Some roles of the vocal tract in clarinet breath attacks: natural sounds analysis and model-based synthesis
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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Synthetic, Multi-Layer, Self-Oscillating Vocal Fold Model Fabrication
Published on: December 2, 2011
1Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, CNRS UPR 7051, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France. guillem@lma.cnrs-mrs.fr
Abstract:
A simplified physical model mainly devoted to the reproduction of some transients of clarinet-like instruments is presented. From time-frequency analyses of natural clarinet sounds, it is shown that the vocal tract can play a significant role in some attacks as well as in the permanent regime. The model proposed consists in supplying a pressure source at the entrance of a cylindrical bore attached to the mouthpiece, allowing one to reach various vocal tract configurations. For real-time synthesis purposes, a digital scheme solving the physical problem is proposed. It is shown that this synthesis model is able to reproduce some of the complex features observed during the attacks of the natural sounds analyzed, as well as known effects of the vocal tract in permanent regime.
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