Debate: Meta Tuning of Tanpura

 

We have read this whole thing earlier, published in Sruti magazine more than a year ago. We did respond directly to Martin Spaink but received no reply. This is one of the major fears we at Radel, had when we anticipated the effect of poor competition.

Here we can see quite clearly, a poor product very effectively publicised and touted ass 'superior' by people with vested interests, and the effect it has. Martin Spaink and others like him will not hesitate to tar all electronic musical instruments with the same black brush, just because they saw a bad product.

In fact we were very disturbed and upset to see the same 'white box' being used by some musicians at the Bhopal Sangeet Samaroh, and by many other performers. This has been a concerted effort over a period of several years to brainwash users and dealers, using every possible means (monetary inducements to dealers  included) to have this product promoted. Common comments used are :

a) "it has the true 'North Indian tanpura' tone, while yours is a South Indian Tanpura" (we have sampled a very high quality Miraj tanpura belonging to a North Indian musician for our product, but how do you tell these people?)

b)"It has a rich tone" (actually the wave form shows how much it is 'watered down' and made into a 'flat' nasal tone when you compare to Radel or a traditional tanpura's wave form)

It is like the Nazi criminal Goebbels, who repeated the same lie a hundred ties till it got accepted as the truth!

Radel products have high harmonic content and reflect the true tonal quality of a well-tuned tanpura. Added to this are our exemplary quality (never, never will a Radel tanpura fluctuate) and customer service, which we continue to improve constantly, our innovative design in all respects - be it the tonal quality, the features, user-friendliness, or an innovative product itself.

Uninformed comments from Mr Spaink and others like him, and continued patronage of this pathetic product by our (otherwise) learned musicians - these are the factors that have hurt both of us deeply and given us a feeling that these 30 years of blood, sweat and tears, (literally) have been in vain. If musicians cannot tell the difference between a good and a bad musical instrument, what is left to say?

We cherish our association with persons who appreciate good innovations and good quality.