I thought I was going crazy. I'm glad I wasn't the only one having issues.
This is slightly different, but in this rpi drought, I've set up proxmox on an old laptop and have several VMs/LXC/containers running on it. It fills that same role for me. I don't know exactly what the power cost comparison is, but it's gotta beat several rpis running simultaneously.
I never even considered that! What a phenomenal idea.
Are there any other interesting programs like this? I've always been a fan of things like Conway's Game of Life.
Have you tried Music Map?