# ShockWave - Synth Module — user reviews > 59 indexed App Store user reviews of ShockWave by Kai Aras, rated 4.60/5 from 190 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shockwave-synth-module/id1449844670/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shockwave-synth-module/id1449844670.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 158 · 4★ 12 · 3★ 5 · 2★ 4 · 1★ 11 ## What do users think of ShockWave? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - ✨ Unique and amazing sounds - 🔊 Heavy and brutal tones - 💡 Innovative phase distortion synthesis - 🎨 Beautiful and deep sound sculpting - 🎹 Great for bass sounds - 🌟 Inspiring presets - 🎛️ Tweakable parameters - ✨ Gorgeous sounds - 🎶 Weighty sound generation - 🎛️ Semi-modular like interface - 🚀 Fast loading in some apps - 👍 Developer responsiveness (mentioned by some) - 💎 Little treasure of an app - 🎵 Dark and atmospheric synthesizer **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches - ❌ Not working in AUM/AUv3 - 🔇 No sound output in certain apps - ❓ Difficult to use without a manual - 📉 Laggy UI and slow patch loading - ⚠️ "Bad Signal" errors - 🎛️ Glitchy UI - 📉 Poor performance on some devices - 💸 Waste of money for some users - 🚫 Unreliable for performance - 🔋 Potential battery drainer - 🔊 Noisy and glitchy volume - 🎛️ Dials need more work - 😵 Overwhelming without guidance **Commonly reported bugs** - "Bad Signal" errors in AUM, stops sound generation. - Intermittent "bad signal" prompt in AUM, requires reloading. - Sounds awful, very distorted with glitchy UI. - App crashes frequently. - No sound coming out of AUv3 in GarageBand. - More than half of the sounds do not play. - Performance remains but synth loads blank when returning to work after closing. - App stops producing sound after a few minutes of use. - Preset browser causes the app to stop producing sound. - No audio output on iPhone 6 & 7 plus, sometimes noise when changing presets, keyboard doesn't work. - Randomize button not viewable on iPhone 6. - App crashes when returning to a project. - App crashes on the loading screen on iPhone 11, but works on iPhone 7. - Hangs and freezes, won't load/work in AUM or GarageBand. - Horribly laggy, almost unusable. - Volume is noisy and glitchy. - Response on dials needs more work. - Modulation tab issues, unable to turn other knobs properly. - DAW incompatibility issues. - App crashing, won't even load. **Most requested features** - Provide a proper manual detailing all parameters and sections with examples. - Implement a key trigger option for the sequencer to allow MIDI controller playback. - Add a poly mode. - Improve documentation and tutorials. - Standardize knob appearance and response. - Increase the number of available patches beyond 128. ## Newest reviews (13 of 59) ### 2/5 — Bad signal *2024-11-29* Getting intermittent bad signal prompt in AUM then fails to work and needs reloading ### 2/5 — Glitchty *2024-03-13* Sounds awful, very distorted with glitchy UI. Needs an update, this one. ### 3/5 — Lovely and infuriating *2024-01-25* Gorgeous sounds but glitchy with no proper manual ### 2/5 — Brilliant synth but w/o manual…forget it! *2022-09-20* Kai Aras is brilliant, and all his apps are among the best. If all you want to do with this app is use the presets, great. You’ll hear some incredible sounds. But if you’d actually like to design your own presets, or even creatively modify existing presets, good luck. Without a manual that details the function and examples of every parameter and section of this very deep synth, it’s extremely difficult to understand and use. I cannot understand why the dev, after spending so much time to create such a wonderful product, would throw this beast into the wild and expect the majority of people buying it to somehow understand how to use it. Based on my experience with this and other similar difficult apps, I will never again purchase a product from a developer that doesn’t have a well written manual. To Kai and other developers: please take the time to produce a well written manual that not only describes the function of every parameter and section in your software but also gives examples of how to use it. Help us to understand and enjoy your amazing apps. Otherwise, what’s the point? **Developer response:** Message received, thank you! ### 4/5 — Not