My answer fox sax applies to trumpet, too. For a first step, can you tell if a sax player is playing alto, soprano, or tenor? There are recordings that would fool many.

Can you tell if I play trumpet or cornet? And which trumpet? My ‘regular’ Bb instrument, or my C, D/Eb, F/G or A/Bb piccolo? Or flugelhorn, my main instrument? And then, if I swap horns with another player, we will each still sound mostly like we normally do.

Confused yet?

If it’s mostly the player, why do I have three Bb trumpets? Each has different characteristics I like for different music, and although I could use any one of them for any purpose and you probably wouldn’t know the difference, I would. Plus I have two mouthpieces I exchange depending on the music and style. Some trumpet players bring six or more to a gig. Crazy, but I could name names, and yet you couldn’t tell which one he used.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.