In the end, I ended up gravitating toward Publisher for patch design and for similar tasks, simply because I already knew how to use Publisher and didn't have to take the time to learn something else.

In Publisher, you can embed documents onto your page. Learn how to insert an audio file attachment in Publisher using Object feature.

If you don't use Microsoft Publisher via a Microsoft 365 subscription and have the Perpetual version of Publisher, you'll still be able to install and use it after October 2026.