working in GarageBand *2021-11-24, version 1.1.3* Sorry, I couldn’t find any other way of contacting you. Right now there is no sound coming out of the auv3 in GarageBand. Cubasis is fine. Let me know if there’s anything I need to do on my end. I have an iPhone 12 max, latest iOS 15.1.1 Cheers Nik ### 2/5 — Only seems to work in standalone mode. *2021-04-16* Loads of presets but it doesn’t like other apps. Supposedly AUV3 but although it loads into AUM and the presets appear, none of them work. I’ve tried a couple of midi controllers and nothing! I uninstalled and reinstalled and still no sound in AUM, so if you are happy with standalone only great, if not don’t buy. ### 3/5 — Bug *2020-12-19* My performance in the sequence remains but the synth loads blank when returning to work on it after closing. I had 2 saved copies of the session and in both instances the load up failed. I don’t know if it’s beatmaker 3 ruining my work or this app. ### 4/5 — Almost one of the best .. *2020-11-02* You need to hear it - 😍 5 stars if you implement a GLOBAL TUNING function .. ### 3/5 — Dont know what to think *2020-10-29* I love this developers apps but this, I dont know what to think. Some presets work, others dont. A lot of crashes. Ive tried to figure the app put on my own but its over my head. No manual, the help is very vague. The only titorial, by Haq, only covers a small amount of features, he even says in the tutorial that he stayed with the basics while creating the presets basically. I want to like it but Ive had it over six months and have just given up. ### 5/5 — Very nice sounding synth! *2020-09-24* I use it for bass and it sound marvelous. I also like the Jakob’s presets. You don’t need hardware synth when you have beauty like this on the AppStore. -Kidam ### 3/5 — Broken!? *2020-08-17* Worked well on my ipad after an update but seems broken on both my iphone 6 & 7 plus. No audio, nothing showing on the meter, sometimes get some noise when changing presets, keyboard doesn't work. Strange. Can't view the randomise button on iphone 6 which is my favourite feature so can't use it. ### 3/5 — Crashes *2020-07-27* The sounds are great, but when I come back to a project I’m working on it tends to crash. Not sure if I’ll continue using it if it keeps doing this. ### 5/5 — Fantastic synth is best in class (thanks Jaq Attack)! *2020-05-27, version 1.1.1* Found this synth on recommendation through Jaq Attack’s YouTube channel. I agree with the previous reviewer that this synth is currently the best in its class. If you’re looking for a streamlined and sexy modular-like synth on iOS, look no further. If I had any complaint, it’s that the sequencer doesn’t seem to have a way to trigger the sequences by key trigger, and instead just play the same tuned sequence as with traditional modular analog sequencers. So if the dev is reading this, please consider allowing a more modern key trigger option for the sequencer presets so we can trigger playback with our MIDI controller keyboards in key. Otherwise, the dev has been quick to respond to bug reports and fix things (we’ve seen several updates in the 5 months since release)! Highly recommended - it’s an affordable purchase that will appeal to sound designers. Presets are a little sparse, though. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — BADSIGNALAUv3INAUMNotWork *2024-12-02* Developer Kai Aras, when you finish loading the Shockwave app in AUM, as auv3, it immediately shows me “BAD SIGNAL”, and it no longer generates sound, you can’t hear anything, even if I select or change any of its presets. I press where it says “BAD SIGNAL” and I get the following as a warning: “Bad Signal, some node in this channel is producing invalid signal values ​​(NaN or inf) Try to see which plugin is causing the issue and let their developer know about it.”