Good day Andrue Greetings from Canada !
Xlights is the most full featured lighting control software for free .
It supports many protocols > https://xlights.org/
Vixen is another free lighting control software > http://www.vixenlights.com/
I am using the ESP8266 - Esp-01 module to be specific and e1.31 firmware to drive ws2812b pixels wirelessly .
If you are familiar with arduino Ide , The esp8266 is a very economical way to drive pixels using Unicast or Multicast +++ no usb dongles or cables etc 
ESPixleStick firmware can be found here > https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick
Best of Luck.
Richard