Polyphony and monophony in instruments
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Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic. Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophonic or paraphonic.
Typical monophonic synthesizer: Moog Minimoog
Typical duophonic synthesizer: ARP Odyssey
The Korg Monologue is a monophonic synthesizer with two oscillators and programmable note priority.
Each key on an acoustic piano is connected to its own hammer-and-string sound-producing mechanism.
Paraphony
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Paraphony is a term which has three distinct meanings in the field of music.
Hammond Novachord (1939)
Korg Poly-800 (1983)
ARP Odyssey (1971)
Korg Mono/Poly (1981)