There's another option that I have been playing with, though not for RGB yet. You can make a strip that lets you trigger a pre-programmed sequence (snowfall, random sparkle, all flash) via DMX (just a few channels - pattern, speed, number or repeats), so 3 channels can handle say 32 pixels.
But yes, the big problem that we are all heading towards is the channel count explosion, how to control it, and more importantly, how to sequence it.
/mike