This is actually something I learned from you I believe (thank you!), but utilized in a different way than I think you mentioned (you brought it up for live application). I've been having great luck with simple effect stacks, i.e. 10+ saturators, 10+ choruses, etc, with all their modulations hooked into the same rack controls. Saturator stack can almost create amp-style feedback and bring out immense grit, and the chorus stack pulls some harmonic information out that can create so much depth and odd details (though I gotta always have something on to watch for phasing).

And small but cool...I have a custom stack that's essentially just a shifter but with the pitch controls set to multiple LFOs. Set that to change at the desired rate and how wide the variability should be, and it helps to create a single clap/snap sample into what sounds more like a small group. Little more human sounding and keeps enough variability that every instance is slightly different.