SpellSynth: Retro Vocal Synth Now Has MacOS & VisionOS Support And More

Chih Han Lin has updated SpellSynth twice in recent days, available for $2.99. The update is FREE to existing users.

What’s new in version 1.0.5 & 1.1.0:

• The AUv3 plugin now speaks whole words, not just single letters. A new mode switch picks between LIBRARY mode (type any word into the text field; 500+ bundled retro samples play back as one hit unknown words gracefully fall back to etter-by-letter spelling) and LETTERS mode (a full yellow A-Z keypad just like the original toy). A “View list” link in the plugin opens the full word catalog in your browser.
• Fixed: AUv3 voice was playing a full octave higher than intended. The bundled samples are 24 kHz, but the plugin was reading them at the host’s sample rate – which meant every sound came out one octave up. Now runs at native pitch on any host rate, with a regression test locking the contract so it can’t drift again.
• NEW:  Rate knob in the TONE panel drops the effective sample rate toward 8 kHz to emulate the stepped DAC character of a 1978 speech chip. Pair it with Crush for very vintage territory.
• NEW:  “Classic 1978” factory preset stacks crush. rate. and cutoff into the crunchiest voice in the bank – the closest we can aet to the T10280 speech chip Apple won’t let us ship directly.
• Recently typed words save as one-tap chips under the text field for quick recall.
• NEW: LPC voice mode. Tap LPC in the brand header to re-synthesise every letter and word through a 10-pole LPC vocoder driven by the actual TMS5220 chip ROM — the same speech algorithm the 1978 toy used. The AUv3 plugin gets its own LPC knob in the MIDI panel. Both versions cache so toggling is instant after first play, and your choice persists across launches.
• Sustain pedal (CC 64) now defers note release until you lift the pedal – proper MID sustain behaviour for hold-and-release phrasing. Channel Pressure (aftertouch) is routable to any parameter via MIDI Learn, tagged “AT” in the bind list so you can tell aftertouch and CC bindings apart at a glance.
• Velocity curves: Soft Linear / Hard, selectable in the AU’s MIDI panel. Pitch- bend range becomes a knob too – anywhere from t0 (locked) to +12 semitones (a full octave bend)
• MIDI Learn list grows from 5 to 14 controllable targets: pitch, speed, crush, cutoff, resonance, attack. release. three LFO destinations, stutter on/off, stutter rate, reverse, and the Rate knob — every performance parameter, mappable.
• External MIDI keyboards now drive the standalone app’s keypad. Connect any USB Bluetooth, or Network MIDI controller and notes C4-C#6 trigger letters A-Z just like tapping the keys on screen. Works in every qame mode.
• Now available on Apple Silicon Mac and Apple Vision Pro via Designed for iPad. Same iOS app, no separate download.
• Reliability under the hood: the AUv3 voice bank is lock-free across the audio thread, runtime caches are bounded so long DAW sessions don’t balloon memory, and corrupted user presets log a warning rather than silently vanish from the picker.

Type a letter and hear it spoken. Spell the word guess the mystery, or just listen – in crisp retro voices that bring the 1978 spelling toy back to life SpellSynth is a playable love-letter to the 1978 spelling toy that taught a generation to read – rebuilt for iPhone anc iPad. with four game modes and a crunchy VFD display.

Tap a letter and it speaks. Type a word and SpellSynth reads it back.

No accounts, no ads, no internet – just a pocket- sized speech toy that your kids (and you) can pick up for thirty seconds or thirty minutes.

• FREE PLAY
  • Type letters and words, hear every one spoken aloud,
  • The retro segmented display animates every keystroke.
• SPELL
  • SpellSynth says a word. You spell it. Three mistakes and you get the answer, then try a new one. Tap HINT to reveal a letter when vou’re stuck.
• MYSTERY WORD
  • The classic “guess the hidder word” game. You get the category and the first letter free; pick letters until the word reveals itself. Six wrong quesses and it’s game over

• SAY IT
  • Listen-and-repeat mode for pronunciation practice. SpellSynth spells the word letter by letter, then savs it whole. Tap
• REPEAT
  • To hear it again, NEXT for a new word

• BUNDLED AUDIO UNIT (AUv3)
  • SpellSynth ships with an AUv3 instrument extension, so the same voice engine loads inside GarageBand, Logic Pro, AUM, Cubasis, and any other AUv3 compatible host. MIDI notes trigger letters; onboard parameters let you pitch, stretch, and warp the voices into something new. Perfect for producers chasing that Kraftwerk / Stereolab / Broadcast sound
• BUILT FOR KIDS. SHAPED FOR PARENTS
  • Completely offline. No sign-up, no account, no data
    collection.
  • No ads. No in-app purchases. No external links.
  • No camera, no microphone, no location access.
  • Works on iPhone and iPad. No internet required after install.

• WORD LIBRARY
  • 90+ pre-recorded words with a clear retro voice
  • Add your own vocabulary list – the app falls back to the iOS speech synthesiser for custom entries.

For more information on SpellSynth, click here: 

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