Physical modeling is gaining steam these days. A good example is the Osmose, which combines a physical modeling sound engine with a keyboard that not only has polyphonic aftertouch, but lets you wiggle the keys sideways to individually shift their pitches. I have one, and it's easy to sound like you're playing an expressive acoustic instrument; perhaps one that exists in the real world, perhaps not. It's worlds away from any FM I've heard, and more expressive than samples.
They've gotten a lot of professional musicians to rave about it so I'm not convinced experimentation is all that dead.
Osmose isn't the only PM around either. Pianoteq, one of the most popular piano plugins, is pure physical modeling and sounds fantastic (though I wouldn't call this "experimental"). Some of the workstation keyboards use PM too.
They've gotten a lot of professional musicians to rave about it so I'm not convinced experimentation is all that dead.
Osmose isn't the only PM around either. Pianoteq, one of the most popular piano plugins, is pure physical modeling and sounds fantastic (though I wouldn't call this "experimental"). Some of the workstation keyboards use PM too.
https://www.expressivee.com/2-osmose
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/modartt-pianoteq-8