How to spark creativity?
As far as electronic music with modular is concerned, I don’t believe in “inspiration”. So, don’t wait for it to start. Go.
Fire your system and let your instinct lead you. Experiment, go backwards, change patching etc. It is so much easier compared with using a DAW, or even hardware synths.
Make your own sounds and use your own samples.
You will see that ideas come ten time faster than when using presets or sample banks. You will not lose time browsing your zillion items library to find something to work with. You will go right into it, and you will be proud of using your own sounds. It will be your creation from A to Z.
If you feel stuck, try field recording. It could be whatever you may find, from museum crowd ambience to kitchen noises. Load the found samples in granular module or sampler, as a starting point for new experimentations.
My recording technique
After rehearsing quite a lot, I record in stereo in Reaper or Zoom H6 in one take, no multi-tracking, no post-treatment.
You have to learn to live with mistakes or imperfect parts. It is like when you draw directly with ink: no correction possible. It is a liberation after losing so much time trying to put multitrack songs together, without getting at least a demo quality. At the end, it is what it is, but it’s done. Then, you un-patch everything, and go for the next one.
It is like playing live. Of course you have to take care of levels, rehearse transitions, etc.
When I record, all the parts are playing in background. I bring them into action using my two 8 tracks faderbank modules, and sometimes Intellijel Planar joystick module. I don’t use mutes. The faders control either level, or low pass filter cutoff, depending of the sound. This allows me to do smooth transitions.