I hear you. Check out the EPS32 [1][2]. It's faster, has more mem and has built in wifi, so you can access a webpage[3] on it via an ip and your browser and remote control it via your phone. FastLed runs on it, and there are level shifters similar to the Octo for it [4]. You can actually run 16 channels I believe (vs 8 on the Octo). It uses the same level shifter (x2) as the Octo. There is also an 8 channel available if you check the other products on Jason's store on that Tindie site[4]. It's arduino compat- so you probably wouldn't have to rewrite much at all.
[1] https://wiki.wemos.cc/products:d32:d32
[2] https://www.adafruit.com/product/3405
[3] https://github.com/jasoncoon/esp32-fastled-webserver
[4] https://www.tindie.com/products/jasoncoon/16-output-wemos-d3...