Thanks, but I'm aware of Modelica and Scilab. In fact I have used them even more than Matlab, which I have only been using for about a month.

All the academic, hobbist and professional communities in what I'm doing use Matlab heavily and specifically. Available code/modules/"toolboxes" and support are severely lacking in Scilab and Modelica. I wish I had the time and the knowledge to contribute back but I currently don't.