Stepping up to dual extruder, but?...

I have built a couple of kits, Folgertech Kossel 2020 and Anet A8 and designed a built a couple more delta's just for the heck of it.
It is time to up my game or I'll get bored.

I got a Chimera dual hot end for a birthday recently and Got a Tarantula kit (and printed a boatload up upgrades for it) and am going to use that as my dual head experimenters platform. It is simpler than a linear-slide Prusa type and should be a lot quieter than a delta. It will also give me a reasonably large bed for my eNable prints.
I use Simplify3D as my primary slicer/printer and use CURA when I have to do certain things, but what to use for the printer controller? I currently have a Rumba configured with 8825 stepper drivers on it. I use Octoprint to run my printers (How did people survive without Octoprint?) for networked access.
But,
I have been wanting to move into the future and use a 32 bit board like Smoothie or Duet. I have been reading a lot about them, and they sound impressive, but they also sound incompatible with everything else and difficult to customize. I am pretty competent with configuring a printer from scratch using Marlin and I write firmware for a living, so that isn't a problem for me, but I wonder if S3D or CURA can effectively use either a Smoothie or Duet configured board without a lot of pushups.

I figure I will be wrestling quite a bit with getting a dual extruder to do anything useful or fun so I'd rather do it with something that I'm familiar with (Marlin) than with an "alien" firmware like Smoothie or Duet. Am I just being naive or overly cautious? These platforms are both expensive compared to the 8-bit ones, and while they use Open Source licenses, Duet says "anything but their chosen boards are clones that they won't support" and I have read rumbling in the forums that Smoothie gets testy about some Smoothie compatible boards. I thought that others were free to produce OS HW/FW as long as they stick to the rules and properly attribute contributions, so I find that confusing. I am not a software license lawyer. I don't want to get into a p***ing match or buy a board that won't be officially supported, so caution seems required to avoid stepping on toes.

Those of you that have made the switch, what are the pain points and are these newer platforms really compatible with S3D and CURA without having to manually hack the gcode or source code overmuch? I have no problem supporting the creators of great ideas and saving a bit more for a good board whose instructions are complete and understandable, so board suggestions are super welcome! Any advice is super welcome...

Thanks all,
DLC

CURA and Smoothie work very well together.

Cura, S3D and slic3r all work well with RepRapFirmware/Duet too.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Why should anyone want to support other boards? It makes no sense to design and build a board for sale, and then provide support for that board, so that people buy clones can also get free support. I bought a Piezo sensor from the original designers. I was looking at a Chinese copy and they even sent you to the original builders web site for support. If that isn't cheating or unethical, I don't know what is. If they build the board, go to the builder for support.

^this.

Some Chinese manufacturers are terrible with ethics. I used to hang around at a DIY projector forums a lot. I helped with the design and testing of a long-throw wide field lens, production if which was outsourced to a Chinese manufacturer. After charging us for tool-up costs, and an initial order, they turned around and sold more of the finished products to other people who could then turn around and sell it with good margin for less than the initial order cost the designers, despite an agreement for exclusive production.

I bought my piezo boards from the original maker. I have not YET bought a duet, but that's the way that it looks like I'm going to go, if and when my finances permit me getting back to building my printer. when I do, I'll buy from the original producer, even if there are Chinese knock-offs available for cheaper, because it's only by supporting the designers that we will keep getting new innovations. The Chinese knock-off producers aren't doing any R&D, so they aren't doing anything new.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts