An online thambura and tala keeper for Carnatic practice
Thambura keeps the tala and plays the drone while you practise. It is free, runs in your browser, and needs no account. Install it (the button in the header) and it gets its own icon and works without a network. On an iPhone or iPad, tap Share, then "Add to Home Screen".
Tala keeper
All seven sapta talas (Eka, Rupakam, Matya, Jhumpa, Thriputa, Ata and Dhruva) in any of the five jaathis, the chaapu talas (Thisra, Khanda, Misra, Viloma and Sankeerna) and Adi. Pick the nadai and kalai, and any tempo from 10 to 300 bpm. Each beat shows its kriya on a right or left hand, the clap, the finger count or the wave, and the hand lifts and drops with the beat as it does when you keep thalam.
Thambura drone
The thambura (tambura or tanpura) plucks its four strings, the first on Pa, Ma, Ni or any swarasthana, then Sa, Sa and low Sa, at any shruthi from A to B (each key also shows its kattai number, C being 1). Its main voice was fitted to a recording of a real tambura, and there is also a classic synthesized tambura, a guitar-like pluck and a shruthi box reed drone. Play it on its own or with the tala.