THE TALAMETER, does it play all the tala ?

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 30 Sep 2008, 13:17

i am curious to knwo about the tala meter . does it play all the tala. Is it good for practicing? . can I listen to a snippet of it anywhere?

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 30 Sep 2008, 15:59

I have an old one, wooden-box style, and I must admit that I have hardly ever used it.

If I remember right, it will play all 35 talas. I don't recall if direct access to chapu talas is there.

It has electric beep sounds, and a pattern of flashing lights keeps track of the laghu/drutam patterns. No musical sounds like electronic tabla.

It may have changed a lot simce it was miniaturized and put in a plastic box!

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 30 Sep 2008, 16:20

See http://www.radelindia.com/User_Products_QuickView.aspx for the Radel range of electronic tamburas, etc. The talometer is shown on the second page.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 30 Sep 2008, 19:37

I have one that I practice with, it is very very useful for practising korvais and such. It helps a lot with gaining precision in thalam.

The Radel model is the one that I have, its pretty much the same as what Nick described, flashing lights for each beat and electronic jalra sound that can be turned on or off for each beat. It keeps track of the laghu/ drutham, and can be set up to put thalam at basically any speed.

They dont have direct access to chapu thalas, but you can modify the output to suit them. Meaning to play misra chapu for example, you set up tisra jathi triputa thalam, and turn of the sounds for all beats except for 1, 4 and 6, and double the speed.

Playing for the machine thalam is much different from playing for human thalam... it requires a much higer degree of precision. UKS sir has played with the rhythm-box/talamater in 2 of his albums - "Drums of India" and the first CD in Charsur's "Laya-Dhara". Those are must listen-to recordings.

mridangamkid · Post by **mridangamkid** » 01 Oct 2008, 04:32

I have a "newer" oneI got last year in Chennai. It plays the 7 Sapta Thala's (sp?) and all Jaati's, however to get chapu thalams, you must do it manually, meaning put somehting like Rupaka Thala Thisra Jaati for Kanda Chappu. In order to make it sound like Kanda Chapu, I have a little button called "mute", so right when the beat is put, if you press mute after it, that one beat will become silent. So to get Kanda Chappu for example, put Rupaka Thalam Thisra Jaati. Mute the second and 5th beat. Therefor, only the first, third and fourth beat will be audible. Speed up the thalam very fast and you'll be able to make out Kanda Chapu.

It will also put different gathi's (nadai's) so it would be easier if you would like to practice that.

I must say however, that I very rarely use it mainly because my teacher advises me to use it only to double check something and make sure it's on thalam. I'm definitely not some big shot to speak, however if you would like to master mridangam, you should be able to put thalam in your mind, otherwise you become to dependent on the thala meter and would not be able to function without it (so I've heard). So I personally would recomend you to practice keeping thalam by yoruself in your mind, and once you get more advanced and play very tough krovai's, you can use it just to double check, but again just my opinion.

Edit: That is if you play mridangam of course

suma · Post by **suma** » 01 Oct 2008, 05:42

2 years back, we bought a brand new talameter and a very good brand and within 3 months we had a concert, and guess what, suddenly it wouldn't work on stage. This was an eye opener and blessing in disguise to learn to put talam with feet and mind while hands are occupied in the instrument. Ours is still sitting in a shelf after just 3 months of use.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 01 Oct 2008, 07:09

suma wrote:2 years back, we bought a brand new talameter and a very good brand and within 3 months we had a concert, and guess what, suddenly it wouldn't work on stage.

The talometer is basically a device for practice and I wouldn't use it on stage.

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 01 Oct 2008, 07:27

what would be the sound like? a real mridangam or some kind of a bleeping?

mridangamkid · Post by **mridangamkid** » 01 Oct 2008, 07:30

Just a beep

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 01 Oct 2008, 08:17

sureshjm wrote:what would be the sound like? a real mridangam or some kind of a bleeping?

You can hear a demo in the link I provided above

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 01 Oct 2008, 12:32

yes i lestened to that beep beep things. It would have been better if there be real mridhangam sound with with the choice of adjustable pitch. Our makers are still so primitive. Probably we should seek china's help . Incidentally I am bound to thank them . they make good violins for cheap rates.

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 14 Oct 2008, 15:04

Nick, the advantage of the later (plastic box) over earlier wooden box version is that the former allows one to set the beats/minute precisely.

Incidentally the Raagini folks have come up with a electronic mridangam box that retails for about 5K. Has anyone checked it out? The sound quality is quite good.