This is an indian music practice/composition program for mac and windows. It is absolutely amazing so far! The FREE demo is so much more than a demo, It has no time limit as far as I know and you can export your compositions to aiff files. I think the learning section and lack of full instrumentations is the main difference. There are tons of authentic sampled tablas loops with their corresponding name. It kinda blew me away. Great fills too and a screen with the indian notation playing in synch with the loop. You know all that na kee aka daka stuff(no disrespect) There are also the ragas with repeating melodys which I think are in the correct raga/scale. It is a super practice tool and very well done. Check it out, its the best free demo I've ever seen.
http://www.swarsystems.com/SwarShala/

I'm making some dope tracks with it, but then abominating it with totally unathentic stick mayhem. I'm trying to learn the 'correct way to play to this stuff but it is so hard to find a method arghhh! So for now I am just going my own way but trying to respect at least the tabla patterns. I bet if a true hindustani guru heard it he would kill me haha.

"I bet if a true hindustani guru heard it he would kill me haha"

He most likely wouldn't eat you though.

Hey Ben Thanks for posting this, I am into
"mayhem" with respect too;-) I checked out the site further and It looks like they might have more
tabla tracks that are not attached to the learning program

jRj

Yea, most of the tabla and harmonium loops and fills are in the composition mode. There are tons in there! Also, the practice pane is kinda wonky and crashes for me so I just use the composition pane for practice.

One other tip is that if the loops seem to be smoking crack(aka playing at like 900 bpm) the key is to "resize them"! It took me forever to figure that out and I thought the program was just super buggy, but its just weird. The manual is kinda weak and and have the basics figured out so if anything trips you up let me know. There is usually an easy yet obscure fix.

I'll be finishing up some tracks with this program and stick in a few weeks I reckon so I'll be sure to post em when they are done. Hails to india!

How do you get a free demo??!!! I couldn't find it anywhere on the site. I have been looking for something like this. I have a Sarod that I was teaching myself to play but this would be perfect for the tanpura and rhythmic accompaniment. Not too mention the wealth of instructional materials built in.

Yeah I guess the website is hard to navigate, I couldn't find the demo there either. I think this works: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Audio/SwarShala.shtml

I have almost 3 tracks done now with this program and stick, and while of course there is no substitute for real players its the best I got right now. Their scales seem to be quite strange to me, and its easy to fall into the harmonic minor trap when many other scales work well. Hope this works for ya

On a related gear note: The electro harmonix ravish sitar pedal!?!
Should be out this month and looks really cool. Now I don't expect true sitar sounds but anything that can get me in a meditative zen mode is appealing. So far I am really impressed by the features. Here is one video I found, check out the tone after 4:20 for a brilliant oriental sound.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPYf0fYfbu0&feature=player_embedded#! There are many other great sounds but they are too bright and digital for me. Luckily they have 2 tone knobs for the lead and sympathetic strings. I'd turn those down alot! And there are seperate outputs for those effected tones as well. I think those tones are decent but to proccess them independantly could really make them sound good, and less harsh/ digital. Im really hoping this is a serious pedal and not a gimmick like the adds and some videos seem to portray. Here are some specs:


• LEAD – The main strings played on the sitar. These strings can be plucked and bent at the player’s will just like a guitar’s.
• SYMPATHETIC STRINGS – There are 11 to 17 sympathetic strings within the body of a sitar that ring out at all times. They cannot be plucked. These strings are tuned to the key and scale determined by the player. Playing lower notes will encourage lower tones to resonate and playing higher notes will similarly encourage higher tones to resonate.

– Special Features of the Ravish Sitar –

• Independent timbre controls for the lead and sympathetic string tones.
• Independent volume controls for dry, lead and sympathetic string voices.
• Play in all twelve chromatic keys in major, minor and exotic scales.
• ]Create your own custom sympathetic scales; up to 17 notes, including microtones
• ]Freeze the sympathetic strings by holding down the PRESET footswitch.
• Fade and freeze sympathetic strings with optional expression pedal.
• Control the decay of the lead sitar notes.
• Modulate the sympathetic notes to create movement similar to that of a tanpura.
• Bend the pitch of the lead voice from one semitone up to one octave with an optional expression pedal.
• Separate outputs for main mix and sympathetic strings.
• Selectable Q control on lead voice allows variation from organic to synthetic.
• 10 fully programmable presets or leave it in What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) mode.

looks pretty interesting. thanks for the post!

-mike

Kind of gimmicky but if used sparingly and/or tastefully it could be so cool. I bet Omar Rodriguez Lopez would do some serious damage with this pedal.