. I have read all the reviews of this app, and they all refer to problems with the volume and other things, which you in 4 years have not deigned to repair or solve with some update. That is what we call irresponsibility. ### 1/5 — 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 *2023-11-13, version 1.1.3* He can make great apps but he doesn’t maintain or fix the Bugs doesn’t look safe to purchase from this developer anymore ### 1/5 — aber *2023-02-04* wirklich klasse soundmöglichkeiten… aber in AUM werden die verwendeten sounds nicht gespeichert, bein neu laden immer nur INIT, das ist nervig. das speichern drr einstellungen sollte eigentlich selbstverständlich sein! schade, deshalb irgendwie unbrauchbar und viel punkteabzug. bitte korrigieren, denn dann wäre es wirklich ein klasse synth. ### 1/5 — Complete disaster *2021-06-08* Poor quality software. Not easy to use. Seems to be full of bugs. Just skip this one. ### 1/5 — Sounds Great & is Buggy *2021-03-15, version 1.1.3* Purchased this after Haq recommended it. And was subsequently disappointed as it would bug out. Makes amazing sounds, yet I consider it a totally unreliable app for performance. Please hunt your bugs and I will immediately and gladly give this app the full five stars it deserves bc of its amazingness. And Haq, I strongly suggest that you really veto the apps you recommend, you lost some cred with suggesting a buggy crash app. ### 1/5 — More then half of the sounds doesn’t play *2021-02-15, version 1.1.3* 1 star because the sounds don’t play, waste of 20$. And you will not receive a refund after you purchase this app. I can say the few sounds that do work does sound super amazing though. ### 1/5 — Broke After Five Minutes *2020-08-18* I opened it up for the first time and was enjoying it for about 5 minutes before it stopped working. Immediately after saving my first patch, the app stopped producing sound. I tried going through the presets, and a few of them would make a sound just for a moment when I switched to them (on their own, not via keyboard/touch input), but it wouldn’t put out any audio other than that. Closing out of the app and re-opening didn’t solve the issue. After deleting the app and re-downloading, the same thing happened again as soon as I browsed the presets. I had heard it was buggy but didn’t expect this. Totally unusable if you want to so much as touch the patch browser. Will probably end up requesting a refund. ### 1/5 — iPhone 11 crash issue but works on iPhone 7 *2020-05-01, version 1.1* Amazing synth but it crashes every time On the loading screen when I open it. The synth doesn’t even load for 1 second :::::oooooo It worked fine on the iPhone 7 WTH ### 1/5 — Hangs and freezes *2020-04-29, version 1.1* Wont load/work in AUM or GarageBand for me on my ipad pro. It hangs and freezes everything up. ### 1/5 — Horribly laggy! *2020-04-18, version 1.1* This synth is almost unusable. Don’t waste your money buying this... it’s obvious that the developers have zero interest in fixing the multitude of bugs in this app. Super disappointing. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Heavy tones *2025-04-07* My go to for harsh sounds. Play this through a 1000 watt pa and experience total brutality. ### 5/5 — As close to a semimodular there is! *2023-04-18, version 1.1.3* Thank you Jacob Haq for turning me on to this awesome synth! ### 5/5 — Simply a great synth *2022-12-22* Phase Distortion seems to make such weighty sounds. Great app. ### 5/5 — Dark send *2022-09-17* What is dark and atmospheric synthesizer this is I really love the sounds of able to make with it and I’m really getting into it it’s very deep ### 5/5 — Great sounds! *2022-01-14, version 1.1.3* This is a little treasure! So much inspiration has gone into the presets that come with this. It’s like there is an extra dimension! ### 5/5 — Cool. *2021-07-21, version 1.1.3* Cool. It is really really cool Thanks, my life is happier now. Wow... ### 5/5 — ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT *2021-02-10* The sound sculpting abilities of this app are literally endless This is my favourite be it software or hardware synthesiser of all time. Buy it now you won’t be disappointed. Doug B, STUDIO 19. ### 5/5 — Lushness *2020-12-23* This thing can sound evil, so evil. But it also does harmonically rich, beautiful sounds as well. I’ve only tried the standalone, hopefully it won’t act up when using it as AUv3. ### 5/5 — A lovely synth *2020-11-16* Some nice presets here, very tweak-able. I like it a lot! ### 5/5 — Real nice crucial layout *2020-11-01* Sounds are insane so far and i like the drone but with added seq to get it into a semi beat. This is excelling in a dark but rhythmic way so far! Im sure it can do normal stuff too, just really far out() --- *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 2026-08-20.*