Tambura vs keyboard

charukesi · Post by **charukesi** » 06 Jul 2007, 23:38

I have aquestion regarding using keyboard as sort of adrone instrument when singing ragas. Is this possible? I need just an approximate efffect. Say someone is singing Sriranjani. Their key(or shruthi) is D. So what notes or chords should they be playing in order to approximate the drone effect? Or they cant do it at all? Because pressing Sa and Pa together obviously wont work. This is a beginner level keyboard. Any thoughts? An approximate solution is enough

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 07 Jul 2007, 02:42

Assuming that you can be online when you are singing - why not use the online tamboora (I think it is available in karnatik.com and Mohan's carnatic corner.

-Ramakriya

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 07 Jul 2007, 08:40

On a keyboard, for sruthi D the Pa will be A.

charukesi · Post by **charukesi** » 10 Jul 2007, 00:48

mohan, I know that but how do you get the constant drone out of the KB? If you press D and A together, you wont get anything out of it, as it is not a chord.

Ramakriya, if I want to be recording vocals using mic input, online tambura might not be an option. KB can be plugged into aux line or I can record both vocals and KB using the mic

charukesi · Post by **charukesi** » 10 Jul 2007, 00:50

Iam wondering maybe it isnt possible to use KB to provide a constant drone. My initial idea was to press a suitable chord, since sound from chords sustain as long as you keep pressing the keys while singing or you can always record them on the KB and use them as the background. Any more ideas?

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 10 Jul 2007, 01:08

One cheesy solution is to put a match stick or something in between the keys to keep the keys pressed down. I have seen people use this, but I wouldn't suggest a keyboard for the drone. After a while, the voice starts mimicing the reed like sound of the keyboard. Use a basic shruthi box.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 10 Jul 2007, 06:10

Unless you have a tambura sample on your keyboard and play the keys S S P S you can't emulate a tambura.

The closest emulation you can get is that of a sruthi-petti which will be the chord of SSPS.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 10 Jul 2007, 06:55

charukesi - i dont know for sure if this will work but give it a shot. But only ifyour keyboard allow you to record something and play in a loop

D3 continuously pressed
A4 D4 D4 repeatedly (i.e. a loop of 3 keys pressed separately first one is the A higher than D3, and the next two are the D one octave higher).

You record this and play and see if it helps. I have no idea if it will

Arun

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 10 Jul 2007, 07:04

Arun - yes that would work but the keyboard would need a sequencer built-in.

There are also CDs of tambura being played available. They are available in all the main sruthis. A number of artistes save these as MP3 files and use them on stage with a MP3 player and mini-speakers.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 10 Jul 2007, 08:18

Ah! ok.

In any case, to give an idea of what it would I tried this on the mac using the GarageBand program: http://rapidshare.com/files/42033012/Ta ... a.mp3.html.

There are 2 instruments:
1. organ on the background - with D1 and D2 held together. This provides a nice bass background enforcing the sa i.e. d.
2. piano (with some effects on top) doing A1 D2 D2

Arun

charukesi · Post by **charukesi** » 10 Jul 2007, 09:33

mohan and arun, thanks for the input. So it looks like there is no straightforward soln. Thats what I expected.

shishya, matchsticks?! First tell me which keys to press, then we will worry later about how to keep the keys depressed

I dont how your friends got it done even using matchsticks

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 15 Jul 2007, 06:56

ramakriya wrote:Assuming that you can be online when you are singing - why not use the online tamboora (I think it is available in karnatik.com and Mohan's carnatic corner.

-Ramakriya

What's the link? Can you please point? I would like to have access to online tambura / shruti !!!! Is the sruthi adjustable or fixed?

---------------------------------------------
I found it, it is here

http://www.karnatik.com/shrutibox.shtml

-hari