This morning I swapped out the chain despite it not being over worn, it did the trick and things quieted down. Did an event on Zwift (I kinda missed those actually) and if I was even slightly cross chaining, the FD was making a racket and chain was rubbing on the outer front right corner of it. Afterwards I narrowed it down to the support bolt on the FD perhaps not being screwed in enough. Now I can crosschain without friction but of course the extreme front/rear combos are still off limits.
The trainer has been excellent in that I don't need to think about it. It doesn't need calibration, the signal is super strong so pairs up immediately, it's super quiet... in fact my drivetrain is much louder than the trainer, much.
I think going into NEXT winter season I'll pick up an inexpensive bike with 105 and a good non BB30 bottom bracket and have that be dedicated to the trainer. It takes so much to nail down all the gremlins going back and forth between road and trainer set ups using the same rig that it's just not worth it. Keep road bike sorted for road, keep trainer bike sorted for trainer and that's that. The way I'm set up now with one for both I think will keep me indoors this Spring for longer because I'll be hesitant to set things up with my road wheel just to get out there for a session... This Spring I'll probably need to take the cassette off the trainer and put it on my road wheel because the chain won't mesh well otherwise. Jumping back and forth in early Spring or late Fall between trainer and road sessions really does require 2 bikes.