Wow – sounds like you had a great time.

My daughter plays clarinet with a synthetic reed, and unlike the saxophone, a synthetic reed on a clarinet sounds a hell of a lot different to a cane reed on the same clarinet. Possibly down to the fact that clarinets are made of wood.

Both reeds sound great on a clarinet, but have a slightly different flavor.
I would say its the equivalent of using a different ligature on a saxophone.

the quality of synthetic reeds for a clarinet now-a-days is good enough to play on.

If you listen to two clarinets playing the same tune and they sounded slightly different, you might think ones playing with a different mouthpiece, unless you were told the reeds were different.

Plastic clarinets sound different to wooden clarinets, overhere in the uk if you want to play above grade 5, then you have to use a wooden clarinet, or buy a very good mouthpiece for the plastic clarinet.

wooden clarinets cost as much as a cheap Pro saxophone, so a lot of kids have to make do with a better mouthpiece