In combination, the ranks create a bright, piquant tone thought by some listeners to resemble the Renaissance brass instrument, the cornett.
A cornet stop usually starts at middle C, distinguishing it from the sesquialtera, which has pipes for the full compass of the manual.
It is the unique reedy quality created by the tierce rank (13⁄5'), perhaps in combination with the nasard (22⁄3'), that gives the cornet its distinctive sound.
The stop can be found on instruments of most historical periods and geographical regions, but the cornet was particularly important in the French Classic organ (from about 1625 to the end of the eighteenth century), which might contain three or four of them, often at different pitch levels.
The pipes of the cornet stop are sometimes mounted on a separate soundboard that is raised above the windchest of the manual from which it is played.