Love me a steel drum. No other instrument can instantly transport you to a beach

I love a lot of different instruments, but I fell in love with the Erhu after ATLA. Second to that, the orchestral strings like the violin, viola, cello, etc. Scores from Halo and Elder Scrolls franchises.

Finally, the collective vocal cords of choirs.

When I think of a classical instrument, I think cello - specifically this piece Shadow of Doubt by Yoko Kanno, where it has such a brooding tone and power.

Being a synthesizer nerd, I like those most, but they have such varied tones among them and even on the same synth; 4x Atlantis by Aphex Twin probably captures one of the tones I most love, and the entire “Orphans” piece hits much of the range.

Electric guitar.

Not a single instrument, but I love a horn section, too.

I’m big fan of pianos (but not all piano genres) and I have learned that I really like piano run through a phaser and doubled with a Japanese koto

Violin is up there for me, such rich notes and emotion can be pushed through it.

After that a didgeridoo played well is awesome. I like to play mine into the bath tub so I get the reverberation and can really hear it

Piano.

IDK why, but the hurdy gurdy has a pretty alluring sound, in my opinion. So I’m probably going with either that or acoustic guitar.

Edit:

I really like this song using hurdy gurdy because to me it kinda sounds like a soundtrack piece for some prison action film.

My actual favorite is electric guitar followed by violin, and I’ll gladly expound, but those have already been mentioned.

So for this comment I’ll go with handpan drum. Those sound so amazing and soothing to me.

Dual-rectified electric guitar.

Strung Out - Bring out Your Dead

Foo Fighters - Everlong

Tool - Forty Six & 2