Mike Raiford wrote:

> Reminds me of something I had some time ago. It was a software synth 
> based on the physical characteristics of the instrument, I think it was 
> put out by Creative at the time, bundled with their sound card. I've 
> since forgotten the name of it, though. Ahh, called WaveGuide:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_waveguide_synthesis
> 
> Interesting technology. Good luck if you do produce a pipe organ simulator.

The Reaktor product from Native Instruments features a sound module 
named "Steam Pipe" which uses a (1D) digital waveguide to simulate 
string and wind instruments. It does a delightful flute sound. ;-)

(What can I say? I like flutes!)

It's really interesting. You can "over-blow" the flute just like a real 
one. It sounds ever so believable.

Of course, Steam Pipe does all this using a few non-physical shortcuts. 
(E.g., instead of a true gas turbulence engine, it uses a simple 
nonlinear waveshaper to produce wave saturation.) The next step would be 
to move to 2D or even 3D with real turbulence simulation. I suspect this 
would result in an instrument that takes weeks to simulate and doesn't 
sound all that much different.

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