the electronic veena(1986) and digital veena (2002) by the engineer-flautist G Raj Narayan of Bengaluru.(1971) The main characteristics of the electronic veena: Enhanced volume, with the amplifier and speaker built into one of the gourds; Built-in electronic tambura for sruti in the other removable gourd; Matched pick-up and amplispeaker to enable authentic sweet veena sound; Adjustable independent volume control for main and taala strings; Adjustable frets on a wooden fret board, eliminating the more delicate wax fret board, frets can be adjusted easily by the user; Guitar-type keys for easy and accurate tuning; Complete portability, as the sound box of the veena is dispensed with, and replaced by a plank of wood. Easy assembly / disassembly; Usage on battery in case of AC Mains power failure. The electronic veena has gained popularity among users of the instrument. Videos of electronic veena concerts are available online. However, this did not solve other issues such as need for repeated retuning while playing, change of strings for playing on higher pitch, mismatch of same note on different strings, etc. This led to the invention of the Digital veena (for which the inventor G Raj Narayan was awarded a patent by the Indian Patent office),demonstrated at the Madras Music Academy in 2002. This is the first synthesiser for Indian music, and its salient features are: Can be used at any pitch without changing strings; All four strings and tala strings tuned automatically and perfectly on selection of ANY pitch; Selection of PA / MA for mandara panchamam and taala panchamam strings – PA will change to MA on open string but first fret will still be Suddha Dhaivatam; String will not change sruti while playing (frequency / sruti will not reduce or increase); Gamakam response adjustment – can be set for high response to smaller transverse deflection of finger or small response to more deflection. e.g., Selection can be made so that with a moderate pull of string, five-note gamakam can be achieved on the same fret; Enhanced volume, with the amplifier and speaker built-in to one of the gourds, adjustable volume; Increased sustenance of notes; thus long passages can be played with fewer plucks, adjustable ‘sustain’ to suit a user’s style; 8 ‘voice’ choices ( types of sound) – e.g. Tanjore veena, mandolin, saxophone, flute, etc.; Fixed frets on a wooden fret board, eliminating the more delicate wax fret board. No setting of