Flash help

I've had a 430EXII for a few months now but i've been mainly using it for bounce flash.
About two months ago, i took a trip to the west coast, and on one night we went out to wander the beautiful streets of Las Vegas. I had my 430EXII mounted to my hotshoe and i tried taking snapshots of my family members. I had the flash pointed straight at them, and attached was a cheap stofen omnibounce-like ebay diffuser. The flash was kind of harsh, and i set it low to 1/32 and 1/64 power and it was still a little harsh. I put on a set of triggers and tried to bounce it off a black granite floor, no luck as i get the "evil" look.

any tips? perhaps a bigger softer diffuser? i have an inflatable one that i didn't bring with me then. From what i see in studio work, people use umbrellas as diffusers, i don't think ic an walk around with an umbrella as a diffuser everywhere i go.

What body and FL?
post a couple shots.

FEC - crank it down, dump the Stofen, all it does is eat batteries.

Or try a simple device like www.abetterbouncecard.​com

I made a couple of those and attach them with rubber bands. Carry one in each bag.

what does FEC mean? sorry for a total noob question.
20D and 17-40 focal lengths, unfortunately i deleted the pictures on the spot. The flash was just really harsh on my family member's faces and the background was significantly darker.
thanks so far

FEC = Flash exposure compensation. If you crank it down, it sends out less light (but out on a street, unless it is daylight, you need the flash's light!)

On-Camera Flash will never illuminate the background as brightly as the subject...for anything which is 1.4*subject distance, that will be -1EV in brightness compared to the subject. Anything which is 2*subject distance will be -2EV in brightness compared to the subject. Anything which is 2.75*subject distance will be
-2.75EV in brightness compared to the subject. All due to the Inverse Square rule of light intensity falloff due to distance!

The Stoffen like products are useless outdoors; take it off outside! They do not increase softness because outside as direct light sources they only are about the same size as the flash's lens; only size increases the softness of light. They soften only when a bounce surface becomes a very large apparent light source (ceiling) due to bounce.

FEC flash exposure compensation. If you're shooting with the flash in ETTL mode, it's how you dial the power of the flash up or down relative to your ambient exposure.

Keep at it, your asking the right questions.

I've been shooting mostly in Manual mode on my flash, i guess i overlooked the wonderful technology of ettl. Thanks for the help, I'll try and make some sense of it next time i go shooting.