# Howl: A formant synthesizer — user reviews > 36 indexed App Store user reviews of Howl by Daniel Clelland, rated 4.30/5 from 39 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/howl-a-formant-synthesizer/id1067562312/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/howl-a-formant-synthesizer/id1067562312.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 30 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 4 ## Newest reviews (10 of 36) ### 3/5 — Can’t save as audio file! *2020-04-14, version 2.3* Now don’t get me wrong, this app is well made! The only problem that I’m having is that there’s no way to save or record sound files to my phone with this app! ### 4/5 — (Edited) fixed !!! *2019-08-26, version 2.3* Happy this app has been fixed! Sounds really cool! ### 3/5 — I like it but... *2018-03-27* Can’t figure out why when the app is open it disables sound output to my Bluetooth headphones. Makes it useless when I’m traveling or on the train. ### 4/5 — Formant synth makes cool sounds *2017-04-13, version 2.1* Thanks for adding Audiobus support so we can use it in our songs. ### 3/5 — Pretty good, lacking some key musical features *2017-01-18, version 2.1* The App has some interesting drone possibilities, but at this stage is lacking some critical features that could bring users back to it more often: 1. The pitch diamonds are hard to determine. Sometimes adjacent diamonds produce a minor third, sometimes...something else. Triads are almost impossible to sort out, and sound rather crowded and distorted. 2. The tweak dials are way out of control over sensitive. Seems almost impossible to make a reliable adjustment. 3. It would be very helpful to have a patch saving function, and perhaps even a few presets to give a better idea of the kind of timbres that can be achieved. I think it is an interesting music creation App, but to get to the next level of playability (and stars!) it needs to get beyond a bare minimum of features IMO. ### 2/5 — Howl *2016-12-20, version 2.0* Can't hear hear this at all, not very clear and no instructions, help. ### 2/5 — Could be good *2016-11-05* Some of the controls are stupid sensitive for small adjustments. Interesting but not much more than a novelty. ### 4/5 — Fun, but quiet *2016-09-27* I like this a lot but it's almost inaudibly quiet by default on the iPhone 6s. ### 4/5 — Very cool *2016-09-23, version 2.0* Great job. Responsive controls, sounds great, looks cool. Thanks! ### 5/5 — HOWL at the moon! *2016-09-23, version 2.0* Superb and straightforward app for those who like messing around with vocoder voices. An absolute blast, now that it works with the mighty AudioBus. Hopefully, it will still work when AB3 arrives. Would be fantastic if AU was added, enabling multiple instances under supporting apps. Nic ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Used to be amazing. *2024-05-16* iOS needs improvement. App no longer makes any sound. ### 1/5 — not working, only makes sound of microphone *2024-02-09, version 2.3* it doesnt make any sound and i've tried on my phone and my ipad and ive tapped on both pannels it also makes a dot in the other panel once every 10 seconds and copied the sound of the microphone making a super high pitched buzz ### 1/5 — Broken latest version of iOS? *2024-01-07* Doesn't seem to do anything anymore other than try to listen to the mic and cause feedback ### 1/5 — Doesn’t do anything. *2019-11-29, version 2.3* It just doesn’t work. ### 1/5 — Simply fails to work. *2019-11-03, version 2.3* Downloaded. Opened. Tapped in the vowels area. Tapped in the pitches area. No sound whatsoever. Volume up, sound coming from other apps. It’s just this one which makes no sound. Interestingly, I found another huge bug in seconds. Set the vowels area to “hold”, switched away and back to app. Turned “hold” off. UI doesn’t switch back to “no hold” mode. This app just hates my iPad! ### 1/5 — Want to Like it - No Audiobus or AUM *2018-06-24* Does not load in either Audiobus or AUM. Also, the vowel pad has no graphic effect as pictured. ### 2/5 — Remove audiobus with no additions come on! *2024-08-16* Auv3 please !!!!🙏 ### 2/5 — Just feedback *2023-02-09* I just got this and there’s just feedback sound. Don’t know how to use it ### 2/5 — Doesn’t produce its own sound. Only uses mic. *2023-01-16* Self explanatory. I don’t know what happened but this used to work just fine. Not anymore ### 2/5 — Fun but killed battery. *2019-08-26, version 2.2* 94% of overall battery consumption used by this app running in background. Had to uninstall. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Nerdy fun *2025-04-14* This is a lot of fun to play with. It’s probably useful if you are into linguistics or phonetics. You can almost make it talk. It would be cool if consonants were added to make this fully possible. ### 5/5 — Thank you for making this app *2021-04-12* Lots of well thought out features, this app is a thing of beauty. The world is a better please because it exists. It took me a bit to get used to controlling the knobs by angle. My instinct was the click the knob and hold, dragging up and down to change the value. That interface makes it easier to do fine adjustments but as is it is totally workable. ### 5/5 — Amazing and completely free *2019-09-04* This is a simple and intuitive Formant synth app that is 100% free. Virtual midi would make this a six star app. Thank you to the developer for this gift. Keep up the good work! ### 5/5 — Fun, easy & cool *2019-08-05* that’s not just what my business card says; it applies to howl too. this app totally fills my formant needs (which were considerable in Q2 and expected to increase for the rest of the fiscal year) and adds enough fx options to make it more than a novelty. the interface is excellent ### 5/5 — Very nice *2017-08-30* Plays well with AUM and Audioshare (Audioshare being a source). Just don't forget to play (and/or lock) it while filtering and turn the knobs down a bit so you can hear your source audio coming in. Very excited to further mangle more sound experiments. ### 5/5 — Awesome app! *2017-03-07* Really a thrill to use with all the modulation options at your fingertips on an iPad. Phenomenal touchscreen UI. I'm about to record a particularly grimey slurry of vowels and use that audio as the modulator for ableton's vocoder. It's gonna be funnnn.... ### 5/5 — Interesting *2017-01-18, version 2.1* Thanks for making it open source ! And thanks for the update ! ### 5/5 — excellent vowel synth *2016-10-16, version 2.0* lots of fun! why is this free? thank you ! fun and easy great sounding ,too. ### 5/5 — Motivated developmenf *2016-09-23, version 2.0* This Dev is cool. He created a good app and is making it better and bettef. So far it's pretty good and it keeps improving at an alarming rate. It's a worthwhile investment. The worst is when an app comes out and has no updates for a year and only when absolutely necessary to keep it wirking. This one improves to be better than it is, not just to sell. This is a very good one for the category. ### 5/5 — Quite good! *2016-09-23* Now, this has Audiobus. So that's it. Freaking awesome stuff! Only thing this NEEDS is Audiobus and IAA. Fun lil app. Great sounds. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-12.*