# VS – Visual Synthesizer — user reviews

> 51 indexed App Store user reviews of VS by Imaginando Lda, rated 4.60/5 from 125 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vs-visual-synthesizer/id1560330289/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vs-visual-synthesizer/id1560330289.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 103 · 4★ 11 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 8

## What do users think of VS?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- ✨ Awesome audiovisual workflow
- 💡 Powerful yet easy to use
- 🎨 Great for getting vibes out
- 🌟 Expands musical aspirations visually
- 🎛️ Easy to work with (Imaginando apps)
- 🎛️ Modulation matrix is a breeze (with FRMS)
- 🚀 Super performance shaders (potential)
- 💰 Worth every penny
- 👍 Excellent developer support
- ✨ Spectacular updates
- 👂 Developers listen to users
- 🎶 Perfect for combining beats with graphics
- 💡 Innovative app
- 🧑‍🎨 Great for visual artists and performers
- ✨ Interesting and cool visuals
- 🎶 Reacts to audio and MIDI input
- 🎛️ LFOs and envelopes for movement
- 🎨 Customizable GLSL shaders
- 🖼️ Video as texture maps
- 🎵 Supports AIFF files
- 🌟 Great for live performance visuals
- 💡 Unique audio-visual station
- 🎛️ Well-designed instrument
- 📂 Native file system integration
- ✨ Impressive features and abilities
- 🤩 Makes music sound better
- 🚀 Smooth performance on older devices
- 💡 Visual ROMpler concept
- 👍 Good start and long-sought feature
- 💯 Amazing app
- 🌟 Unique tool in iOS music ecosystem
- 👍 First-rate quality tutorials
- 🚀 Daring and fresh to iOS music
- 🎨 Great for designing layers
- 💡 Great for real-time audio/MIDI visuals

**Cons**

- 🐛 No elegant way for live synchronized video out
- 🔌 Popout to external displays only in standalone app
- 🚫 Standalone app can't run in background
- 🎛️ Doesn't work well plugged into looper or DAW
- ❌ Not fun at all
- 🔊 No live sounds
- 🖼️ No quality visuals (user opinion)
- 🖱️ No easy interface (user opinion)
- ❓ Bought but can't download
- 🐛 Video record export issue (long duration)
- 🐛 NDI stream not working
- 📉 Crashes frequently
- 🗄️ Can't cope with large MP3 files
- ⏯️ No way to seek in audio files
- ❌ Doesn't support .aiff files (only .aif)
- 🚫 Missing Bluetooth MIDI
- 🐌 Not smooth, freezes
- ❌ No MP3 support
- 🐌 Jaggy and slow performance with video background
- 🐌 Unresponsive interface with HD video
- ❓ Not the easiest app to understand
- ❓ No step-by-step tutorial
- 🔌 Can't link audio and use IA
- 🔌 Not seen as plugin or IA option
- 🚫 Doesn't work in other DAWs
- ❓ Can't import own audio (user opinion)
- 🤔 More of a play thing than a visualizer
- 📱 Can't access half GUI in AUv3 on iPhone
- ❌ Online documentation for desktop version
- 🚫 In-app help doesn't work
- 🖼️ AUv3 mode covers whole display, destroying aesthetics
- 🤔 Preset materials can become boring
- 🐛 Apt help doesn't work

**Commonly reported bugs**

- No elegant way to get live synchronized video out
- Popout to external displays only in standalone app, which can’t run in background
- Video record export issue: videos are 30+ minutes when recorded for shorter duration
- NDI stream not working
- App crashes frequently
- Cannot cope with 'large' MP3 files (around 10MB)
- No way to seek to anywhere but the beginning of audio files
- Does not support .aiff files (only .aif)
- Missing Bluetooth MIDI support
- App is not smooth and freezes
- No MP3 support
- Jaggy and slow performance with video file background and one material layer
- Unresponsive interface and frame rate drops with HD video
- In-app help does not work
- AUv3 mode displays AUM stuff and app menus, destroying aesthetics

**Most requested features**

- Integrate an audio tool for Spotify/other audio sources
- Allow using any graphic or photo content as a layer
- Hope for Metal rendering for super performance shaders
- More ways to interact between layers (displacement, feedback)
- Post-processing effects (luma key, feedback, kaleidoscope, mirror)
- Option to load videos and images in layers other than B layer
- More flexible/bigger choice of MIDI controllable artifacts
- Use MIDI to trigger pre-programmed words
- Ability to change font size in materials code editor
- Pause and resume feature for audio playback
- Ability to set play cursor anywhere in the middle of the file
- iCloud file sharing
- HDMI output for live use
- Save audio file with the patch in standalone mode
- Deeper mutating possibilities for items
- Other textural possibilities with imported images
- More mod sources for audio reactivity, device tilt, camera brightness, gestures
- Option to create own materials from scratch (shader coding)
- Cover the whole display in AUv3 mode (e.g., two-finger double tap)
- Add shaders to the library

## Newest reviews (13 of 51)

### 4/5 — Limited output

*2026-02-22*

The audiovisual workflow is awesome. It has a great amount of depth that makes it powerful but easy to use if you’re comfortable with synthesizers. Very good at getting the vibes out of your head.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an elegant way to get live synchronized video out of the app. I had imagined using it as a reactive component of live performance, but popout to external displays is only supported in the standalone app, which can’t run in the background. 

