Haha, thanks for the input and suggestions, all. Scott: I did end up getting an Arbhar. It is probably my favorite toy right now. And the mono-in doesn't trouble me too much given that it will bounce grains across the stereo field as output. Thus, it sounds rich and lush when all is said and done. I'm tempted to pick up the Nebulae too because I think "my style" is more along the lines of working with textures rather than bleeps and bloops. And, as you noted, the potential for elastic audio options in a rack is very tempting.
Julio, I messed around with VCV Rack for a long time before diving in and was able to figure out fairly well what I would need in order to create the kinds of atmospheres in which I was interested. But, of course, VCV Rack is an approximation to real systems, and there are some key modules (e.g., Arbhar) that don't exist in that space. So there is still a lot to discover, and many experiments in what fits and what doesn't lay ahead.
Having said that, my approach has been to go "all in" rather than to slowly build something over the course of months or years. I don't mind a bit of trial and error, especially since the resell market it excellent. I've already started selling things back that didn't quite work the way I had hoped. Most surprisingly, I ended up selling my MI Beads. It is a cool module, but I wasn't connecting with the sounds I was getting from it. I don't have Clouds either.
My goal is ultimately to settle upon a system that is well-suited to generative, drifting ambient. I want it to be self-contained so I can take it on adventures and use it. Technically, I could take my laptop on adventures too, but there is something special and mysterious about modular that I had to finally stop resisting.
Julio, your post implies that you ended your eurorack journey. I might have missed that explanation in a previous thread. Do you mind sharing?
