Tonal variation, live use, distortion and etc...

[Giraffe]

So I'm starting a new project where I'm playing my minitaur live and I'm wondering what other people have been using, outboard effects wise, to color your minitaur.
So far I'm using a bass big muff, which I like, for some fur on the tone, but unfortunately your hands are tied when its on, I.e. very little control over brightness and you loose more dynamics then I'd like.
I've used a "rat" pedal clone digital, in the box, and it's much more extreme then the big muff. Limited in use, but fantastically caustic when you want to bring some bleep.
I'm looking for a more subtle distortion, something to add a little tonal complexity to the minitaur without adding so much distortion that I loose too many dynamics or tonal control.

Also, in a live format as I change tone, the volume of the unit varies widely, which I have to control (read mix on the fly) while I play. So I'm thinking about a straight compressor to help keep things under control.
Any suggestions?

That's enough for now.
Thanks!

[stiiiiiiive]

Hey Giraffe, welcome!

The RAT is indeed quite radical. I obtain more subtle results out of an EHX Big Muff Germanium 4 and I guess any overdrive, rather than distorsion, will do a better job.
I have to mention I don't have any Minitaur but tried this on another synth.

About the patches levels/compression issue, I'm not sure to get it right: a compression is likely to erase any volume difference between patches. Either you set these volumes on purpose and don't want any compression, or you may want to adjust the levels of your patches so that no compression is needed -the simpler your chain, the better. I think I would set my levels in rehearsal condition with the pedal I'll have on stage.

…which is exactly the solution to one of my problems

[stiiiiiiive]

Since then, I tried my vintage Rat with the Phatty again. I obtain cool textures out of it when set to a moderate distorsion level. Also I find that te effect is more interesting when the synth filter is not too open; otherwise it will kill part of the character -but you may want to get the Rat character.

I tried again the Germanium4 Pi as well. The overdrive side of it is really what I like for giving some low-mid fatness to a synth sound. For that matter I use it on a Nord Lead to pull its sound out of its bright end and to balance it in a more analogue taste.
The distorsion side is much more radical: gemanium transistors will have your synth always spitting square waves haha! But again, with mow filter cutoff settings, it can lead to cool and living sounds.

What I was very pleased to find out is how a distorsion/overdrive can make any basic one note arpeggio sounding less mechanical. It feels more like a flesh and bones bass player as every note seems to provoke kind of a new tiny instability in the pedal circuit... or je-ne-sais-quoi.
It reminds me of the bass of this track of The Eyes In The Heat, Stare.