William Orbit's Riyaz Master Tabla Machine

This is William Orbit's Riyaz Master tabla machine, used during the recording of Madonna's 'Ray of Light' (you can hear it on the not-so-great Shanti/Ashtangi). It's a self-contained box which plays the selected rhythms through a speaker, designed to accompany other musicians or dancers where there is no Tabla player handy.

William gave it away in a Radio 1 competition a few years ago, when it was won by Tommy Walker III's friend Pete Manglaore. Cyndustries, have just released this brilliant-looking $750 module built around on a circuit-bent Riyaz Master which can be integrated into a modular synth. You can buy a Riyaz Master for £130 from DTF Books who have an good range of electronic and acoustic Indian instruments, and some awesome Minature Om Boxing Gloves. UPDATE: Be sure to check Pheezy's photo in the comments.

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

i took a picture of one of these on the street in new york's east village a few months back. it had an interesting knob.

# posted by

pheezy : 12:15 am

a friend of mine had a 'taal mala', also listed on the DFT website. same thing really... good fun and obviously the indian way of not having to deal with drummers... they've been fair about the whole thing and didn't put line outs on it, just like a drummer. on the same site and far more interesting is the 'three in one shruti tuner and metronome'... (a shruti is note between semi tones) the mysterious third function is never revealed but 48 quid to be able to electronicly prove that your not out of tune is a must. at least for trombonists.

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:23 am

One of my friends brought one of these back from India, I'm trying to convince him to let me modify it with a line out jack....MIDI would be nice too!

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:43 am