Noisemakers made of natural materials were integral part of life By Julie Watson The Associated Press updated 11:18 a.m. CT, Sun., June. 29, 2008
While the title of the article says "researchers" it's largely about the "reconstructions" of instruments made by retired engineer Roberto Velazquez.
The linked article has a very nice photo of Mr Velazquez trying out one of his reconstructed flutes, and also pictures of a couple of other "flutes." A link to "Related Images" shows one more instrument, and also a long-view of his "collection" of instruments.
Since I first noted the article, a link to an audio of "sounds of several Aztec instruments" has been added.
The "imaginative" playing by Mr Velazquez may or may not give an indication of how the Aztecs used these instruments. It's difficult, for example, to imagine an archaeologist a few hundred years from now digging up an old saxophone, studying the notes it might have played, and breaking out with a rendition of "Yackety Sax" without additional source material that seems unavailable in the Aztec case.
The reconstructed instruments do hopefully provide some information on the range of sounds that the instruments could produce, and perhaps with the interest stimulated from the work done archaeologists may be inclined to look for more clues.
The link, and the links from the link, are worth a quick look while the article is still up. MSNBC typically only keeps articles up for a couple of weeks, although links may stay good a little longer if they get lots of hits.