# SAGA Synth \| 16-Bit Sonic Fun! — user reviews > 73 indexed App Store user reviews of SAGA Synth | 16 by AudioKit Pro, rated 4.90/5 from 435 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/saga-synth-16-bit-sonic-fun/id1658167569/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/saga-synth-16-bit-sonic-fun/id1658167569.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 410 · 4★ 20 · 3★ 4 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 1 ## What do users think of SAGA Synth | 16? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🎶 Awesome retro sounds - 👍 Great creation methods - 🎨 Versatile and fun - 🎨 More than just game sounds - 👍 Tons of presets - 👍 Excellent sounds - 🎨 Upbeat and lively sounds - 🎨 Nostalgic and inspirational **Cons** - 🐛 Midi not working properly - 🐛 Sequencer issues with recording - 🐛 Keyboard issues and bugs - 🐛 Crashes and stability problems - 🤔 Not true 16-bit emulation **Commonly reported bugs** - Crashes when too many favorites - Overlapping UI elements on phones **Most requested features** - Export to Famitone music file - macOS version - Improved quantization ## Newest reviews (15 of 73) ### 5/5 — 好用 *2024-09-02* 但是没有中文版有些麻烦 ### 5/5 — Wow *2024-07-23* I have almost all the other Audiokit apps but I didn’t get this one to start with as I’m not into video game sounds. But this is far more than that. The waveforms that come with it are fantastic and the built in effects are really musical. Even though it doesn’t have any LFO’s it’s really easy to create original and out of this world sounds. Love it. ### 5/5 — Cool… *2024-04-16* Pleasant, yet sharp and bright tones. Inspiring you to compose more! ### 5/5 — Phone chiptune heck yeah *2023-12-21* This is a very quality synthesizer for the price. No muss, no fuss, lots of controls for customizing patches, lots of great presets. I wanted to make some chiptune on my phone and this thing is the powerhouse making it happen. ### 5/5 — Thank You for the new Filter/Res! *2023-09-28* Am loving the new features, especially the new filter and resonance! I’m a subtractive synth kind of guy. :-) ### 5/5 — Glide mode works now *2023-09-16* Thank you ### 5/5 — Sega mega drive *2023-09-16* This is a nostalgie ### 5/5 — macOS *2023-09-07, version 1.7.1* Wish it ran on my Mac! ### 5/5 — Excellent! *2023-06-30* More that just game sounds. Versatile and fun! ### 5/5 — It’s from AudioKit just buy it. *2023-06-28, version 1.6* AudioKit nailed it again. Amazing samples very authentic. ### 4/5 — Can’t see/load last presets *2023-05-20* On an iPhone 12 using iOS 16.5 I can’t see/load the last two presets in any folder with more than one screen of presets to show. ### 5/5 — Fabulous *2023-04-27* Audio Kit Pro does it again! They give you in depth apps for great prices. Their synths are all amazing and even at ‘full’ price are still affordable and deep. This one is fun and is much more than retro video game tones (which are still cool in my opinion). You can tweak this synth for hours and not get bored.. I love the record function and any auv3 addition to a stand-alone app is tops in my book. I think anyone who uses iOS devices to make music should check out devs like AKP, Tasty Pixel, Kymatica, Elf, and Beep Street (there are many more but I have a lot of love for these devs). Smaller devs who have changed the iOS audio ecosystem for the better. If you like iOS synths this one won’t disappoint you. ### 5/5 — Excellent Sounds ! *2023-04-27* Great app with marvellous sounds of the past. Well worth it. Tanks and keep up the good work. ### 5/5 — why this is SAGA and not SEEEGAAAAAA *2023-04-25* SAGA thing c is 8-bit & not 16-bit and it’s the same for some others to. and what does the “sonic” dial do? ### 5/5 — Great tools *2023-04-21* It’s always refreshing whenever many people come together to make a great product and that’s what we have here. