It didn't take me long to realize that sound card sounds were bad - really bad.

However, finding a good sound depends on the instrument being modeled. Pianos are probably done better than other instruments - because they are the easiest to model.

Instruments such as horns (probably the hardest) and other instruments that are totally controlled by the human body are extremely difficult. A guitarist's fingers have immense control over sound. Likewise the horn player has immense control and can affect many subtle variations on the sound with fingers, breathing and lips.

Control of these aspects with MIDI are complex enough to be approaching the impossible. The static continuous sound is one thing, but the nuances of horns and (particularly) guitars are another matter.

There are piano simulations that are good enough to fool many people all the time, and most people quite often.

I'm not optimistic that many other instruments will be as easily modeled as the piano.

Glenn