The term soprano also applies to the clarinets in A and C, and even the low G clarinet—rare in Western music but popular in the folk music of Turkey—which sounds a whole tone lower than the A.

All have a written range from the E below middle C to about the C three octaves above middle C, with the sounding pitches determined by the particular instrument's transposition.

Orchestral composers largely write for soprano clarinets in B♭ and A. Clarinets in C were used likewise from the Classical era until about 1910.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart also called for clarinets in B♮ when writing in very sharp keys (e.g. the E major arias in Idomeneo and Così fan tutte), but this became obsolete far sooner.

There have also been soprano clarinets in C, A, and B♭ with curved barrels and bells marketed under the names Saxonette, Claribel, and Clariphon.