So we was just sitting there for thirty, forty minutes, just turning knobs, going “I like that, I like that!
There is indeed something about turning an actual hardware knob (even if it's only to midi-control a software instrument) which can do that. Much less for dragging buttons with a mouse, it seems. The day I got my first synth I spent an entire evening and night like that. Get some sound going, play some notes until satisfied with the melody, then repeat endlessly while lossing yourself in truning each knob available.