melam. Digitally preset fret positions for perfect frequency of each note; Built-in electronic tambura for sruti and line-out facility, battery back-up in case of AC Mains power failure; Complete portability, as the sound box of the veena is dispensed with, and replaced by a detachable gourd with an ampli-speaker with easy assembly / disassembly. The digital veena has also been used in junior/amateur concerts, and are available to view online. Tone and acoustics Nobel Prize-winning physicist C.V. Raman has described the veena as having a unique construction. The string terminations at both ends are curved and not sharp. Also, the frets have much more curvature than any other instrument. Unlike in guitar, the string does not have to be pushed down to the very base of the neck, so no rattling sound is generated. This design enables a continuous control over the string tension, which is important for glissandi. The beeswax beneath the frets may act as a noise filter. Notable vainikas Pioneers and legends Muthuswami Dikshitar Veenai Dhanammal (1867 - 1938) (known for her individual style) Veena Sheshanna (1852 - 1926) (Mysore style) Veena Venkatagiriappa (1887 - 1951) Veena Doraiswamy Iyengar (1920 - 1997) (Mysore style) Emani Sankara Sastry (1922 - 1987) (Andhra style) Chitti Babu (1936 - 1996) (Andhra style) Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer (1888 - 1958) (Karaikudi style) K. S. Narayanaswamy (1914 - 1999) (Travancore style) Trivandrum R Venkataraman (1938 - 2010) (Travancore style) S. Balachander (1927 - 1990) (known for his individual style) Other exponents Ranganayaki Rajagopalan (1932 - 2018) (Karaikudi style) R Pitchumani Iyer (1919 - 2015) Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan B.Sivakumar Kalpakam Swaminathan (1922 - 2011) Mangalam Muthuswamy (1937 - 2007) Contemporary artists Padmavathy Ananthagopalan (born 1934) - Chennai based, disciple of Lalgudi Gopala Iyer, creator of a portable veena, advocate of gurukula tradition and founder of Sri Satguru Sangita Vidyalaya music school. Arundhathi Rao (1946-2021) - Doctor based in Shivamogga, disciple of Revathi Kamath and Prabhakar Veena Venkatagiriyappa. Rugmini Gopalakrishnan (born 1936) - Thiruvananthapuram based, disciple of K. S. Narayanaswamy. Karaikudi S. Subramanian (born 1944) - grandson and adoptive son of Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer, 9th generation Veena player in the illustrious Karaikudi Veena Tradition. E. Gayathri (born 1959) - Chennai based, disciple of Kamala Aswathama and T. M. Thyagarajan, recognized with "Kalaimamani" and "Sangeet Natak Akademi" awards, Vice Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Music and Fine Arts University. D Balakrishna (born 1961) - Bangalore based,