Continuous-excitation instruments like flutes attack slowly while impulse-excited ones do not

Evidence

Musical instruments with continuous excitation typically show slower attack times and steady sustain levels. For example, the sound of the flute starts from noise caused by blowing, and the actual vibration due to the resonance of the air column grows slower. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 689

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies a perceptual signature distinguishing continuous-excitation from impulsive instruments.
• XREF: connects to: Reed-driven woodwinds act as stopped pipes while flute-type reeds act as open pipes. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1236; A physical impulse excites all frequencies equally in struck instruments — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1290