I had heard about the iphone application itablapro from Steve Gorn and had a look at it online. It seemed like a sensible replacement for the electronic tamboura and the electric tabla. When I was in America recently I bought an ipod touch just for this application. Included almost as a bonus are all the wonderful features of the ipod touch. I am really happy with it and many thanks to the developer Prasad Upasani. At home i have hooked it up to my sound system and it is impressive! The white boxes have gone into storage. I had used them for thousands of hours of riyaz and Sharmaji and his team out in Thane were just excellent for repairs. It sometimes feels odd now not to have a physical spot for the tamboura next to me, but I am quickly getting used to it. There is no doubt though that I will be saving money in the long run- the app itself cost a very reasonable 25$. I bought a small ipod port, (I guess that is what it is called) with speakers, Phillips, for about 150$ and it seems very convenient for travelling.
have you tried riyazstudio?
I have tried the free downloadable version of Riaz studio that gives an idea of the drone but not the tabla. The drone seems excellent. The advantage of itabla is that it is an ipod app which makes it easily portable. Isn’t Riaz studio something that would have to be played through a pc or laptop? As I use itabla more maybe I will find some faults and I am sure I will appreciate the upgrades as they come in, but now I can find nothing to criticize. Do you have an opinion yourself on riaz studio? If it were free I would definitely try it but for the moment it would seem pointless for me to spend the money on it.