This version is good for live play on its own as a video synth or for pre-rendering video, but it doesn’t work well if you try to plug it into a looper or DAW and play it alongside instruments.

### 4/5 — It is fun to play on iPad

*2024-06-13*

I got my new M4 iPad Pro and the VS seems to be Perfect to combine beats with graphics.
What I would ask for is, to make it possibile to use all‘ Kind Of graphic or foto content as a Layer as well

**Developer response:** Yes, it will be on the next update. We are working on it. Stay tuned. Thanks for the review. Regards

### 4/5 — 输入源无法自定义

*2024-03-22*

我在连接蓝牙耳机的情况下，无法听到载入的歌曲，是否有设置可以选择输入源呢？

**Developer response:** Thanks for your report. We need to investigate. Regards

### 5/5 — Updated to 5 Stars

*2024-03-13*

Great app. The addition of ISF bumped it to 5 stars 🌞 These folks not only make great tools and instruments but they listen to their users!
Bravo

**Developer response:** Thank you for being a star and giving us the full 5! We're so excited to bring custom shaders/materials to VS, and we can't wait to see what our amazing community create!

### 5/5 — 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

*2023-11-14*

Update sorry that was my fault there isn’t anything missing thanks for your help

When I first purchased this app it had some interesting visuals and now when I try to use it it seems like you remove them what happened to the original visuals ? ?

**Developer response:** Hi Greg, we haven't removed any materials from VS, from either the Factory or Retina Refill banks. If you have any missing, please try re-installing VS. (Make sure to back up and save custom presets, preset banks, custom materials, etc first)

### 4/5 — Solved

*2023-07-21, version 1.4.2*

U can make it big screen with stage manager… still it keeps a black frame in pop out

### 4/5 — If only it worked… well it sort of does

*2023-06-18*

I’ve had this app for 30 minutes and it has crashed 10 times already. Mostly when I try to load an audio file, but sometimes just when it wants to crash. I’ll persevere for a while but if it doesn’t get any better I’ll look into how to get a refund. It’s a pity, because I do need visuals to go with my music before posting on YouTube. UPDATE after a couple of days: it seems as if it can’t cope with “large” mp3 files being loaded. By that I mean around 10MB. So for the moment I’ve abandoned loading normal songs. Given that, it is now fairly stable, although it does occasionally freeze for a few seconds before carrying on as usual. I think it has potential, but I haven’t tried connecting or loading MIDI sources yet.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Going better now I have tried loading a MIDI file - though it took some experimentation to make things work as I wanted. My song is 5 minutes long and there is no way to seek to anywhere but the beginning. Please add a pause and resume feature, or even better, the ability to set the play cursor anywhere in the middle of the file and start playing from there.

**Developer response:** Thank you very much for all your feedback and perseverance - it is very much appreciated.

### 5/5 — Yeeeeehaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

*2023-06-11*

What he said.

**Developer response:** Just like Public Enemy's Flavor Flav would say "yeaaaaaaaaaaaah boiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" 😎 Thank you very much your five star review - it made us smile! 😄

### 4/5 — Please fix or add ! 🙏🏻

*2023-06-07*

A great application, but unfortunately it is impossible to upload your footage in any way, although such a function is provided from the application itself and the folder in the files is visible, it would be very nice to have such a function, because all internal purchases are already purchased. And it's a pity that the application is magnificent and the only one of its kind.

**Developer response:** Hi there, thanks for your review and feedback. Do you mean use video clips on the background layer? Or some upload to sharing sites like YouTube etc?

### 5/5 — Does What It Says

*2023-05-24*

If your making music to share believe me when I say nobody is waiting in line to watch you fiddle around with touch screen knobs and such. Get this and take your performance videos to another level. VS paired with many inexpensive midi controllers such as the MiniLab3 is a live visual showcase waiting to happen. Do the tutorials so you don’t get frustrated like I did, I gave these guys a hard time about some things early on because I didn’t put the effort into learning it right away.. after a bit Imaginando has proven to be good at what they do and this app is spot on the market, worth the asking price, especially if you have had a hand in shaders.

