good piano/violin synthesizer

Kazhiim

Do they exist? More importantly, do free ones exist? Everything I've found sounds obviously synthesized or costs big cash monies.

EggyToast

Piano ones exist in the common playing ranges. Because of how they're typically sampled, the very low and very high notes sound hilariously bad. I've found a handful of free, or very cheap. I have found, though, that your experience is pretty typical. If your use is as a solo instrument, the freebies out there are not going to cut it. There are somewhat inexpensive ones that sound better, but since it does take a fair bit of work to record and organize every key on a piano, played 3-6 different ways, w/ & w/o pedals, they usually past that cost along.

For violin, I've not found anything that sounds like a solo violin. You can cheat with some fancy midi control, or envelopes, based on what you want it to sound like, but they're hard to sample due to the fact that the only easy part to record is the sustain -- which is usually one of the more boring parts. Most people throw some vibrato or some expression on there, which is why the sampled violin parts don't sound very good.

Now, that being said, if you're planning on using this in a song with other instruments, and these instruments are playing accompaniment or are not prominently featured, you can usually get away with them in a mix quite well. Most people won't notice that a sampled piano with some reverb in the back of a track isn't actually a piano recorded specifically for the song.

Visti

It takes a lot of effort to sample instruments accurately and thusly you probably won't find any good ones for free. Some are usuable, but they won't sound like the real thing. I recommend Garritan products, they work well for me, but you have to be skilled at actually playing them as well.

Here's the Stradivarius Solo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-m6dv98uqY