I enjoy Star Trek but I honestly don’t know the full deets on whether their matter creators need base matter or make it from energy.
They need matter. Admiral Vance has this exchange with Osyraa in Discovery:
Osyraa: Hmm. It doesn’t quite taste like the real thing, does it?
Vance: I’ve never eaten a real apple.
Osyraa: Well, how sad. Apples are a thing of beauty. You want to talk about oppression, you should start in your own mess hall.
Vance: It’s made of our shit, you know. That’s the base material that we use in our replicators. We deconstruct it to the atomic level and then reform the atoms. It’s pretty good for shit, and we don’t have to commit atrocities for it.
They need matter. Admiral Vance has this exchange with Osyraa in Discovery:
Osyraa: Hmm. It doesn’t quite taste like the real thing, does it?
Vance: I’ve never eaten a real apple.
Osyraa: Well, how sad. Apples are a thing of beauty. You want to talk about oppression, you should start in your own mess hall.
Vance: It’s made of our shit, you know. That’s the base material that we use in our replicators. We deconstruct it to the atomic level and then reform the atoms. It’s pretty good for shit, and we don’t have to commit atrocities for it.