Editing Sackbut (section)

== Timbre ==
[[File:A band of modern waits (York, 2006).jpg|thumb|A re-created [[Alta cappella|wait]], an ensemble of loud instruments suited to playing outdoors. Centre, a sackbut.]]
The sackbut was described as suitable for playing with the 'loud' ensembles in the outdoors, as well as the 'soft' ensembles inside.

The [[alta capella]] bands are seen in drawings as entertaining outside with ensembles including shawms, trumpets and trombones. When pushed, sackbuts can easily make a loud and brassy sound.

The sackbut also responds very well to rather soft playing—more so than a modern trombone. The sound is characterized by a more delicate, vocal timbre. The flat rims and shallow cups of the older mouthpieces are instrumental in providing the player with a much wider palette of articulations and tonal colours. This flexibility lends itself to a vocal style of playing and facilitates very characterful phrasing.

Mersenne wrote in 1636, "It should be blown by a skillful musician so that it may not imitate the sounds of the trumpet, but rather assimilate itself to the sweetness of the human voice, lest it should emit a warlike rather than a peaceful sound."

Lorenzo da Lucca was said to have had "in his playing a certain grace and lightness with a manner so pleasing".<ref name="Haar">Haar, J (1988/2006), "Cosimo Bartoli on Music", p.&nbsp;64, ''Early Music History'', viii (1988), 37–79.</ref>