Effects Processing
I enjoy processing sounds outside of a computer because it forces me to sit with the whole sound and listen to resampled versions for nuanced differences.
Put it on tape.
Then record it back on to a computer from the tape player. There is something about the sound of the tape player itself that I find enjoyable. It’s inconsistent. It can be touched while recording for a nice (and mildly uncomfortable) warble. It compresses drums like a champ. Or destroys them via oversaturation.
Do Modular to it.
Some modules allow for auxiliary in such as the Mutable Instruments Clouds granular synthesis module. I have found a lot of interesting results running audio through Clouds to generate textures made up of the sounds that were put into it.
Run it through pedals.
Sometimes I’ll run an entire synth track through a set of guitar pedals or even an SP-404 just to see what happens. My favorite distortion so far has come from running audio out of a source to an FM transmitter and picking up the other end with a slightly detuned portable radio. The results were very unpredictable and unstable which was a pleasant surprise.