Experimental Study of Attack Transients in Flute-like Instruments

International audienceThe stationary behavior of flute-like instruments is fairly well understood. Models and experimental studies allow to predict and to understand the influences of the principal parameters (flow velocity, position of the edge, etc) on the sound if these parameters stay constant in time. Depending on the instrument, these parameters can be fixed by the flute maker or by the musician. In musical playing, the musician plays on them to act on the sound. Some parameters can vary rapidly, like during the attack transients. The response of the instruments to these variations is crucial to determine their quality, in musical use. The target of this study is to understand the influences of these parameters on the characteristics of attack transients. The study presented is based on measurements on an actual recorder in musical context. Parameters of attack transient for acoustic and musician control are extracted from the data. Relations between these parameters are searched by taking into account the characteristics of the instruments. This study is a first step in the understanding of the possibilities of the musicians' control and of the physical limitations