The strings of novelty
RANJANI GOVIND
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Engineer and flautist from Bangalore, G. Raj Narayan has been awarded a patent for his digital veena. Take a look at how it works.
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I have carried it as hand baggage on international flights.
MINE ONLY Raj Narayan has just received a patent for this digital veena.
The Saraswati veena, chiselled to perfection in stone as seen in century-old temples, is what comes to your mind when you take a look at the shape of the digital veena that Bangalorean G. Raj Narayan of Radel Electronics has just received patent for.
The new-age invention uses cutting-edge technology – a combination of sensors and micro-computers which work along with the built-in software. Teak wood, fibre-glass, PVC and nickel-plated brass frets contribute to the ingenuous make up of the modern version of the age-old instrument. It has strings, frets and the user’s touch for sensors to throw open the digital melody.
Says the engineer and flautist Raj Narayan, “From my childhood days when I accompanied by mother Sugandha Raman who played the veena, I have wondered how the huge instrument could be manufactured to have user-friendly characteristics.
The traditional veena’s altering fret-mela that affected the shruti and its not-so-easy portability had set me deeply thinking, for, with my passion for technology and music, I wanted to bring in savoir-faire for posterity.” Radhika Raj Narayan, veena player, has been regularly using her husband’s invention for her concerts and recordings. “The purpose was to get in versatility and convenience into a time-honoured instrument. The contemporary world of digitronics has digital veena today that is well-ahead of its time.”
How it works
And why not? Consider the know-how involved. The aesthetically rich instrument has an amplifier and speaker on one of the gourds and an electronic tanpura on the other. It does not use the vibrations of the strings for sound, neither does the length of the string nor the distance between the frets matter.
For, the electronic circuits and the associated embedded software have been designed to sense the contact between any fret and the strings. The intensity of pluck on the right hand is sensed along with the contact of the other fingers on the strings. As the tala strings are only plucked and tuned to only sa-pa-sa or sa-ma-sa, these are automatically synthesised through three touch-sensitive sensors. All the strings can be tuned to any pitch with a press of a button at one go on control panels facing the player.
The advantage lies in the fact that all these changes done through electronic means do not bring in variations of the string tension. So, no tightening, no finger bruise or no string breakages! This again means that the mela with brass frets and guitar keys is a permanent one that needs no redoing. The digitised one helps fixing the 24-fret mela in equal intervals so as to make the musician’s move to the upper octave that much more smoother and easier. Gamakas or oscillation on a said fret can be of a 10-note undulation as the transverse pull is sensed to electronically cause an increase in the note generated. And these synthesised notes can be altered to have longer sustainability, making your plucks fewer for longer phrases. It is also equipped with digital mandolin, nadaswaram and keyboard samples so that one chooses his mode.
Want to try a synthesiser on conventional veena frets? Why, even Jazz musicians can use it as keyboard when the two gourd supports are dismantled to make it an easy carry. “I have carried it as hand baggage on international flights,” insists Raj Narayan.
Musicians are familiar with Radel Electronics’ electronic transistorised shruti box that enlivens most stage concerts, electronic tanpura and talometer for percussion support. Electronic swar-mandal is their latest addition which has strings set for10 ragas at any given point of time.
An M-tech from IIT, Madras, Raj Narayan was with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and was among the four-member team that designed and developed the first cockpit simulator for IAF. His simulation in music has top rung musicians in the country using Radel’s electronic products with The Limca Book of Records taking note of the self-starter in ‘path-breaking achievements.’
Although it is too premature to sense the response for the new-age wonder that costs Rs. 35,000, it wasn’t easy for Raj Narayan to translate his brain-wave into a concrete piece of melody at his full-fledged ISO certified factory. After all, when Jayanthi Kumaresh was told about Narayan’s plans during the nascent stage of the massive project she had wondered, “Will the grandiose be ready in my lifetime?” The digital veena is already there, tuned for the 21st Century.
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