Polyphonic Ringtones

I reada great article the other day about how the old fashioned polyphonic ringtone was on its way out. Although I would agree that most of the new tunes are much better, I think polyphoinics is here for just a little while longer.

Remember the first noises of the original cell phone? In the beginning was the ring (really more of an electronic trill or beep) -- dull, yet serviceable, using only one tone track; and with it came the single-line melody -- not much of a choice.

Then that wonderous day occured with Nokia invented text messaging, and Paanen, a Finnish programmer, realised that you use the same technology to easily transmit songs to mobile phone handsets. This led to the development of Harmonium, the first complex polyphonic sound creator. Instead of being locked into single tones, users suddenly could have rings with harmony and texture.

Computer skills galore are needed today in order to keep up with demand. Whether it is a polyphonic ringtone, or a more modern sound, someone had to program the sounds; you couldnt just convert your favourite songs into Harmonium polyphonic sounds. Digital content providers picked up Harmonium quickly and used it to create polyphonic ringtones, selling them to both phone users and phone providers. While polyphonic tones were better than monotones, they still sounded more like an old video game than the music they were patterned after.

As we all know, ringtone providers are switching to MP3 ringtones with realistic, near-CD-quality sound. Also called master tones or true tones, these are usually bits of a real song, using your favourite music to alert you to a call. Voice ringtones, sound effects, and instrumental or lyrical music are all available as MP3 ringtones today.

Now the dominate tune over polyphonic ringtones, the MP3 ringtones today account for two thirds of new mobile ringtones. The sound is a snippet of your favourite music with lyrics and the whole band playing -- much nicer than the old-fashioned ring or dull monotone melody. Most mobile phone manufacturers today include this type of ringtone on their newest handsets. Even better, you can program todays phones to play different tones for different reasons.

One last tip: If your ringtone sounds awful, it may not be the ringtone; it may be the phone. Older phones arent perfectly compatible with the newer ringtones, though theyll probably play them. Imagine the difference between stereo systems in the 1950s and today; thats about the difference youre looking at between a three-year-old phone and a brand new one, in terms of sound output. Your mobile phone provider should be able to tell you what your phone can handle. And always remember where our humble beginning began with the polyphonic ringtones of old.