I’d argue the challenge is knowing when and how to use these kinds of effects, regardless of genre. A good chef knows how to use spices, a good musician knows how to use effects judiciously and effectively.
Many people buy these sorts of pedals, make cool sounds, and slather it all over everything and it just…well, let’s just say it isn’t a vibe I’m into. It just isn’t compelling and lacks substance (to me anyway). Effects being central to a song make me immediately suspicious.
Sorry @g3o2, I suppose these thoughts aren’t directly responding to your question, just…riffing on ideas. But yeah, I think it can apply to way more than ambient music (which is a pretty open-ended genre anyway).
Any ambient music can make a good background to another kind of music.
Chop it, add a boom-bap beat and you can have a nice hip-hop sequence.
Add some jungle, and you’re into other territories.
That a pedal bring so much character is a nice thing to bring your usual sounds in other territories.
But yeah, for ambient and Knobs noodles it’s ace, for sure.
I use it in a band project (edit: as a guitarist!) and love it. End of chain, capturing micro-loops (Env mode is especially fun in this context as loops can be interrupted in cool ways), sometimes serving as reverb (the routing toggle is helpful here). I use an expression pedal with it in this scenario - normally modulating clock to give my loops harmonic shifts and to drastically shift the space that the reverb exists in.
