Modern Instruments in Orchestration

Modern here means anything past the mid 19th century.

Also sorry guys my interest in media scoring (one of the lowest art forms) is poking through here.

Percussion and Percussion-Likes

Piano - You can do whatever with this one.

Harp - Basically another piano, that's even BETTER at scales and arpeggios. With pedals, it's fully chromatic with no hitches.

Celesta - It's like a piano, with the drawback that it only makes sense in Tchaikovsky ballets and uplifting family movies ca. 1990-2010.

Snare drum - Cut and paste about 2 or so bars of an okay cadence and that'll do. Please don't consult any percussionists, it'll only give you a headache.

Concert bass drum - Used to underscore a fundamental rhythm, but that's kinda outmoded now. Good for big rolls and that's all.

Taiko - Omg nippon sugoi!! Takes the former role of the bass drum in any good film score.

Cimbalom - Yes, the Central European instrument is only used for comedic mischief and mobsters. Don't think about it too hard.

Crash cymbal (piatti if you're pretentious) - Can only be used ONCE; be selective! Any more and you'll sound like a w\*nd b\*nd, and we don't want that.

Suspended cymbal - Very good, very nice! Great way to delineate any change in phrase or instrumentation or anything on screen happening!

Chimes/Tubular Bells - No jerk here. A great way to introduce a pedal tone or accent a melody.

Synths & Electronics

Computers are awful and antithetical to art. Use with caution.

Synth pads - If you're greedy and think the sustain of real instruments isn't enough.

Synth bass - If you're even MORE greedy and think the low end of real instruments isn't enough. IMAX was a disaster for humanity.

Synth arps - We have harps and first violins for this.

Synth leads - nothing you can't really achieve with enough extended technique on a real instrument.

Reverse sus cymbal - !gnineppah neercs no gnihtyna ro noitatnemurtsni ro esarhp ni egnahc yna etaeniled ot yaw taerG !ecin yrev ,doog yreV

Paulstretching - No, no! It's fine! It's still novel! The average audience member won't be able to tell it's one of your more mediocre tracks slowed down 10x.

Electric guitars - A big mess of strings and magnets, knowing about how it works is above your pay grade. Consult an experimental physicist to learn some fun extended technique.

Some Solo Instruments

Saxophone - how sexy, how sultry. Remember Shosty's jazz waltz? That was a media score too.

Erhu - The kids are having a love affair with China right now. Might as well jump on the bandwagon.

Non-Western Flutes - These are mysterious because they come from a far away country. Use these to score mysterious moments and create a sense of exotic mystery. People that aren't European really are mysterious.

Accordion - The kids are no longer having a love affair with Japan quite as much. Using this might remind them of a JRPG, and the millions of hours of grinding. Avoid, avoid. Any use must explicitly be culturally European or Latin American.

Classical guitar - Impossible to play, even worse to notate. Just no.

Solo vox - They say the human voice is what all instruments strive to sound like. So you'll probably have a specific instrument that'll fit whatever use case you need. Save the studio some cost.