I'd make the point that there's MIDI and there's MIDI.  Most of the MIDI
I've heard has been, for traditional music, pretty awful, or at best merely
okay.

However, I've since encountered MIDI by a composer trained in electronic
music techniques, who nevertheless writes in a traditional fashion.  I
wish I could remember the fellow's name, but it was undoubtedly the best
MIDI realizations I've heard.  The man takes his time and obviously has
great hardware.  He probably constructs his own sounds.  Still, the
results, while quite listenable (I think even for Mimi), pale compared
to a first-rate professional group.  I've never heard (nor do I expect
to hear) a piano sound from MIDI like the one that comes out of Menahem
Pressler, Pollini, Michelangeli, or Argerich.

Steve Schwartz