What's your favorite instrument that really gets through to you?

Bagpipes. One of the few instruments that can both make you cry and make you want to charge into battle.

Wish I could upvote this 10000x
One of my favourite Arrested Development lines is this "And, like all bagpipe music, it was hard to tell if it was good music played horribly, or horrible music played well." :-)

Seriously though, it can sound mighty impressive when done right - living in Edinburgh though, I could do without the street corner pipers belting out Don't Stop Believing and the like!

The oboe 🤌🏽💋

One of my more decent pieces has an oboe and a horn duet as the melody. The oboe is such a unique and beautiful sounding instrument that pairs well with many more softer instruments
Allegedly George Bernard Shaw said this about the oboe: "An ill wind that nobody blows good."

Cello. No idea why. Yo-Yo Ma slays me.

HE may play the cello but YOU the one that gets played ;)
For a bit of fun, find the YT of Sulek & Hauser "Welcome to the Jungle"

a hurdy gurdy

Accordion... I love the sound of it, especially the Italian ones with chambers.

Accordion is an unusual choice, but in Karla Bonoff's "Water is Wide" the accordion is essential and beautiful. James Taylor sings back up.

The sax

Begins to play Yakety Sax
- Wait no, not like that.
The music video for Baker Street is like a 1970s time capsule
I played Alto in school, never really got into it. Then switched up to baritone, loved it.
- Bari sax is best sax

A trumpet properly played cuts directly to that bittersweet, blue part of my soul.

Do synthesizers count?

Dont let anyone ever tell you ~~they~~ it they don't ;)

Hammond organ played well really makes me feel warm to the core

There is a great Spotify playlist for the Hammond.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2z3UdHynR5SMUu1xW45EfI
- Link, please

French horn, for sure. You'd be surprised at just how prevalent it is in music.

pedal steel or any sort of slide guitar

Especially played by David Gilmour
Here if you haven't heard Blind Willie Johnson you are going to die when you hear this song

https://youtu.be/BNj2BXW852g?feature=shared

Electric guitar, preferably with heavy distortion. Louder := better.

No but seriously I love heavy music so much. It's fun to listen to, fun to play, and it's just had a positive impact on my life. If you want to really tug on my blackened heartstrings, you gotta do it through distortion, preferably an HM-2, in as low a tuning as your guitar can handle.

Hell yeah.
Yes everything about this, except downtuning is overrated imo

Singing, although I guess it's kind of cheating since it can be emotionally charged (I get goose bumps from certain songs).

Instrumental... Cello or bass guitar, depending on mood. Give me a good bass line and it'll get me going.

instrumental music can also be emotionally charged, no?
- Certainly, but if you hear a crying person, for instance, many (though, not all) people will instinctively feel for that person. Instrumental music can invoke similar feelings, either through associatation or because certain sounds hit those same chords, so to speak (I'm thinking the difference between major and minor chords, or when something is off key).
  
  Vocals, like acting, can have that more direct line to your empathy. At least, that's my thinking. A really good song can give me goosebumps too, though.

I find the speculum to be excellent at letting me see deep inside myself. Instruments like ribcage spreaders are too infrequently used to count I think. A good seasonal look with the speculum could save you a lot of heartache.

OP didn't say "musical"...
Oh man a nice cold speculum, nothing better

Pipe Organ. The only instrument with the versatility of an orchestra at your fingertips. It can make the room shake or fill it with quiet whispers.

Sadly, Churches are one of the few places, in the US at least, where you can hear the organ regularly. Ones that can afford to maintain such a large instrument and pay an organist.

I posted a similar response. There is a huge Casavant in KC at Helzberg Hall. I heard it when Dr Jan Kraybill was the conservator; may still be, and it was incredible. Worth a trip, and not a church.
I'd go to church if... Cory Henry played the organ.

Bass is so fun

otamatone

A Kora! It's an African instrument that is considered a guitar harp, with 21 strings ranging from the size of bass guitar string to fishing wire. The way it is played allows you to play the bass, lead, and rhythm at the same time. Here is a short example of a master kora player Toumani Diabate showcasing the instrument: https://youtu.be/8luhdxS2KuM?si=llpa2YVyIOf77_Nd

As a guitarist I found this guy who transcribed Toumani's work onto a classical guitar, very interesting listen https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=55QnOlXckOk

My other thing would be trippy out there instruments that seem to put you in a different state of mind like the Yaybahar or "The Beam" that the grateful dead likes to break out sometimes

Yaybahar example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_aY6TxC1ojA&pp=ygUWeWVoYWJhciBhdCBpbnN0cnVtZW50IA%3D%3D

The Beam example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0h8o-1IQ5G0&pp=ygUSZ3JhdGVmdWwgZGVhZCBiZWFt

🔥🔥🔥😍

Spanish guitar.

I really appreciate strings in general, but no instrument can emotionally move me like the violin. A melancholic violin section in an already sad song is a surefire way to make me tear up. I've never been very good at playing any instrument, but I've been tempted to pick up the violin to see if it feels as good to play as it does to hear.

Violins can turn anything epic

Clarinets. Absolutely love those when played right.

The french horn gets me in the feels every time. I think it's because it reminds me of dressing up fancy and going to the symphony with my aunt as a school aged kid, as well as candle lit Christmas eve services that heavily featured them.

