I go for oboe, which (if your sound card is adequate) gives a far better impression than does the default piano. The softer attack and extra sustain of any wind voice will do.

I'm still hoping that Mudcat will one day re-set the MIME definitions on the server, so that I can just play the midis, as I used to be able to, through the browser's native player; rather than having to load them deliberately into Winamp or the like, or having to save the things to disk and then play them. I do have a copy of the cd Digitrad, but (because still essentially DOS based) it's very slow and tedious to use. The online DT works a great deal faster and offers more sophisticated search options.

Part of the problem with the sound files is the completely unnecessary re-purposing of standard midi formats into the long obsolete Songwright format or the non-standard Noteworthy (the latter usually resulting in incorrect note durations) and then translating them back into midi for the online DT. It's not surprising that the end result sometimes sounds strange.

The conversions sometimes also result in unplayable files with as many as 600 empty bars before the notation starts. Make them all in standard midi format in the first place, and these problems won't arise.