Now Available: Version 6.2 with iOS4 support, integrated Auto-Tuner and Swar Mandal! Check out the YouTube demo or the audio sample below for the fantastic new sound. Note: All updates are always free! iTanpura runs fine on the new iPad.

And the reviews are in:

iTanpura now featured in the culture section of Indian publication Mint - reviewed by none other than the famous classical & playback singer, the inimitable Shubha Mudgal. Shubha-ji called me from India over Skype for an interview that was certainly fascinating for me. She is an amazing and dynamic personality in the world of music, so this was certainly an honor for me. Click here for the complete article.

iTanpura was also written up in the Indian Express, which is one of India’s oldest newspapers. See here for the complete article.

Not convinced? Try iTanpura Lite for free! It has most the features of the full version, except the sound stops playing after 30 seconds. Click here to download.

Before buying, also consider iTablaPro which has all iTanpura feaures plus tabla thekas in 25+ taals.

About The Tanpura

The Tanpura is a musical instrument widely used to accompany Indian Classical music. It is a 4-stringed instrument with a base made from cured pumpkin gourd and a wooden stem. It is tuned to the chosen pitch or key and provides a constant background "drone" or frame of reference against which the rest of the vocal or instrumental music is performed.

The four strings of the tanpura are usually tuned in one of these three combinations:

1. •Pa-Sa-Sa-Sa (lower)
   

2. •Ma-Sa-Sa-Sa (lower)
   

3. •Ni-Sa-Sa-Sa (lower)
   

The middle two strings of the tanpura are always tuned to upper Sa, the last string to lower Sa (kharaj). The first string varies depending on the raag or scale being performed. Vocal performers frequently sing with two tanpuras tuned to the same pitch but with a different note for the first string.

iTanpura is an electronic Tanpura for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Combined with a set of external speakers or a speaker dock, it transforms the iPhone or iPod Touch into an unbelievably good electronic tanpura. Click here, or on the picture at the right for a sample recording. The equation is simple:

iTanpura uses stereo digital sound to simulate a set of two tanpuras each of which can be tuned with a different string combination. It uses sounds sampled from real Hemraj tanpuras to provide beautiful yet realistic sound in a pleasing and intuitive package. And now iTanpura also includes fantastic Swar Mandal sound (with presets for 75 raags) for an instant concert atmosphere guaranteed to inspire! iTanpura is ideal for everyday music practice, concerts, or even as a serene background for meditation.

Features include:

1. ✓FOUR fantastic instruments in one app: includes two 4-string tanpuras, a 15-string Swar Mandal, plus (NEW!) a Sur-Peti (Shruti-Box).
   

2. ✓Uses sounds sampled from actual male & female tanpuras for realistic tanpura sound throughout the pitch range
   

3. ✓Adjust pitch by name (C#, G, etc.) using pitch up/down buttons
   

4. ✓Wide range of pitch from lower A (A2) through upper E (E4) for one and a half octaves of tuning
   

5. ✓Integrated Auto-Tuner: Tune iTanpura to your instrument such as harmonium, or use it to tune other instruments (microphone capability required such as iPhone built-in mic or 2nd/3rd generation iPod Touch with external microphone)
   

6. ✓NEW: Integrated 15-string Swar Mandal. The Swar Mandal is completely tunable and can be played manually or set to auto-loop.
   

7. ✓Suitable for vocal as well as instrumental music
   

8. ✓Fine-tune pitch in continuous increments using the slider. The display shows the fine-tune value as a two-decimal number to allow exact recreation of any pitch
   

9. ✓Tempo Control: use the pitch/tempo switch to change the function of the slider in the top section
   

10. ✓Play one or two simultaneous tanpuras both controlled by the master pitch controls
    

11. ✓Each tanpura's first string can be tuned to Pa, Ma or Ni, or any custom note such as Re, Ga, Dha, etc
    

12. ✓Or tune first string to any shruti in the octave using a slider
    

13. ✓Each tanpura has its own pan and volume controls to allow precise placement within the stereo image. For example you can have a tanpura with Pa on your left and one with Ni on your right
    

14. ✓Presets: Save all settings including pitch, each tanpura's individual tuning, pan & gain settings, as well as the Swar Mandal tuning as a named preset. Includes presets for the 80 most popular raags.
    

