Thank you for that thoughtful reply! Here are some considerations for this case:
-I am trying to keep this as tiny as possible, so I'm hopeful to use the Palette format. I need this case to fit into a backpack for travel, and ideally to be able to be powered with a portable battery for a long time. This is going to get used in the woods and will almost certainly be taken on long bike rides. One dumb yet large plus for my use case with a Palette is there's a protective lid available for it. I'm open to a skiff, but logistically I don't have the idea as firmly in hand.
-I was thinking I could use 1UOC with Hemisphere Suite and Captain MIDI to use the Palette MIDI- is there any reason that wouldn't work? Plum Audio supplies cables with 1UOC specifically to hook up to Palette MIDI connections. The hope would be to use Ableton CV Tools when I felt limited by what's in the case.
-Is the Headphones 1U not actually necessary to use the Palette output jacks? My understanding was that the stereo outs hook up to the Palette 1/4" jacks.
-I'm most interested in getting pretty drones with this, so I won't be devastated without too many modulators.