I've got a Microbrute over here, which remains one of my absolute favorite bits of gear - I think the mini brute just has some nice added bells and whistles. I totally relate to it "feeling alive" - there's sort of a playfulness built into it, it's fun to just turn some knobs and see what comes out. Do you ever dive into the "Mod Matrix" on it? Took me a little while to understand it when I first got started, but that's where things really come alive. Also, here's a web app someone made to scroll through "presets" for the microbrute, I wonder if there's a comparable one for the Mini Brute? I like this as a jumping off-point for experimentation.
I was mistaken, I don’t have a mini, I have a micro (I’m gonna live to regret this sentence). I will check out that link Re presets. I literally have NO IDEA how to properly use it beyond fiddling with it using intuition. But it sure is fun.