15. ✓Can be used with speakers, headset, or the internal speaker. A high-quality speaker dock is recommended for maximum effect.
    

Not convinced? Try iTanpura Lite for free! It has all the features of the full version, except the sound stops playing after 30 seconds and it does not include the Swar Mandal. Click here to download.

Main Tab: The first tab is the Main tab. It has three sections:

Top Section: This is common to both tanpuras and is used to set the "base" pitch of Sa.

1. ➡The two buttons tune the pitch up or down one note at a time
   

2. ➡The slider allows fine-tuning of the pitch within a two-note range
   

3. ➡Click on the endpoints of the slider (♭ or ♯) to further fine-tune the pitch by 1/100th of a note
   

4. ➡Hold down on the pitch slider endpoints for faster pitch adjustment
   

5. ➡Double-clicking on the slider brings up a fine-tune value picker wheel
   

6. ➡The display in the middle shows the current note name (i.e. C#) in the center, the octave on the upper right, and the current fine-tune relative value on the upper left. The color of the text in the display indicates whether the fine-tune slider is exactly in the middle (green), to the left of center (yellow), or to the right of center (cyan).
   

7. ➡There are four small buttons at the corners of the top section:
   

8. ❖The button on the top left lets you adjust the global iTanpura settings
   

9. ❖The i button on the top right shows you the information page
   

10. ❖The  button on the bottom left lets you load and save presets - iTanpura ships with a few presets, but you can add your own and delete the existing ones at any time
    

11. ❖The  button on the bottom right opens the Swar Mandal configuration page
    

1. ➡Use the switch to choose whether the first string is tuned to Pa, Ma or Ni, or to turn off that tanpura
   

2. ➡Clicking on ... takes you to the Custom Tuning screen where you can choose a different standard note (such as Dha) or use the slider to fine-tune a custom note
   

3. ➡Use the slider at the bottom to pan the stereo image towards the Left or Right channels
   

4. ➡Use the slider on the right to increase (+) or decrease (-) the gain
   

Presets Tab: The Presets tab lets you load presets, delete existing ones, or save new presets. iTanpura ships with a few presets, but you can add your own as well as delete the existing ones at any time. To restore the original factory presets, just reset the presets from the settings page. A preset saves the state of all currently playing instruments.

1. ➡The presets table shows the details of the preset in a subtitle including the pitch, the tuning of the tanpuras, etc.
   

2. ➡To play a preset, simply choose the name from the list of saved presets. To only load portions of a preset, turn off one or more switches. For example to load everything from the preset except the pitch, turn off the Load Pitch switch.
   

3. ➡To delete a preset, click on the Trash icon on the top left, or simply swipe your finger across the preset row
   

4. ➡To create a new preset, first set the Pitch, the Tanpuras, Swar Mandal, etc. Make sure everything you want to include is playing (important!), and then click on the New Preset (+) icon on the top right. Enter a name for the preset when prompted, click OK and you're done!
   

Swar Mandal Tab: The Swar Mandal tab lets you configure the Swar Mandal settings. The Swar Mandal has 15 strings each of which can be assigned to a note. This screen lets you configure what notes to play, how loud to play them and whether to play them once or repeat them at a certain loop duration.