**Developer response:** Thanks for this lovely review. Our best wishes to your creative endeavours. Best!

### 5/5 — Dreams do come true

*2022-11-19*

I had been dreaming of an app like this for a long time. One that could react to different instruments in a track separately. Imagine my surprise when I heard of this app. The progress it has seen since is spectacular and I just bought the retina refill, can’t wait to check it out.

**Developer response:** When you dare to dream big, amazing things can happen. We're so happy to hear how much VS means to you, and we thank you for your support and awesome words of encouragement! Feedback like this means the world to us.

### 5/5 — You rock!!

*2022-11-15, version 1.4.0*

Gran trabajo el de este desarrollador. Además, la atención al cliente es rápida y eficaz.

### 5/5 — Imaginando

*2022-10-26*

❤️ everything imaginando

**Developer response:** We love what we do, and that's because of you ❤️ Thank you for your support!

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Big no

*2026-01-19*

Not fun at all no live sounds no quality visuals no easy interface

### 1/5 — Bought it but can’t download??

*2025-02-20*

I just bought the app but it won’t let me download it? :( please help! IOS

**Developer response:** Hi again. Is your problem solved. Have you tried again since then. Can you please confirm to us? Thank you! Best regards

### 1/5 — Doesn’t support .aiff files

*2023-02-06, version 1.4.2*

I know it’s a Windows app first and foremost, but to be on iPad OS, where apps like GarageBand exports .aiff files, and ONLY specifically support .aif and NOT .aiff? Poor form. Since the whole point of the app is to put visuals to music, having to convert my music (by typing another ‘f’) means updating a LOT of files for just this one app.

**Developer response:** Hi. That should be a simple fix. We will open issue and fix it on the next version. Thank you for reporting. If possible get in touch with our customer support through our website so we can have your email and attach it to the issue. Thank you! Best regards

### 1/5 — Non funziona bene

*2022-11-13, version 1.4.0*

Manca midi bluethoot non e scorrevole si impianta spero in un aggiornamento uso iPad Pro 12.9 aggiungete midi bluethoot darò più stelle quando funzionerà meglio…..

### 1/5 — Good for a toy, but not an actual visualizer

*2021-10-14, version 1.1.2*

Until you can import your own audio I don’t see much of a point. Maybe if you’re a professional pianist that makes YouTube videos it could be a useful 🤷‍♂️. You can’t really do much of anything with it other than tweak knobs and experiment with synthy stuff. That’s cool if that’s your thing, but I paid the $20 for this thinking it would help my produce some high-quality visuals for my music. It’s more of just a play thing right now. You can use it on audio tracks as an auv plugin-in, but I can’t even accesss half the gui in that format on my iPhone. I requested a refund that they denied, but I would really appreciate it considering it’s $20 and I don’t even have a use for it.

### 2/5 — 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

*2023-11-10*

When I first purchased this app it had some interesting visuals and now when I try to use it it seems like you remove them what happened to the original visuals ?  ?

### 2/5 — Good but NDI stream not working

*2023-06-23*

It does what it is supposed to and looks good but I bought this because it has the NDI feature. Turning NDI on never asks for network access and the stream never starts.

**Developer response:** Hi there, we're really sorry. We're not sure why NDI is not working, it has worked fine in the past during testing. We need to investigate what has changed. Once again, sorry for this frustrating issue.

### 2/5 — MP3 support?

*2021-12-23*

Why is there no MP3 support? Really not looking to load up my iPhone with tons of WAV/AIF files.

**Developer response:** Hi. Just to let you know that MP3 support has been added to the latest 1.3.3 version. Thank you! Best regards

### 3/5 — Video Record Export Issue

*2023-12-02*

I want to first start off by saying, this is a good visualizer app and something I’ve been looking for in the App Store for quite some time. That being said, there’s a massive issue I’ve come across when exporting videos I record in the app. For some reason, the videos I record end up being 30 plus minutes when I’ve only recorded a minute and 36 seconds. I’m hoping this bug gets resolved soon.

**Developer response:** Hi there, thanks for alerting us to your issue - we need to investigate and reproduce it ourselves.

### 3/5 — Big expectations but…

*2021-11-16*

After watching the tutorials I had big expectations, this app could fulfill a big gap and be fun.
Unfortunatly, even after closing all other apps, and even if the frame rate showed 30fps, the results with a 5MB video file background (only one, and it cannot be modified) and only one material layer it becomes jaggy and slow.
Maybe a matter of codex, size, or something else, i don’t know…
This is on the latest iPad Pro 12,9 in, 1To and maxed out video memory…
I tried it on my iPhone 12 Pro Max the results are pretty much the same, the minute you step to HD, frame rate drops and interface becomes unresponsive.
These are my first rapid tests, I still hope… 
More to come and still positive, but for now it will be 3 stars, and it is generous, still hoping to have fun and a better experience with other promising features and better understanding of the details.
Site shows 50% discount, there was none on the app store but at 14CAD it’s ok, at least not one of those crazy monthly fees, thanks to the developers.
I will be glad to make a nicer review if I find ways to get better performances and optimizations in future updates.

