I’m pretty sure I didn’t make this up or dream it… But didn’t fastled also allow the controlling of dumb leds? Simple pwm control to 1 or 3 colour LEDs?
Or was it an old version of the library?
You didn’t just dream it, it does support analog LEDs: https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED/blob/master/examples/AnalogOutput/AnalogOutput.ino