The french horn is the feelings guy in the horn section. The trumpet is often used to shout the main idea at the audience, and then the french horn lays back on the couch and tells us how that makes him feel.
- 😂 I love it!

Piano! Call me basic, I do not care! Versatile, beautiful, fun to play. I could talk for hours about it.

Pedal Steel. First time I saw one played live was at a Bright Eyes show when I was in high school. I know they’ve been around for a long time and are prominent in country music, but watching and hearing it played in person just blew me away. I feel like the instrument conveys so much emotion in its sound

I have three.

Piano -> Violin -> Cello

Isnt there an instrument called violincello or something?
- Violoncello is the proper full name of the Cello! They're the same thing.
- The technical name of the cello, yes, I think so...
- Cello is a shortened version of violoncello.
- That's just the full "official" name for the cello.
Cello for me. Hnnnggg

As a Deaf person, anything that gives good vibration/bass: Drum and Bass Guitar, make or break the music for me.

I'm curious if you've ever held a guitar, or touched one as it was played? Acoustic guitars, especially when playing on the lower strings, vibrate quite a lot, sometimes it feels like a purring cat.
- Yeah, all instruments pretty much vibrates. It's just that I like certain ones.

Drums, but I may be slightly biased because I play them

A large Casavant. Any pipe organ really, but a large one with tones below the human hearing threshold really hit hard in person. They give me nonstop frisson. Almost can’t handle it, and tears stream down my face the whole time, but not from sadness; just a physiological reaction.

The sitar!

synths, especially when using longer stretched out notes like in Kavinsky's Outsider

song - https://youtu.be/_Dhk_e2DmhI?si=DdEdPj6LMOlZGQFw

Marimba

one of my friends rents one and played a few pieces for me. it was like existing outside of the rest of space and time. he's really good at it and it just sounds magical

Reminded me about vibraphone ;)

Hammond organ

Handpan

I'm more partial to the sustain on the RAV, but could lose myself in either.

If it's got strings, it's good. This includes piano.

Would also accept calliope if I'm feeling quaint ;)

Perhaps a carillon may suite you?
- Wahhh, I have so much stuff to look up lol 😭

A singing saw, love the ghosty sound of it.

<3 Little Mazarn

A mandolin.

Harpsichord. Almost forgot about that one. when Tori Amos breaks out the dual piano/harpsichord, great things happen.

Very close 2-3rd for me. I love how sharp and distinct its tone is.

A lot of my instrumentation works on LVDTs, and I think they are pretty neat anyway. Great for position sensing.

The instrument I want to learn to play (but have no reason to do so) is the hammered dulcimer.

The instrument that most makes me perk up when I hear it in a song is the bass (or contrabass) saxophone.

Only the scalpel gets through to me, because I don't believe in acupuncture.

:-)

Most instruments played well grips my heart and holds. But steelpan. People see it as something carnival something something, but it fits well for a surprisingly wide span of music! The power of the bass pans in death metal as much as the "synthiness" in a melody from some NES game, it fits!

Vibraphone

Very cool too and vaguely consistent with my other picks. They're all metallic percussive keyboard type instruments involving mallets to some extent

Edit: Metallophones seem to be my sweet spot, in terms of instrument category

As a musician the Monome Norns raspberry pi shield and lines community has been inspiring me a lot lately. It's a FOSS "sound computer" that can take on hundreds of uses.

The Theremin and not just weird sci-fi/horror way of playing it. It can be a real instrument if it is played in a way that treats it as such.

https://youtu.be/ajM4vYCZMZk?feature=shared

It's simple, piano. It's funny, I've trying to learn this instrument since back when my late father bought one, yet I still can't play one.

Idk, compasses are quite cool and useful?

What do they do? Or is this a joke answer
- They point north. Or create circles.

I'm going with the Mellotron.

It's a keyboard that uses strings of tapes for each note. It pulls the tape over a head and plays that note until the tape runs out. When you're playing fast, sometimes the tape isn't all the way down, so it makes everything sound super custom.

Think Strawberry Fields by the Beatles. That's a Mellotron you're hearing.

For anyone looking to get into brass instruments, this is a great example of how a horn can be made to sing. It’s the first time I had ever heard someone put their soul into a horn.

To be clear, this isn’t something a novice can play. The notes he’s hitting are hard.

Uilleann Pipes

As heard on Bryan Adams, When You Love Someone.

I can play this one and doing so has always felt pleasant.

Can you give the name in the comment, kinda hard to peruse when its a link you gotta follow to find out :)
- The glass harmonica

The warm tone of an EP, mostly used in jazz and fusion. Second would be a distorted synth lead, like Derek Sherinian’s signature lead sound.

PS controller

A true artist
- OP never specified what type of instrument. An Erlenmeyer flask is also an instrument. So is a stick 😂

Hard for me to choose just one. I love these three instruments because they are so peaceful and calm. Though people do use them to do covers of heavier music as well.

The Guzheng is a 21-26 string zither instrument. I love Zithers in general. There are many types from different countries.

The Guquin is a 7 string instrument.

The Erhu is a 2 string instrument. Part of the huquin instrument family.