Shruti Laya vs Tala Shruti
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shruti Laya
This app provides essential tools for Carnatic music practice, including a tanpura drone, Mrudanga, and Manjira. It allows users to set custom pitches, tempos, and choose from various talas and gaties for an authentic practice experience.
- Adjustable tanpura drone
- Mrudanga with real strokes and nadai
- Manjira with beat, clap, or sam accents
- Support for 7 Suladi Sapta talas
- Customizable tempo and gaties
- On-stage performance display
- Integrated tuner
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Shruti-Laya is a practice companion for Carnatic music. It gives you a tanpura drone, a Mrudanga and a Manjira that play together, locked to one beat, in the tala you choose. Turn on any of them, set your shruti and tempo, and practise. TANPURA • Set the shruti (Sa) to any standard pitch, or to a custom pitch. • Choose the first string: Pa, Ma, Ni or upper Sa. • Slow, Normal or Fast plucking. • Keeps playing when the screen locks. MRUDANGA • Plays a theka in Adi tala, built from real recorded strokes and traditional nadai patterns. • Tuned to your shruti automatically, so it always sits with the tanpura. • Accents on sam and on each anga, with a natural, human feel. • Other talas are kept with the Manjira and the tanpura. • Optional variation: the pattern changes across cycles, with a cadence into sam, instead of repeating one fixed phrase. MANJIRA • Strikes on every beat, on claps only, or on sam only. TALA • All seven Suladi Sapta talas: Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa (Adi), Ata and Eka. • Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu. • Jaati: Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna. • Gati (nadai): Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna. • Kalai: 1x or 2x. • Tempo from 40 to 150 BPM. Set it with the slider, or tap the beat with Tap Tempo. • Each tala remembers its own tempo. • A four-click count-in before the rhythm starts, always at sam, with a big 4, 3, 2, 1 on screen. ON STAGE A full-screen performance display shows the beat count, tala and tempo in large type, readable from across the room. It opens on its own a few seconds after the rhythm starts. MUKTHAYA • In Adi tala, tap Mukthaya on the performance display and the Mrudanga plays a mukthaya that fills the rest of the cycle and lands on sam, then goes back to the theka. • Tap End to finish the same way: the mukthaya lands on sam with Dhin and Thom, and the rhythm stops. • The mukthaya fits whatever is left of the cycle, from 2 to 8 beats, drawn from traditional lesson patterns. TUNER Check your voice or instrument against your shruti. The tuner shows the swara you're on and how many cents sharp or flat you are. ALSO • Five colour themes. • Play and pause from the Lock Screen and Control Center. It never starts on its own when you connect to a car or headset. • Works on iPhone and iPad, with a layout made for the larger iPad screen. PRIVATE The microphone is used only by the Tuner, and only while it's on. Sound is analysed on your device. Nothing is recorded, stored or sent anywhere. No accounts, no ads, no tracking.
Tala Shruti
This app provides essential tools for Carnatic music practice and learning. It includes a virtual shruti box, a customizable metronome, pre-recorded percussion loops, and a universal instrument tuner. Designed for musicians of all levels, it's a comprehensive practice companion.
- Adjustable virtual Shruti box
- Customizable metronome with tempo and rhythm control
- Pre-recorded Mridangam and Tabla loops
- Universal instrument tuner
- User-friendly interface
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Tala Shruti — Your Carnatic Practice Companion Everything you need for Carnatic music practice, in one app. Tala Shruti combines a shruti box, talam machine, percussion loops, raga training, and tuner — built for students, teachers, and performers. Shruti Box A clean, adjustable tanpura drone across all 12 pitches. Set your shruti and practice with a steady, authentic reference tone. Talam Machine All 7 Suladi Sapta Talams with configurable jathi — from Tisra to Sankeerna. Visual beat tracking helps you stay aligned with the cycle. Percussion Loops Pre-recorded Tabla and Mridangam patterns with adjustable tempo. Practice with the feel of a real accompanist. Raga Training Practice raga swaras with real-time pitch detection. The app listens and guides you note by note. Tuner A precise chromatic tuner with needle gauge and cents display. Works with veena, violin, flute, mridangam, and more. Built for Carnatic musicians. Whether you're warming up, preparing for a kutcheri, or learning a new raga, Tala Shruti keeps your essential tools in one place — no ads, no clutter, just practice.
Screenshots
Verdict
Shruti Laya and Tala Shruti both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 67% of Tala Shruti's written reviews are positive against 17% of Shruti Laya's. Tala Shruti also leads on ratings volume (80 vs 3). Shruti Laya's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Shruti Laya holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tala Shruti has 80 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 17% of Shruti Laya's written reviews are positive against 67% of Tala Shruti's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Shruti Laya ships an update every 5 days, Tala Shruti every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shruti Laya | Tala Shruti |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.8 (80 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 16.7% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 80 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 115 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ramachandra Mallappa | SUMIT JHAMB |
Customer experience
Shruti Laya
Tala Shruti
In-app purchases
Shruti Laya
No in-app purchases
Tala Shruti
No in-app purchases









