Comparison

TaalMala vs Dholak Drum Percussion

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

Head to head
About

TaalMala

This app provides realistic accompaniment for Indian classical musicians, featuring high-quality sampled instruments like Tabla and Tanpura. It offers extensive pre-composed compositions and allows users to create their own Taals, Lehras, and SwarMandal patterns. Ideal for daily practice or live performances.

Highlights
  • High-quality sampled instruments
  • 360+ pre-composed Taals
  • 246+ pre-composed Lehras
  • 620+ pre-composed SwarMandal patterns
  • Compose custom Taals and Lehras
  • Sequencer for arranging patterns
  • Adjustable tempo and pitch
Features
Read full description

TaalMala provides personalized accompaniment of Tabla, Pakhawaj, Manjeera, Tanpura, SwarMandal and Lehra/Nagma on Santoor and Harmonium. Use TaalMala for your daily riyaaz or live concerts. With high-quality Tabla, Pakhawaj, Manjeera, Tanpura, SwarMandal, Santoor and Harmonium sounds sampled from real instruments, more than 360+ pre-composed Taals and Sequences, and more than 246+ pre-composed Lehra/Nagma compositions, and 650+ SwarMandal patterns in 65+ Ragas, TaalMala provides a complete practising solution for any Indian musician. With TaalMala Composer, you can compose your own Taals, Lehras/Nagmas, SwarMandal patterns by simply typing the notation of the Taal/Lehra on special built-in Taal/Lehra keyboard. With TaalMala Sequencer, you can arrange sequences of fixed or randomized or tempo-based Taal and Lehra/Nagma patterns. TaalMala features: - High-quality studio-recorded Tabla, Pakhawaj, Tanpura, SwarMandal, Santoor, Harmonium and Manjeera (Zanj) sounds - Two sets of Tabla/Dagga sounds and ability to choose and mix-match between the two sound sets - 360+ pre-composed Taals and Taal sequences, including most popular Taals and their variations - 246+ pre-composed Lehra/Nagma compositions and sequences in multitude of ragas and Taals - 620+ pre-composed SwarMandal patterns in 62+ Ragas - New Taals, Lehras/Nagmas and compositions added frequently as updates - Compose your own Taals and Lehras/Nagmas by simply entering the notation - Powerful sequencer to compose fixed, tempo-based and randomized sequences from the Taals and Lehras library - Taal/Lehra/SwarMandal pad; play any Taal/Lehra/SwarMandal pattern on-demand in live accompaniment - Automatic Manjeera/Zanj accompaniment, synchronized with the Tabla/Pakhawaj Taals - Adjustable tempo from 10 bpm to 1000 bpm - Pitch control (+/- 0.5 octave), with independent fine-tuning of all instruments for precise matching with your scale - Pitch detector for detecting your pitch and precise matching, built within the app - Independent volume control for Tabla/Pitch, Dagga/Bass, Manjeera and Lehra/Nagma - Choice of chromatic or just/harmonic tuning for all instruments, with fine-tuning capability. - Up to 2 simultaneous Tanpuras - High-quality Tanpura sounds (male and female tones) with all popular Tanpura patterns included - Adjustable Tanpura tempo and strumming speed of 4 Tanpura strings independently - Option to slightly vary the Tanpura plucking delays randomly for better realism - Tap on the screen twice to set exact Taal tempo, as required This version of the application has following limitations: Playback restricted to 5 minutes every hour. To unlock full functionality and remove the limitation above, click "Buy" option on the main screen. Once you purchase a subscription to the app, the 5-minute per hour limitation will be removed. Please contact us at service@taalmala.com if you have any questions. Licensing terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Our privacy policy: https://www.taalmala.com/privacy.shtml

About

Dholak Drum Percussion

This app simulates a South Asian hand drum, offering studio-quality sounds with customizable soundboards. Users can record and play back their musical creations. Regular updates promise new features and bug fixes.

Highlights
  • Studio-quality Dholak drum sounds
  • Customizable soundboard
  • Audio recording
  • Playback of recorded files
  • Multi-touch support
Features
Read full description

Dholak is a South Asian two headed hand drum. Two surfaces of Dholak allows a combination of bass and treble with rhythmic high and low pitches. Features - Include various real sounds with studio quality and will be continue updated more - Customize the soundboard to play - Record audio while playing - Show list of record files and play them - Multi touch supported Many features will be update soon We will update app monthly by fixing bug (if have any) and apply new features for it. So let us know about your experience and keep in touch with us.

Screenshots

TaalMala4 screens
Dholak Drum Percussion2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Dholak Drum Percussion at none against TaalMala's 2. Dholak Drum Percussion also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.3) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 12.0). TaalMala's advantage is ratings volume (177 vs 2) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). On price, ads and device support 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

Both are free to download. TaalMala sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Dholak Drum Percussion asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Dholak Drum Percussion holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TaalMala has 177 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TaalMala ships an update every 2 months, Dholak Drum Percussion every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
TaalMala versus Dholak Drum Percussion: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTaalMalaDholak Drum Percussion
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (177 ratings)4.5 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings177 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAbhijit PataitDuan Nguyen

Customer experience

TaalMala

All ratings177 ratings
Positive82.5%
Neutral3.4%
Negative14.1%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral14.3%
Negative52.4%

Dholak Drum Percussion

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TaalMala

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Edition - Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Premium Edition - Yearly$29.991 Year
None

Dholak Drum Percussion

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is TaalMala free?
TaalMala is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Dholak Drum Percussion free?
Dholak Drum Percussion is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, TaalMala or Dholak Drum Percussion?
Dholak Drum Percussion is rated higher. TaalMala averages 4.3 out of 5 from 177 ratings, while Dholak Drum Percussion averages 4.5 from 2 ratings.
Do TaalMala or Dholak Drum Percussion have ads?
Neither TaalMala nor Dholak Drum Percussion shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TaalMala or Dholak Drum Percussion?
TaalMala ships an update every 2 months, and Dholak Drum Percussion every 4 months. Most recently, TaalMala was updated on November 1, 2026 and Dholak Drum Percussion on November 2, 2026.

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