Tāl Chakra
See How Indian Rhythm Works
Turn taal into something you can see.
16 Hindustani rhythmic cycles visualised, explored, and practised on an interactive circle. Real tabla samples, X-Ray structural analysis, subdivision practice, and tihāī composition.
Available now · iPhone & iPad
Your guru draws a circle on the board, marks the beats, claps
the vibhāgs, and suddenly the taal makes sense.
Tāl Chakra puts that moment in your pocket.
This is not a tabla machine. It is an interactive guide to the rhythmic architecture of Hindustani classical music. Each taal is drawn as a circle, the way musicians have understood rhythm for centuries, and brought to life with real tabla recordings, animated playback, and tools that let you take the structure apart and put it back together.
Six ways to take taal apart.
16 Tāls, One Circle
From the 6-beat Dādrā to the 16-beat Tīntāl and the rare 14-beat Ārā Chautāl, each taal plays with studio-recorded tabla samples across three dynamic layers. Watch the bead travel the cycle and hear each bol as it lands.
X-Ray Mode
Peel back the layers. Concentric rings reveal vibhāg groupings, tālī and khālī accents, and mātrā positions side by side. See instantly why Rūpak feels nothing like Jhaptāl. Then crossfade between two tāls to compare.
Laykārī Lab
Practise subdivisions against a running cycle. Nine colour-coded ratios, from barābar (1:1) through sātgun (7:1) plus the cross-rhythms kuāḍ and āḍ, grouped into three families. Tap Auto to cycle through whichever family your current ratio belongs to.
Tihāī Builder
Compose three-phrase cadences that resolve on sam. Set the starting beat, phrase length, and gap, and three coloured arcs draw themselves around the circle in real time. Green means it lands. 48 classic presets across the tāl library, tailored to each rhythmic cycle.
Tempo Lab & Performance Map
Explore the relationship between tempo and density across the five laya zones, from Ati Vilambit to Ati Drut. Then zoom out to see how rhythm lives inside a full rāg performance, from the unmeasured ālāp to the climactic final cadence.
Built for Riyāz
A tanpura drone in all 12 keys gives your practice a tonal anchor. Haptic pulses mark sam or every beat. A session counter tracks your cycles and elapsed time. A glossary of 50+ terms with Devanāgarī helps you learn the vocabulary alongside the music.
A circle for every tāl.
Questions, feedback, bug reports.
Write to us. Every message is read by the author. For anything urgent you can also email marc@asv.pt directly.