# Carnatic Thaalam Robot — Thaalam Robot for Musicians > Carnatic thaalam display and practice assistant with visual gestures and metronome. (iPhone/iPad app by Venkata Narasimha Prasad Mantraratnam.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carnatic-thaalam-robot/id1438376299 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Venkata Narasimha Prasad Mantraratnam](https://appshunter.io/developer/1438376298) - Category: Music, Utilities - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.40/5 from 9 App Store ratings · 3 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 11.0 · 9 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2018-10-18 - Data updated: 2026-07-05 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carnatic-thaalam-robot/id1438376299/reviews.md ## What is Carnatic Thaalam Robot? Introducing Carnatic Thaalam Robot, a feature rich app for Carnatic musicians to display thaalam with natural hand gestures as done traditionally. Designed & developed by a professional musician, this app is your thaalam assistant for practice at home, recordings, teaching classes and even play with in events/concerts if you have no one to put thaalam for you. It does - the common thaalas - Aadi, Rupaka (3 beat), and - Saptha (7) thaalas - (Eka, Rupaka, Thriputa, Matya, Jhampa, Dhruva & Ata) with pancha (5) jaathis (thrisra, chathurasra, khanda, mishra, sankeerna), - with pancha (5) gathis (nadai) - including double beat (chaukam) mode - the Khanda, Mishra & even Sankeerna chaapu thaalas It also features - alternate styles of Mishra / Sankeerna chaapu - slow/fast styles of khanda / mishra / sankeerna gathis (a god-send for pallavi rendition) - a Metronome beats mode - a wide speed range (10-140 bpm), with fine speed adjustment (+/- 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5 bpm) & precise laya - speed sensing by tapping screen - Saved Items List Featuring an intuitive dual visual display of thaalam cycle with - animated hand - total beats/sub-beats - current position in the thaalaangaas - decipherable sounds makes it easy to visualize laghu, dhrutha, anudhrutha ... beats, fingers & usi (flipped palm) & sub-beats for various gathis just like a human. These features ensure you a perfect sense in thaalam cycle, living up to its name as a thaalam robot. It is a perfect "must have" companion for Carnatic musicians, teachers & students - instrumentalists, percussionists as well as vocalists; from beginners to seasoned musicians. Your practice, musical thoughts, joy & motivation will improve tremendously with it. This is a "must have" for improving swarakalpana, mukthayis, varnam/keerthana/pallavi rendition. It can even help you play a concert when you find no one to put thaalam. Percussionists can explore their math skills/patterns/ideas while practicing without depending on anyone for thaalam. Its features, described below, come in 3 progressive level upgrades to suit various levels of musicians making it affordable & available for all levels. Most importantly, the app's basic level is free & well suited for early stage students to motivate them learn & play with focus. NOTE: At any level, you can - Try & see playable features of higher levels without purchasing (thaalam stops after 4 CYCLES each time - you can try as many times as you want), - decide & upgrade progressively to higher levels. Basic Level Good for Beginners to Intermediate level students Includes - Adi thaalam, Saptha thaalaas in native Jaathis, i.e, Thrisra Triputa, Khanda Ata, Mishra Jhampe & the rest in Chathurasra Jaathi - Chathurasra gathi in 1 or 2 beat modes - Metronome beats in Chathurasra gathi - Sensing speed by tapping screen - Pair Mode - facilitates teacher/student use app for thaalam while in a music session on phone/video call - Save an Items List with desired thaalam & speed, pick from List with single click Limitations of Basic Level - Stops after MAXIMUM of 20 CYCLES each time. [Level 1 Upgrade removes this limit] - Pair Mode stops after MAXIMUM of 4 alternating cycles. [Level 2 Upgrade removes this limit] - Saved Items List limited to 4 items. [Level 1 Upgrade removes this limit] Level 1 Upgrade Useful for Senior level students - Removes "MAXIMUM 20 CYCLES" limit of Basic level - Adds 3-beat Rupaka thaalam - Removes Saved Items List limit of Basic Level Level 2 Upgrade Useful for Teachers & Performing level students - Adds Khanda, Mishra & Sankeerna Chaapu thaalas - Makes all 5 Jaathis available for all Saptha thaalaas - Adds Chaukam (double beat) mode - Adds Thrisra Gathi - Enables continuous Pair Mode Level 3 Upgrade Useful for Teachers & Concert level musicians, instrumentalists, percussionists, pallavi experts/learners - Adds alternate mode of chaapu thaalaas - Adds Khanda, Mishra, Sankeerna Gathis in two modes ## Key features - Visual thaalam display with animated hand gestures - Supports common and Saptha thaalas with pancha jaathis and gathis - Double beat (chaukam) mode - Metronome beats mode - Wide speed range (10-140 bpm) with fine adjustment - Tap screen for speed sensing - Saved Items List ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Level 1 | $6.99 | one-time | | Levels 1+2 | $18.99 | one-time | | Level 2 | $12.00 | one-time | | Levels 1+2+3 | $30.99 | one-time | | Levels 2+3 | $24.00 | one-time | | Level 3 | $12.00 | one-time | ## Recent user reviews (3 of 3) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carnatic-thaalam-robot/id1438376299/reviews.md ### 1/5 — After couple of cycles beat slows down *2026-06-13, version 1.0.17* ⭐☆☆☆☆ This is by far the most frustrating metronome app I've ever used. A metronome has one job: keep a steady beat. Unfortunately, this app randomly slows down during use, making it completely unreliable for practice and performance. Nothing destroys timing and concentration faster than a metronome that can't maintain a consistent tempo. To make matters worse, customer support was equally disappointing. I reported the issue and was promised a return call that never came. Multiple attempts to follow up were ignored, leaving me with a broken app and zero confidence that the company cares about its users. If you're serious about music, look elsewhere. An unreliable metronome and unresponsive support team are a terrible combination. I regret paying for this app and would not recommend it to anyone. No support and despite writing did hear from them in 3 weeks Anant ### 4/5 — In app purchases family sharing *2022-01-16, version 1.0.17* Great app. Please consider allowing family sharing of in app purchases. Or allow transferring in app purchases to family members. I purchased the app on my phone for my 9 yr old daughter who’s learning music. She used to use my phone for practice but now that she has her own older iPhone, which she uses solely for Shruti etc, she wants to use your app on her own phone. Alas, I now have to pay up again to have the app shared onto her phone even though I have already paid for the app on my phone and never use it, since I bought it only for my daughter. This is like textbook example of why apple enabled the family sharing feature. Pls enable it on your apps in app purchases too! Would have been a 5 star app with the family sharing enabled. Thx! ### 5/5 — Five stars for this great app *2018-11-10, version 1.0.14* The Carnatic Thaalam Robot is a first of its kind application that was greatly needed by the Carnatic music community for a long time, this need has now been fuilfilled completely. This Thaalam robot app keeps Thaalam and provides Metronome beats. It supports multitude of thalas commonly used in carnatic music including different chapu talas in tisra, chatursha, khanda, mishra and sankeerna gathis or nadai. A MUST have app for every student or performing carnatic musicians. The functionality offered is rich and more over is very precise in layam. This app can be used to play thalas in various speed with fine control, set gathi/nadai,thala anagas are visually displayed with a graphical hand similar to the way a student would render the thala in person. The biggest utility of this app is it will help the student to keep a precise laya during practice sessions, very useful for varnam, kritis, swarakalpana, muktayis - improves focus for all levels upto a performing musician. Pallavi rendering and practice is made easy with this app by the display of the thala cycle and the beat counts. The customizing features are good, user can customize the tone volumes to distinguish anghas of the tala like beats, finger, chaukam beat, gathi, sub-beats. The app can sense the tala speed using the tap mode. The controls are well placed for easy reach, the app is very easy to use. The metronome mode with delay feature helps student(s) in their practice of sarvalaghu patterns repetedly. I highly recommend all the levels, each level stacks functionality over previous level. All the features are free to try in the basic level.The basic level and level 1 update is what I recommend for beginners who are starting with sarale/janta/dhatu and alankara lessons. Level 2 and 3 for advanced students and carnatic musicians. This app completely replaces the electronic metronome (Radel tala box or Korg MA-1). The basic version (free) itself has loads of features which these electronic box metronomes does not have. The app is not only a thala/metronome app, but with the configurable "pair mode" provides usage of thalams in a typical student-teacher learning session over a live or audio/skype session. The issues of thala lag experienced during a video learning session is solved with the unique pair mode approach, I have found this pair mode very useful and productive in a student-teacher learning session. The pair mode essentially allows thala cycles to alternate with a delay (configurable) betweem two manually synchronized app instances on two phones/ipads (student and teacher). This innovative idea is used to solve lag experienced in an online session with a tala box or metronome. I highly recommend this app as it completely fuilfills the needs of the carnatic music community for a tala support application. Five stars and A++++ is my rating for this app. ## Frequently