Hot Favourite: Ehsaan Noorani has used SwarPlug in many of his compositions (Pic By Satheesh Nair)

“The best part is the quality of sound for instruments such as santoor, sarod and harmonium,” says Ehsaan Noorani, a member of the trio that created music for Bollywood hits such as Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK) and Bunty Aur Babli. “It was late at night and we were composing the song (Mitwa for KANK). It would not have been appropriate to call (sarod maestro) Amjad Ali Khan for a small piece of work. So, Shankar played the sarod using the Swar Systems software.” But of course, nobody noticed.

Launched first in circa 2003, Swar Systems has now come out with the fourth version of the software. An improvement over its earlier avatar, it now features 25 more rare Indian instruments, including the rabab and surbahar. Volume 1 and 2 comprised famous instruments from northern India such as the tabla, pakhawaj, dholak and tanpura, whereas Volume 3 brought forth sounds of classic instruments from the south, such as the mridangam, ghatam, nadaswaram and kanjeera.

The latest version (volume 4 extra edition) lets users play 74 sampled Indian instruments on a keyboard or music sequencer. It also allows composers to add tracks from Indian instruments to their songs, and they sound as if they are being played live. Company officials say the new software could even find application in any musical instrument that has an external MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) device, such as percussion instruments or even a flute. Its VSTi plug-ins allow musicians to make melody and rhythm, the Indian way. In addition, loops give rhythm to songs.

Swar Systems is the brainchild of French musician Mariano Etchepareborda, himself a tabla player and a software programmer, who felt compelled to develop the programme for want of players of Indian instruments in Switzerland. Ranjan Sharma, another musician programmer, co-developed the product and also took care of live recordings of instruments. “Notes in different octaves were recorded by top musicians to create authentic sound,” says Sharma. “To get the rhythm, each stroke was recorded and a separate wave file was created. This allowed the software to modify its tone and create rhythmic patterns as per the musician’s requirements.” Germany-based Linplug, another music software company, developed the interface. Sharma recalls being lucky enough to record some rare instruments such as the nishan, pepa and surbahar, when he met musicians at a Republic Day function in Delhi.

As Good As Live: SwarPlug and SwarTrax can reproduce life-like notes of rarest of rare Indian classical instruments

Designed basically for professionals, the different versions of the product are also appealing to students and connoisseurs of Indian melody and rhythms. SwarTrax is similar to SwarPlug but meant for users who find the MIDI setup on the keyboard or sequencer incompatible with VST plug-ins. SwarShala, which includes practice and composing sessions, is meant for learners. Tutorials come with audio/video samples. The practice section lets users define the root scale and rhythm pattern to start a riyaz or a jamming session.

Although launched five years ago, surprisingly Swar has had few takers. “The problem is that of piracy,” says Mehta. While SwarPlug and SwarTrax are priced at Rs 9,000, SwarShala is available at Rs 1,500. “The software has been used in several ad jingles and music compositions but, sadly, many are using its pirated versions.” Well, that is a different story, but the new age of digital music creation is here to stay. What say!

(Businessworld Issue 29 July-4 Aug 2008)