A guide for the different types of ringtones available.

Monophonic

what is monophonic?
Means only one channel or note. Early phones were only capable of playing only monophonic ringtones and simple tunes could be created that resembled an original music score.

Polyphonic

what is polyphonic?
Polyphonic by definition means “many sounds” which translates to multiple instrument (ie guitar, piano, drums and so on) notes being played at the same time. This gives the effect of a more realistic musical sound. Early polyphonic enabled phones played up to 4 notes at once with later phones in the range of 128 notes at the same time. Polyphonic ringtones are made up of midi sequences (Musical Instrument Digital Interface - which is a communication protocol). A midi has two types - scalable: which is designed to sound ok independant of the note playing capability of the device and general midi: which may not sound so good if the tone was created for a 128 note polyphonic device and it is played on a 4 note device.

Realtones

what are realtones?
Realtone ringtones, sometimes referred to as real music tones, real sounds or mp3 ringtones, are the latest of the ringtone, capable of playing actual music, including the vocals and all accompaniment. Real Tones ringtones come in various formats which include MP3, WAV, QCP, or AMR formats so it pays to check which your phone is compatable with. While most older cell phones are not able to play Realtones, most recent release phones are usually quite capable.