1. ➡Clicking on the Play Once button plays the Swar Mandal once
   

2. ➡Turn the Auto Loop switch ON to auto-play the swar mandal at a set loop duration
   

3. ➡The Tuning section lets you assign notes to strings. NOTE: you must have at least one string tuned to play the Swar Mandal
   

4. ➡The Loop Duration section lets you choose how often the loop repeats when the Auto Loop switch is ON
   

5. ➡The Manual Play section is basically a large button that plays the Swar Mandal once every time it is clicked (similar to the Play Once button)
   

6. ➡Use the slider on the bottom to increase (+) or decrease (-) the swar mandal volume
   

1. ➡Click on the Stop button to stop all sound in app
   

2. ➡Sing or play an instrument (the desired "Sa") into the microphone
   

3. ➡The display on the left shows the current iTanpura pitch
   

4. ➡The display on the right shows the pitch of the external instrument as measured via the microphone. The color of the text in the display indicates whether the external pitch is the same (green), lower (yellow), or higher (cyan).
   

5. ➡Use the Microphone display on the right to tune the instrument to match iTanpura
   

6. ➡Or click on the Capture button to auto-tune iTanpura to the external instrument - this makes the captured pitch the new "Sa"
   

7. ➡Once captured, use the Octave Up/Down buttons to adjust the octave
   

Settings Tab: The Settings tab lets you change the application's global settings.

1. ➡Screen Saver Options: This controls the screen saver options:
   

2. ❖Lock Screen: This is the default iPhone behavior where the screen auto-locks after a period of inactivity. You can control the auto-lock timeout period from the iPhone's main settings area. This option consumes the least battery.
   

3. ❖Dim Screen: This option disables screen lock and instead dims the screen after 30 seconds of inactivity. Click on the screen again to brighten it.
   

4. ❖Stay On: This option disables the screen lock AND keeps the screen at its regular brightness (so in effect there is NO screen saver). This option consumes the most battery.
   

5. ➡Tanpura Tempo: This controls the tanpura string-playing tempo
   

6. ➡Vary Tempos: Turning this on will slightly vary the tempo of the two tanpuras around the selected value above when played together for better realism
   

7. ➡Sur-Peti Tone: Turning this on will add a constant Sur-Peti / Shruti-Box type tone of Sa to the Tanpura sound. Note the tone only plays while one of the tanpuras is playing. A low value of 10-20% for the Sur-Peti volume works best.
   

8. ➡Enable Ati-Komal: Turning this on enables the ati-komal (very low) variants of Re and Ga that are typically used in some raags such as Todi
   

9. ➡Alternate C# Javari: Switches to an alternate sharper sound for the male (C#) tanpura
   

10. ➡Reset Settings to Defaults: Clicking on this button will reset all settings to the original factory defaults
    

11. ➡Reload Original Presets: Clicking on this button will reload all the original presets the app came with. You can choose whether to delete the existing presets or keep them. NOTE: If you have any existing presets with the same name, they will still be over-written.
    

Recommended Usage

To get a typical two-tanpura effect (see screenshot on right)

1. ➡Men set pitch to C# (Kali Ek)
   

2. ➡Women set pitch to G# (Kali Char)
   

3. ➡Set Tanpura 1 to Pa (pan left)
   

4. ➡Set Tanpura 2 to Ni (pan right)
   

Choose Pa, Ma or Ni on the tanpuras depending on which notes are present in the raag (scale) being performed.

Device Requirements

iTanpura will run great on any of the following devices:

1. ➡iPhone (Original, 3G, 3GS, 4) with iPhoneOS 3.0 or later. The new iOS4 is completely supported as well.
   

2. ➡iPod Touch (1st, 2nd or 3rd Generation) with iPhoneOS 3.0 or later. Note the 1st generation iPod Touch does not have an internal speaker so headphones or external speakers are required. Auto-Tuner capability requires 2nd or 3rd generation iPod Touch with external microphone.
   

3. ➡iPad with iPhoneOS 3.2 or later.
   

For best effect, use a high-quality iPhone Speaker dock such as the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 or any other good pair of external speakers.

About The Developer

Prasad Upasani is a professional musician, teacher and performer who also happens to be a talented programmer with over 15 years in IT. He has a Master's degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor's degree (Sangeet Visharad) in Indian Classical music. He lives in Southern California.

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YouTube Demo

Click here to watch on YouTube.