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Sega 16bit synth *2023-01-21* Dont get sucked in this is so rubbish, wish i could get a refund. ### 1/5 — Not real sounds from 16bit consoles *2023-01-05* Hi I want a refund because the sounds from the app are not from 16bit sound chips at all there only made on a present day computer ### 1/5 — Crashed *2023-01-05, version 1.0* Crashed the first time out. That’s a first for an AudioKit app in my experience. ### 2/5 — Not really what I wanted *2024-03-02* It’s not the pure YM2612 and SN76489 emulation I wanted, more modern sounds or that have modern effects on them. I don’t think it’s possible to add your own sounds from the real hardware. It seems it is better to try BS16i with a Mega Drive sound font or even Deflemask for real Sega sounds. ### 2/5 — But… *2023-07-09* Good sounds, and the sequencer sounds great until you try and record it as an auv3…. At which point it seems to be broken, as it never seems to trigger at the start of the sequence no matter how carefully I time my button press - always a third or half way through. Pointless. So disappointing. ### 2/5 — Don’t like the sounds *2023-04-01* I love sega games and music but this sounds bad to my ears and too harsh. ### 2/5 — Doesn’t work well on phone, maybe other too *2023-01-20* The reason I say that is because the keyboard has a lot of dead spots and a problem, at least on iPhone (12 mini), but I suspect on other devices as well. I’ll often hit a key and nothing happens but if my shift my finger, just the tiniest bit, the key triggers also for some reason the iOS app swipe bar keeps appearing on the bottom on the lower part of the keys, even when I touch a key quite high up from the bottom edge. Unfortunately, both these things make the keyboard unuseable for anything other than hitting one single key, without needing to dependably hit a second key after and have it trigger. Also, a bit of the synthesizer is overlapped or cut off by the bulge at the top of the screen on newer phones; it doesn’t appear to be a problem, but on the other hand, I can’t quite tell if there’s something hidden under there. I have not had these keyboard problems on any other synthesizer I have on the same device. ### 3/5 — Great sounds, but quantisation is a bit buggy *2023-03-03* The sounds on this synth are amazing, and it has lots of great features. However, it can never seem to quantise properly. I mean it can quantise, just not fully. Like it always sounds a bit off. Is there a way you guys can fix this? ### 4/5 — Not as Adevertised! *2025-07-05, version 1.9.2* This sounds NOTHING like a SEGA or any 16 bit FM synth AT ALL. Not even close. That said, it’s a nice sounding and easy to program synth. I’m glad I got it at the sale price of $3 because I would not have been happy at all shelling out full price for something that’s falsely advertised. If you want SEGA 16 BIT goodness you’ll have to buy Plogue’s Chip Synth MD as a DAW plugin. That’s an AMAZING emulation of a Genesis/Mega Drive. ### 4/5 — Really? *2024-06-01, version 1.9.1* Why is midi not working on Saga synth like it should be?I like the design and the presets.This synth needs work.Fix the midi functionality problem. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Appreciation *2026-07-28* Absolutely love this app. Can’t wait to see what comes out next ### 5/5 — Really Ike this app *2026-03-17* Love this app, has amazing sounds, good creation methods, and such good vibes for retro sounding music. 5-stars from me! ### 5/5 — Awesome retro sounds!! *2025-11-10* So cool. ### 5/5 — Want a refund *2025-08-03* I rated this 5 stars so the next person looking at this app can read this. This app does not live up to its name. Apparently this game was supposed to have sega genesis sound pieces and sound effects, but none of that was in the app. Even The mascot is some bootleg version of Sonic the hedgehog. I seriously don’t understand why so many people like this app. It is misleading and I want my money back. ### 5/5 — Outstanding! *2025-01-27* Way more than nostalgic video game synths. This thing rocks. ### 5/5 — Sounds great. *2024-12-19, version 1.9.2* Tons of presets ### 5/5 — PLS ADD a feature to export to a famitone music file *2024-11-28* i love this app but i wish i could like export the music cuz i wanna use this for retro game dev ### 5/5 — It’s So Nice And I Can Make More Different Music. *2024-11-20, version 1.9.2* By Anthony Ocampo. ### 5/5 — Amazing classic synths and many modulations *2024-10-03* :) ### 5/5 — I love this app *2024-09-05, version 1.9.2* Cool samples and easy to get cool sounds, thanks for this --- *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 2026-08-27.*