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SpellSynth User Reviews

SpellSynth: Retro Vocal Synth
📚 Education
🎵 Music

Customer Experience

Positive experience45.5% of reviews
Neutral0.0% of reviews
Negative experience54.5% of reviews

~ Based on 11 written reviews from the US App Store.

Is SpellSynth Safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess SpellSynth.

Is SpellSynth Legit?

SpellSynth: Retro Vocal Synth appears legitimate, with a few gaps. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for SpellSynth is 65/100.

Based on 65 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

Time travel goodness

This little gem is a faithful representation of yestuyear. Fun little synth. Thanks for making it!
Rma74Rma74

Response from developer

Thanks for support :)

Brilliant!

The latest update, September 2026, now allows for full text-to-speech conversion. So much fun and so easy to incorporate into your songs when you use it as an AUv3 in your DAW. Can very easily get Kraftwerk-style robot vocals with this app, or percussive sounds. Love it!
Cotswold BoyCotswold Boy

Response from developer

thanks for support! yes, it has type mode on 1.2.6 ver.

Still doesn’t work

An update claims to be able to say any word. This is not true. It still just says each letter individually after hitting the ‘say’ button, and that’s only after waiting like five seconds. It even says “couldn’t say” by the word you enter. Still disappointed with my purchase.
angryreviewer36912angryreviewer36912

Response from developer

Can you tell me where you hit it? The AUv3 plugin inside a DAW, or the app itself — and what word you typed. The two behave differently, so that would tell me what you ran into. Here or zhiii0x@gmail.com, and I'll look into it. 1.4.0 is in review now and fixes several AUv3 reports, including words coming out spelled instead of spoken. Thanks for the report.

Love it!

SpellSynth is great for adding voices and phonics to your music. Nice design, easy to use although I wish there was an option to switch to a QWERTY key layout instead of the default alphabetical order of the original Speak and Spell hardware it’s kind of emulating. Great start though, five stars, looking forward to adding voices to loops and drones.
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Cotswold BoyCotswold Boy

Response from developer

thanks for support! yes, it has type mode on 1.2.6 ver.

Cool, but

None of the voices sound like the 1984 Texas Instruments voice I hoped for when I purchased this. Very cool app for audio work.
mvanputtmvanputt

Response from developer

Thanks for advise!

Updated review: Retro awesomeness! 🤘🏼😁

Thanks for the speedy fixes and updates. The default voice now brings on the instant nostalgia and the games and functions are rocking!
I’ll dive into Auv3 mode a bit more, but with some quick testing all seems much improved and working flawlessly. Will report if I run across any new issues. Cheers!
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mikenofacemikenoface

Response from developer

Updated: Both your points landed in releases since this. 1.0.4 brought full word typing to the AUv3 plugin (no more being stuck with letters / CAT demo). And 1.1.0 added an LPC mode driven by the actual chirp — tap LPC in the brand header and every word/letter runs through a 10-pole LPC vocoder. That's as close to the 1978 character as I can get without an emulator. Thanks for the patience!

Doesn’t say any words

I like the idea. I know it can be better but right now, it’s very incomplete. And that’s from both standalone and AUV3 perspectives. Saw the update and tried typing in “hi” and it couldn’t say it. Hopefully this gets better someday. No use for it yet
IcimjIcimj

Response from developer

Free Play used to go silent on anything outside the bundled ~550 words — turned out I was releasing the speech synth before its callback fired, so the audio never came back. Now any word you type pronounces via the system TTS and caches for instant replay. Sorry for the rough first impression — would love it if you give it another shot. Cheers!

terrible

Found this on an iPad music group on Facebook. Whoever posted about it needs to quit lol
Dj AlibiDj Alibi

Response from developer

Hello! Thank you for your feedback. I would love to hear any specific suggestions you have!

Shovelware App

macht nichts was der Apple Speech Synthesizer auch kann.
touchcodertouchcoder

Response from developer

Since version 1.1.0, I’ve already implemented an algorithm that simulates LPC speech, which should be completely different from the Apple Speech Synthesizer. Feel free to give it another try when you have the chance~ Mach’s gut!

Not the original speak voice

1. This does not contain the actual lo-fi robotic voice of the original speak n spell.
2. In Auv3 mode, the user is stuck with the word “cat” or a single letter. There is a keyboard button that is basically nonfunctional. Please fix these issues.
mikenofacemikenoface

Response from developer

Thanks for the detailed review — both fair points. On the voice: it actually runs through an 8-bit bit-crush, 24 kHz downsample, and anti-aliased LPF chain to chase that Speak & Spell character (Apple won't let us ship the original TI0280 chip on iOS). I hear you that it still doesn't quite nail it — pushing the crunch harder and getting closer to the original formants is on the bench for the next update. On AUv3: v1.0.3 is already in App Review and brings a batch of plugin fixes (preset save/load, MIDI pitch bend, panic, parameter display in Logic's generic view). The bigger fix you're pointing at — typing full words inside the plugin instead of being limited to letters or the "CAT" demo — isn't in 1.0.3; it's the top item for the next update right after. I'll get it through review as fast as I can. Cheers!

Can’t Say Most Words

Bought this to use as a robotic voice for some music, but it could only say one of the ten or so words I entered. Good for individual letters, but disappointing overall.
legittristanlegittristan

Response from developer

Update since this: AUv3 got full word typing in 1.0.4 — type any word inside the plugin and it speaks it. And in 1.1.5 (just shipped), Free Play in the standalone speaks any word too via system TTS fallback — was a synth-retain bug on my side. If you're still chasing a robotic voice for music, would really appreciate you giving it another try. Cheers :)