**Developer response:** Hi. We have just released an update to VS that has two render quality modes: performance and quality. In performance mode, in trade of some quality, you will have 60 fps with any built in preset. This mode is enabled by default. Please let me know how it feels now. Best regards. Merry Xmas

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Sieht cool aus

*2025-12-12*

Alles Top. Bitte noch ein Audio Tool integrieren damit auch keine MIDI Files sondern wenn Mann Spotify hört schöne Gafiken dazu bekommt. Danke

**Developer response:** Vielen Dank für Ihre Bewertung! Wir nehmen Ihren Vorschlag gerne zur Kenntnis ☺️
Mit freundlichen Grüßen

### 5/5 — Entering Visual Ecstasy

*2025-12-04*

If you are looking for a way to expand your musical aspirations into a visual experience this is a great app for you it can take you in many directions, from customised GLSL shaders all the way to video as texture maps. It is easy to work with as are all Imaginando apps. If you use FRMS the modulation matrix will be a breeze. Give it a whirl you won’t be disappointed, trust me 😊

**Developer response:** What an amazing review! Thank you very much for praising VS and for recommending it 😁 We hope you continue enjoying VS’s visual ecstasy trip 😁

### 5/5 — Connects to MPC Live 3

*2025-10-16*

I’m super excited to get this working on my new MPC Live 3 and connect it to my iPad Air! It’s going to be so much fun making hip-hop beats with my own visuals. It’s going to be on another level!

**Developer response:** We're glad you're exited to use VS with your MPC! They pair very well indeed =) We have a tutorial on our instagram page on how to use the MPC with VS if you're interested. Thank you for your review!

### 5/5 — Fantastisch

*2025-09-16*

…genau was ich gesucht habe. Nach einer gewissen Einarbeitungszeit gelingen tolle Visualisationen mit persönlicher Note. Kann ich nur empfehlen!

**Developer response:** Vielen Dank für deine 5-Sterne-Bewertung und dafür, dass du VS weiterempfiehlst! Wir haben VS so entwickelt, dass es einfach zu bedienen ist und gleichzeitig genug Leistung bietet, um dir die volle Kontrolle über deine Visuals zu geben – damit sie genau so aussehen, wie du es dir vorstellst. Wir freuen uns, dass dir die Nutzung Spaß macht! ☺️

### 5/5 — Hope they’re able to use Metal rendering

*2024-12-16*

I’m aware that they weren’t using Metal in the past because rebuilding shaders for Metal wasn’t worth the effort as it would be zero use to their large Windows based installs. I’m hoping that Apple’s new porting options provides them a way to get super performance shaders on the iPad easily.

**Developer response:** Hi. That should be a simple fix. We will open issue and fix it on the next version. Thank you for reporting. If possible get in touch with our customer support through our website so we can have your email and attach it to the issue. Thank you! Best regards

### 5/5 — amazing

*2024-12-15, version 1.7.0*

great visuals for recreational and professional use, worth every penny, srsly

### 5/5 — Tim

*2024-11-23*

Amazing company!

**Developer response:** Thanks for your review and feedback. Best regards

### 5/5 — SUPPORTS AIFF FILES

*2024-07-09*

That was my big issue with the app. Other than that, I enjoyed what I could do with it and the presets were a good starting place. That would have made me update my rating just from that, but with all the other new features this far after it was released, that shows the level of support the developers are giving this app. If you were looking at the most liked reviews and seeing 1y, 3y, thinking this app was dead, check out the feature list and enjoy!

**Developer response:** Hi. That should be a simple fix. We will open issue and fix it on the next version. Thank you for reporting. If possible get in touch with our customer support through our website so we can have your email and attach it to the issue. Thank you! Best regards

### 5/5 — Updated to 5 Stars

*2024-07-09, version 1.6.0*

Updated review 1.6.0
Wow, wow, wow, wow!
I’ll probably write more later. This update is spectacular. Imaginando truly listens to their users and is committed to continually taking all their tools and instruments to the next level.
Bravo!
—
Great app. The addition of ISF bumped it to 5 stars 🌞 These folks not only make great tools and instruments but they listen to their users! Bravo

### 5/5 — Something special to look at

*2024-06-10, version 1.5.0*

Innovation is a rare thing when it comes to apps running on my phone, so, this one is outstanding. No brainer for visual artists and live performers.

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*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.*