I'm another of those stand alone pedal people- I hate processors with a passion. To me the tone usually sounds too good when used well, and the factory presets are loathesome. Also, I'm something of a minimalist when it comes to effects. The only person who has rack mount effects that I like would be Les Claypool, but god knows how much time he spends tweaking and programming those effects...
But anyway, the bottom line on my advice would be whatever way you go, play around with things and get what you like, and I agree w/ Bad Horsie- stay away from DOD and ZOOM.