Mellotronists

> If modern day musical instrument makers had any balls they really
> would enable new sounds and possibilities.

In my experience, that is exactly what they are doing.  If anything, 
there are sometimes too many high quality sound choices to deal with.  

The Yamaha VL-70 Tone Generator for example has about 250 unique 
voices.  Half of them replicate real acoustic and electronic 
instruments nicely.  All of the voices can be customized to your 
hearts content.

The area that needs improvement with Yamaha (and others) is the user 
interface.  (still sucks after all these years since the DX-7).

Clay