was looking into modulating a lot of my processes, but I then realized how much quartz I needed to refit my entire base with AE. >_>
Many people use a lot more AE than necessary to automate a process, and it can be significantly trimmed down.
For example, let's say you want to teach your AE network about making Pulverized Obsidian. Conventional wisdom says you need to have an ME Interface with the recipe obsidian -> pulverized obsidian attached to your Pulverizer, then have an Export Bus pull it out. Nonsense! Simple hook up a pipe from the output of your pulverizer back to the ME Interface! Remember, anything that hits that interface automatically goes back into your ME network, so you save yourself an Export Bus and some cabling!
Also, many things can be taken care of with the same network of systems, only peripherally connected to your ME Network. For example, you can set up all ores to a precise export bus which is the input for your ore refining process, whatever it might be. The output of your ore refining process can be an Import Bus if you want, but it would probably be a lot faster to just use an ME Interface, because anything thrown into the ME Interface just goes into the system like an Import Bus, but without the additional resources, and it ends up being a bit faster in the bargain. The only time you actually need to use an Import Bus is if something is an inventory and doesn't spit things out (IC2 and some Forestry machines). Heck, depending on how it works, you might even be able to use a vanilla Hopper connected to some piping and wrap it around to a nearby ME Interface, or just Hopper + ME Interface and done.
Export Buses as well can occasionally be replaced with ME Interfaces. You can use the inventory slots in an ME Interface to pass resources as long as it can draw from an adjacent inventory. In fact, I think it even tries to put that resource into the adjacent inventory for you. So you could have, say, a Fermenter with an ME Interface set to have at least one sapling and mulch. Well, it will then put that sapling and mulch into the fermenter, which will then start processing (given power). Then it will refill those slots, keeping the fermenter filled with saplings and mulch until your system runs out. No need for import buses or anything!
In short: A lot of people use a lot more complicated and expensive ways to do things with AE than they really need to. Some of it is a holdover from Logistics Pipes, and how they used to work, or following the behavior patterns of those who have this issue. Some of it is simply being unaware of how flexible and powerful ME Interfaces are. Some of it is simply using a brute-force approach to a simple problem. Generally, it doesn't take all that much for an ME Network to get hooked up with peripheral systems, but many people make it enormously more complicated than they have to.
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