asked questions about Carnatic Thaalam Robot ### What is Carnatic Thaalam Robot? Carnatic Thaalam Robot is a music app designed to help Carnatic musicians practice and visualize thaalam. It displays thaalam with animated hand gestures, similar to traditional methods, and includes a metronome. ### What thaalas does Carnatic Thaalam Robot support? The app supports common thaalas like Aadi and Rupaka, as well as Saptha thaalas (Eka, Rupaka, Thriputa, Matya, Jhampa, Dhruva & Ata) with various jaathis and gathis. It also includes Khanda, Mishra & Sankeerna chaapu thaalas. ### Can I try higher-level features before buying? Yes, you can try playable features of higher levels without purchasing. The thaalam will stop after 4 cycles each time, allowing you to test features multiple times before deciding to upgrade. ### What is the speed range and adjustment in Carnatic Thaalam Robot? The app offers a wide speed range from 10 to 140 bpm. It also provides fine speed adjustment options of +/- 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 5 bpm for precise laya control. ### Does Carnatic Thaalam Robot have ads? No, Carnatic Thaalam Robot does not contain advertisements. The app is free with in-app purchases for upgrades. ### What devices is Carnatic Thaalam Robot available on? Carnatic Thaalam Robot is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices, making it accessible for Apple users. ### How often is Carnatic Thaalam Robot updated? The app was last updated on November 29, 2018, to version 1.0.17. While updates may not be frequent, the core functionality remains stable for its intended use. ### What is the age rating for Carnatic Thaalam Robot? Carnatic Thaalam Robot has an age rating of 4+. This indicates it is suitable for children and adults alike, with no mature content. ## Version history (last 4 releases) ### 1.0.17 — 2018-11-29 New Features Saved Items List - Use the Saved Items List button to prepare & manage [Add, Delete, Rename, Update, Mark *, Unmark *] a list of named items with desired thaalams & speeds. With a single click, you can load a Saved Item's thaalam & speed. This is very useful feature for senior & performing level musicians to save the precise speed finalized during planning / practicing at home which can be just picked precisely right in the concert. Available from Basic level. Basic level limits to picking from top 4 items in the Saved Items List. [Level 1 Upgrade removes this limit]. ### 1.0.14 — 2018-11-06 New Functionality - Pair Mode - an innovative feature which facilitates two persons (e.g. Guru / Shishya or two peers) use the app for thaalam while in a music session on phone/video call - the app alternates between play/pause cycles on two sides with no further repeated intervention to start/stop. This feature is an innovative solution to the problem of phone/video lag causing ongoing beats from other side to be heard out-of-sync. Minor New Features and Improvements ### 1.0.9 — 2018-10-18 Updated images Added App Logo on Info, Settings, Upgrade Screens Status updates on Upgrade Screen Minor User interface improvements ### 1.0 — 2018-10-17 No release notes. ## Apps similar to Carnatic Thaalam Robot | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [My TalaVadyam - Carnatic Beats](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/my-talavadyam-carnatic-beats/id659575464) | 4.0 (28) | Free | Music | | [Talanome - Carnatic Metronome](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/talanome-carnatic-metronome/id418862562) | 4.3 (105) | $9.99 | Music | | [iTanpura](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/itanpura/id326115058) | 4.2 (38) | $17.99 | Music | | [Abhyas for Carnatic Music](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/abhyas-for-carnatic-music/id1243073966) | 4.6 (9) | Free | Music | | [Talanome Lite - Metronome](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/talanome-lite-metronome/id423179088) | 4.4 (27) | Free | Music | | [Carnatic Singer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carnatic-singer/id1531318588) | 4.6 (91) | Free | Music | ## Related topics [carnatic thaalam robot](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/carnatic-thaalam-robot) · [thalam](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/thalam) · [isruthi](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/isruthi) · [kudumbam](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/kudumbam) · [taalmala](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/taalmala) · [indian carnatic music](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/indian-carnatic-music) · [siralim](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/siralim) · [uthamiyae](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/uthamiyae) · [hemakumar raminni](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/hemakumar-raminni) · [kumudam](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/kumudam) · [siyyana](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/siyyana) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-07-05.*