synthesized piano sounds

[I wrote:]
>>I've been frustrated trying to realize retuned .midi files with a
>>really nice piano voice.

[Paul Erlich:]
>my new computer has a Yamaha DS-XG built in, and the piano sounds are
>AMAZING. All your retuned MIDI files sound infinitely better to me than
>they did before due to this change. Don't know how much it would cost
>you to get one.

Well... my home computer (a Dell, purchased in mid 1999) also has a
built-in Yamaha DS-XG! The piano sound is a lot better than some I've
heard, quite sweet, and it does show off the reduced-beat advantages of
retuning very well. Perhaps I shouldn't complain, but, to my ear, it
doesn't sound like a "real" piano. I wonder if you have a different
flavor of DS-XG; there's little or no doc with mine.

I also have a software version of Roland's Sound Canvas, called VSC-88,
which some on this list like just fine, but others think bites the big
one (perhaps it's not necessary to avoid naming names, but the opinions
were offered in off-list correspondence); to my ear, there is a rough
white noise in bass notes that is excessive. I bought another software
package, GigaSampler LE, with GigaPiano, but it seems my 400 MHz, 64MB
RAM PC is not powerful enough for it! It supposedly samples a pampered
Yamaha grand piano with several samples for EACH note, which sounds (on
paper) real good; just wish I could hear it without horrible pops!

Then I have my old Korg M1, which has a fairly good piano voice, but
can't receive General MIDI sequences, and I haven't written the code
to shoehorn a retuned sequence down to 8 channels.

One thing seems very clear: tastes vary on what makes a good synthesized
piano sound at LEAST as much as on what makes for good tuning!

I'm thinking of trying to reverse-engineer the waveforms out of the
GigaPiano, which doesn't support non-real-time synthesis. The maker,
Nemesys, has NOT impressed me with their "support": two working days to
respond to a simple question, with an answer to a different question!
It comes with no printed doc, and the on-line help, instead of having
hyper-links, makes references to "Chapter 3, page 49", an obvious and
nearly worthless transcription of some hardcopy they're too cheap to
ship any more.

In sending out informal demo CD's, I'm torn between the DS-XG and the
VSC-88. Continued suggestions are welcome!

JdL