Comparison

Shruti Box vs Shruti Laya

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Shruti Box

This app simulates a traditional Indian musical instrument used to provide a continuous drone for vocalists and instrumentalists. It offers multiple sound flavors and allows tuning to both Indian harmonic and Western tempered scales, with automatic transposition capabilities.

Highlights
  • Continuous drone sound
  • Multiple sound flavors
  • Indian harmonic scale tuning
  • Western tempered scale tuning
  • Automatic transposition
  • Play up to 4 notes with octaves
Features
Read full description

The shruti box is a small instrument with reeds, used to play a drone in music. Imagine an harmonium or accordeon without any buttons. You just select a set of notes, and the shruti will play them together continuously. The main purpose is to create a musical atmosphere to sustain the solist with its voice or musical instrument. The Shruti box is usually used in karnatak or hindustani music in India. You can create different musical atmosphere with the three different sound flavours of our Shruti box: - Traditional Harmonium sound, with deep sound of original reeds - Light shruti sound, which provides a clearer sound - Modern flute organ, simpler, heavenly If you're interested to play indian music (karnatac or hindusthani), this is the perfect "travel" shruti box you need. Tune your shruti in the indian harmonic scale. You select harmonic scale, and the base note. That's it. If you prefer to play western music and you need a tempered chord, then tune the shruti to the common tempered scale. Our shruti box can do automatic transposition. You can configure it in any key with the same keyboard position. You just need to select the note to play on the C key of the keyboard. You can play up to 4 notes together (with or without octaves). It will produce a sound of high quality, much better than all the electronic devices you can buy for playing shruti. For getting the best sound from this instrument, it is advised to use a good headphone or a pair of speakers with loudspeaker.

About

Shruti Laya

This app provides a drone sound and rhythm counter for practicing Indian Classical Music. It offers a traditional Tambura sound with adjustable tempo and rhythm counts, allowing musicians to practice anywhere.

Highlights
  • Shruti (Tuning) reference
  • Laya (Rhythm) counter
  • Tambura drone sound
  • Adjustable tempo
  • Practice anywhere
Features
Read full description

Shruti-Laya is a Carnatic music practice companion. Three independent, perfectly phase-locked voices — tanpura, mrudangam, and manjira — play together against the tala grid you choose, for steady, musical accompaniment any time. TANPURA DRONE • Choose your tonic (Sa) across a wide range and the supporting string — pancham (Pa), madhyama (Ma), nishada (Ni), or upper Sa. • Adjust pluck rate and volume. MRUDANGAM • Tala-driven stroke playback with adjustable tempo (40–150 BPM). • Optional pattern variations for a more lifelike accompaniment. MANJIRA • Cymbal strokes on every beat, on claps, on sam, or off. PICK YOUR TALA • All seven Suladi Sapta Talas — Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa, Ata, Eka. • Set jaati and gati/nadai — Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna — plus a kalai multiplier. (Adi tala = Triputa with Chatusra jaati.) BUILT-IN TUNER (new) • Tune your voice or instrument to your selected tonic. • Live swara name and a sharp/flat cents bar, right in the display. Practice-friendly: pause and resume from the lock screen and Control Center, and the drone keeps playing when the screen sleeps. Works on iPhone and iPad. NOTE: The Tuner feature uses the microphone to detect the pitch of the user's voice or instrument and show how it compares to the selected tonic. Tap "Tuner" above the on-screen display to try it; the app requests microphone permission on first use. No audio is recorded, stored, or transmitted.

Screenshots

Shruti Box2 screens
Shruti Laya4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Shruti Laya at Free against Shruti Box's $0.99. Shruti Laya also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.5) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months). Shruti Box's advantage is review sentiment (33% vs 17%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Shruti Laya is free to download; Shruti Box costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shruti Laya holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 33% of Shruti Box's written reviews are positive against 17% of Shruti Laya's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shruti Box ships an update every 3 months, Shruti Laya weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and July 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Shruti Box versus Shruti Laya: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShruti BoxShruti Laya
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating2.5 (8 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews32.5% of reviews — better16.7% of reviews
Number of ratings8 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperC.BARATAYRamachandra Mallappa

Customer experience

Shruti Box

All ratings8 ratings
Positive37.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative62.5%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive32.5%
Neutral15.0%
Negative52.5%

Shruti Laya

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive16.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative83.3%

In-app purchases

None

Shruti Box

No in-app purchases

None

Shruti Laya

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Shruti Box free?
Shruti Box costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shruti Laya free?
Shruti Laya is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Shruti Box or Shruti Laya?
Shruti Laya is rated higher. Shruti Box averages 2.5 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Shruti Laya averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Shruti Box or Shruti Laya have ads?
Neither Shruti Box nor Shruti Laya shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shruti Box or Shruti Laya?
Shruti Box ships an update every 3 months, and Shruti Laya weekly. Most recently, Shruti Box was updated on September 25, 2026 and Shruti Laya on July 19, 2026.

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