first rack, need suggestions

Hi Folks,
This is my first modular setup and I could use some suggestions. My goal for this is an ambient music machine. I think I need a solid function generator and I'm leaning toward a Zadar because it will throw all kinds of shapes by trigger giving me easy note shaping. I also need some effects, but I'm completely lost there. It would be nice to have something that plays with samples like the morphagene, but that's a pretty intimidating unit, and I'm running out of space.

EDITED Jun 6th 2021, 10:45

zadar is great, but watch out about the enocders - especially if you are buying used and are the type of synth user that constantly wiggles - I'm not so much and I just bought a new one - so fingers crossed

fx aid xl is a great and versatile fx unit in 6 hp

I would probably want something like this https://www.modulargrid.net/e/rebel-technology-mix-04

which basically gives you

and after that there will be the search for the next case - hint go bigger, much bigger

Great advice from Jim here, and note he also included NaN, the expander for Zadar which I think is a must-have, especially for ambient types of music that will greatly benefit from the additional CV input per channel and the ability to trigger the shapes manually.
I also think that for a build where space is limited, the FX Aid is an instant win, absolutely gorgeous sounding algos and again, I think Jim's choice of the XL version is a good one for your type of music, the additional CV input and the CV over sample rate is pretty useful.
Something else to consider in such a small build: do you really need that buffered mult ? If you remove it, you'd have space for an Erica Pico module, for example, and you could use inline mults instead...
And also another vote for Jim's advice on a bigger rack, if you can afford it of course, if you don't mind the small-sized modules a 7U 104HP would get you far ;)
Actually I could've just written "Jim was right" and called it a day

Thanks for the replies, a bigger case will be in the future. I found a blackhole 7U sixty used and it was too cute.
The more I look at it, the more I think I should do the silly thing and add another o_C running hemispheres. It would be more flexible and take up less space than anything else. the vector EG is exactly how i'd use the zadar.

Can you tell me more about the mixer?

yes it's a vca matrix mixer - similar to 4ms vcam but a lot smaller and without attenuaton or mutes, but you do get 4 inputs/4 outputs and 16 vcas to mix them together with - feed envelopes, lfos etc into these