Polyphony is a very important term to know when selecting a keyboard. Polyphony is defined as the harmonic combination of two or more voices, tones or notes.
Electronic musical instruments like digital pianos, portable keyboard, and many other types are often defined and value by their polyphony.
Think about a cheap keyboard that you might buy for your preschooler. Typically, you can only play one note harmoniously at a time. This is called monophony.
An electronic instrument that can combines more than two notes/tones/sounds harmoniously is described as being polyphonic. In the early 1970s, the first polyphonic synthesizers came out with 4-note polyphony. At the end of the decade, 6-note polyphony became a standard and the 1980s standardized 16-note polyphony.
Typically, your bottom-of-the-rung keyboard is only going to have 16-note polyphony. All Yamaha Keyboards feature 32-note polyphony and usually, the more you pay the more notes-polyphony you are going to get. The highest quality keyboard and synthesizers can have up to 120-note polyphony.
Obviously, the need for polyphony is going to vary with your experience and your music needs. DJs and Artists using synthesizers for professional use are going to want high polyphony. Beginners who are looking to buy a keyboard or digital piano solely for the sake of learning a new instrument should be more than satisified with 32- or 64- note polyphony.
And if you do not own a sustain pedal, polyphony is even less important. Think about it, how often are you playing 32 or 64 notes at once? OK. Well when you have a sustain pedal, you can extend or “sustain” (hence the name) for much longer. This makes polyphony more important, but still it is unlikely that you will need more than 32-note polyphony if you are a beginner or even an intermediate pianist.
