Thanks Fran, Dennis. I suspect most all these issues vary from one manufacturer to another. I don't think Yamaha, for example, is going to divulge any trade secrets! Can somebody direct me to a whitepaper or a serious discussion of how polyphony works on modern keyboards?

Yamaha says: "32-note Polyphony -- What's polyphony, you ask? Simply put, polyphony is how many notes a keyboard can reproduce simultaneously." I think they really might mean SIMULTANEOUSLY, as in, notes played in sequence are unaffected -- even with the damper pedal down.

This is 95% going to be a performance synth. I want to be able to throw together simple arrangements, eventually, but I suspect 32 notes (or even 32 stereo sounds) will be sufficient.

From posts on another board on note-dropping-selection algorithms, I now think there's a possibility I really did hear dropped notes in that one spot where I wasn't hitting the note hard enough. So I have a new test idea: I'll hit a middle E flat SOFTLY, and play the gliss loudly starting below and winding up above the E flat. Then release the pedal, etc.

Best,
Rick