Hi,
I am writing a program to accompany people when practicing.I am sampling the Tambura,the Santoor (for melody),and some examples of some Ragas(played on violin). I need 10 basic Tabla patterns played slow,medium and fast that I can loop.Does anyone know of any copywrite free samples I can use?If not I will have to find a Tabla player to record.I think this might be the all in one practice assistant many are looking for.Any replies would be much appeciated.
I don't mean to stop your creativity, but I just wanted to mention that there are already a few software out there that are having these features. For instance, SwarShala, which I am representing, allows you to customize a whole practice session with details such as the rhythmic/melodic instruments you want to use, the cycles, the raga, the tempo, the acceleration, the pitch, the tanpura cycle and more. The same software also includes a multimedia tutorial on Indian Classical Music, as well as a Compose pane where you can create new rhythms and melodies using the traditional notation (bols/sargam), or customize the included ones.
You will find more information about SwarShala at www.swarsystems.com/SwarShala. A demo version can be downloaded there.
SwarShala Standard is priced 80$ (download version). Other versions with more features and instruments are also available.
I have Swar Shala Pro running on Windows XP. I use it occassionally for practicing and for that I would rate it as ok. I am not too fond of the arrangements of some of the nagma compositions which are too few. I tried using the program to tweak those and to write some small compositions of my own but it was very time-consuming. With practice I suppose that would be alleviated, but the learning curve is very steep even for someone with a lot of experience with the computer .
The biggest issue I'm having with the program is that it has a unique tendency to freeze my system. I don't as a habit run numerous programs concurrently, but if Swar Shala is loaded and another program such as a scheduled virus scan comes up the computer stops and it takes a lot of patience just to get it to shut down and restarted. My memory settings and capacity are not the issue. I suspect the problem has something to do with Swar Shala and it's incompatability with my sound card or the settings I have retained for other audio-based programs.
Thanks for your responces.I have Swarshala too.What I am doing is more for people using the Sblive soundcards.I am sampling the Tambura in a variety of ways, and it will be the main focus of what I'm doing,but I would like to include other instruments.I think Swarshala is an excellent program,especially for educational purposes.
Steve (Mar 01, 2004 09:55 p.m.):
Thanks for your responces.I have Swarshala too.What I am doing is more for people using the Sblive soundcards.I am sampling the Tambura in a variety of ways, and it will be the main focus of what I'm doing,but I would like to include other instruments.I think Swarshala is an excellent program,especially for educational purposes.
Dear Steve,
I'm using SB's Extigy. I'd be delighted to offer some input on any beta versions you might be willing to allow me to try. Let me know what you come up with.
Aanaddha
<aanaddha@cox.net>
At first I was going to make just a Tambura soundfont with all notes sampled individually.I didn't expect to be able to loop groups of notes but it is fairly easy to do.That's why I would like to come up with something more versatile by including other instruments.One concern I have is the Audigy series of soundcards.I read somewhere that the Creative Keyboard and Soundfont-Audio HQ does not load up the way it does on the older cards.I'm using a Platinum 5.1.This might be a problem because I want everything to center on using the Creative Keyboard.I thought the best thing would be to have a paper manual with instructions on how to load Soundfonts and how to use the sounds all in one window,with the Keyboard displayed on the screen.I can combine things in different ways to create the Instruments.I'm probably going to use an electronic tabla but I'll be sampling the other instruments myself.Hopefully I can finish it by end of summer.Can you tell how you use your Extigy?
I have a feeling that not all readers here will be comfortable with the depth of technical expertise that you appear to be accustomed to. Perhaps you could post your email address and those of us who wish to correspond with you can do so directly.
A.
