Sound synthesis of Siku and closed pipe flutes

Sound synthesis by physical modeling of flute-like instruments has been developed in various contexts and development environments, from acoustical research to musical applications. The intruments that have atired most attention among researchers are recorders, organ pipes and flutes. Latin American flutes from the Andean region show some specific features that are distinctive from these instruments, both from the physical operation and from the aesthetics of the sound produced. The present study focuses on these closed pipes traditional flutes, used in open-air rites since pre-Hispanic times in Latin America. Both the power and the timbre structure of the sound are challenging for physical modeling. The resonant frequencies show a peculiar structure and the closed pipe induces a recirculation of the portion of the air flux that gets into the pipe, affecting the hydrodynamics of the jet. The high jet flux, required to play the instrument, produces a flow structure that rapidly becomes turbulent. The physics of the instrument has been modeled and simulated in a real-time platform to make it available for musical exploration.