Why is Synapse so broken? | Razer Insider

Why is Synapse so broken?

  • 24 September 2022
  • 34 replies
  • 5307 views

Userlevel 4
Synapse is, without a doubt, the most embarrassing, unfinished, buggy piece of software I have ever had the misfortune of having to deal with. Why is it always - ALWAYS - so buggy?

All I want is for the software to do what it tells me it's going to do. But that rarely happens. Macros don't record properly. Lighting effects don't save. Profiles don't switch. PROFILES DON'T SWITCH. This is the most incredibly annoying thing. I have a profile that I made for a game to spam quick attack (middle mouse button). and when I leave the game, it does not switch my profile back to default. So now when I middle click a web page to scroll, it just spams middle click until I manually change the profile back to default. There are so very many things wrong with all version of Synapse, and I plan to eventually write them down as I run into them. But it's getting harder and harder to recommend friends, or even continue to be interested myself, to Razer.

I would be so embarrassed to have released not 1, not 2, but THREE incomplete versions of software for all the peripherals made from this company. I am a big fan of the aesthetics and ergonomics of a lot of Razer's stuff, but I 200% loathe the fact that this incredibly sub-par software is required to configure them, and doesn't even do it right.

34 Replies

Userlevel 3
I 100% agree.
I updated my Synapse to the latest version and my Basilisk Ultimate just stopped working via wireless.
I now have to to use my Basilisk Ultimate wired and it annoys me so much. Razer Support knows about the problem and I am not the only one with this problem but I have to wait for a bugfix I guess.
I even bought a brand new Basilisk Ultimate just to be sure that this is a Software and not a hardware bug. I also double checked with different Laptops and PCs but its all the same.

I really wish that Razer would fix their Software Problem.

I love Razer Products... but the software makes it hard to recommend any of their peripherals.
Userlevel 1
yeah ive been fighting with synapse for days now, its always something.
wont open on boot
wont populate game list to link to profiles
and NOW my blackwidow elite media knob wont work as long as synapse is running. hmmmmmmm.

lets be real razer is just going to keep pushing this crap out for 13 yos in the suburbs with their parents credit cards.
im putting all this crap on ebay and going corsair or logi, this is ridiculous.
their support is always reinstall, if that doesnt fix it sign your life away with their extremely invasive logs, which will not lead to a solution.

this is crap, but they dont care they already have my money. such trash.
Userlevel 1
Jayxe
Synapse is, without a doubt, the most embarrassing, unfinished, buggy piece of software I have ever had the misfortune of having to deal with. Why is it always - ALWAYS - so buggy?

All I want is for the software to do what it tells me it's going to do. But that rarely happens. Macros don't record properly. Lighting effects don't save. Profiles don't switch. PROFILES DON'T SWITCH. This is the most incredibly annoying thing. I have a profile that I made for a game to spam quick attack (middle mouse button). and when I leave the game, it does not switch my profile back to default. So now when I middle click a web page to scroll, it just spams middle click until I manually change the profile back to default. There are so very many things wrong with all version of Synapse, and I plan to eventually write them down as I run into them. But it's getting harder and harder to recommend friends, or even continue to be interested myself, to Razer.

I would be so embarrassed to have released not 1, not 2, but THREE incomplete versions of software for all the peripherals made from this company. I am a big fan of the aesthetics and ergonomics of a lot of Razer's stuff, but I 200% loathe the fact that this incredibly sub-par software is required to configure them, and doesn't even do it right.

i totally agree
personally i just cant start synapse i tried all possible techniques but nothing works razer steals our money
Userlevel 4
What the fuck is this Razer? I only ever created 3 profiles. 3090MonsterDefault, Warframe, and Satisfactory. Why the hell are 3 more defaults made? Why won't the profile change from Warframe to Default when I close Warframe? And now, why won't any macros work under Hypershift? It claims I need synapse to run. IT'S RUNNING! Seriously, Razer, fire -EVERY- person in your software department and hire people who know what they are doing. This is absolutely BONKERS that the program is so incredibly broken and mishandled. Min Lian Tan, if you're reading this, I feel so embarrassed for you. This type of quality in the software is just so poor. I would never stamp my name on such low quality material.
Userlevel 1
Just got Kraken headset, Viper ultimate and Huntsman mini USB devices where Viper is wireless. On The headset i've spatial audio purchased. Everything Works fine AFTER closing Synapse. Now this is clean install after Windows 10 Pro updates and chipset etc drivers.

Symptoms:
Random mouse disconnects 3-5 secs of duration.
Random audio output device resets
No input from keyboard

Remedies:
Re-install everything
Firmwares up-to-date
Different USB ports

So im out of ideas. I just went to get all razer tech including itx case and now im having all these equipment as dead weight on My desk.

Every update makes me miss the previous version.

  • I have the Chroma Argb controller and the lightning rarely works as intended. Even at first boot it gets bugged with a static color and makes me restart my pc because; on previous versions, right clicking then exiting all the apps was enough to restart the synapse but now I have to kill every razer process manually to restart it, or I have to restart the pc.
  • Everytime I want to create or edit a profile in the studio, it takes 3 minutes to move the mouse cursor and then I give up and quit.
  • Can’t even rotate my fans on the studio.
  • My Basilisk X sometimes drops the wireless connection and does not respond for a while.
  • All my lightning stutters/goes on and off sometimes get stuck at a static color when my Basilisk X goes into sleep, even if I set the timer for 10 minutes this happens EVERY MINUTE.
  • THXService  always using %10 percent of my cpu because of my Kraken TE.
  • Annoying command prompt at every boot.
  • My pc turns off in 2.5 minutes after pressing shutdown button. And in that 2.5 minutes all my lightning turns on and off again and again. I have never had this issue before a razer HID driver update.

Casually tried clean windows installs, uninstalling/reinstalling synapse etc. Then they want you to send logs to solve these issues, and mail you back 2 months later saying “we couldn’t recreate the issue” then close the case. I’m really really tired of it and regret buying my every piece of razer hardware. I have never ever used a more infuriating, annoying and buggy piece of software in my life before.

So many issues:

  1. Profiles
    1. corrupted
    2. Hybrid storage doesn’t work
    3. Profiles and macros don’t work when signed IN to Synapse, but work OK on a guest account.
    4. Unable to sync profiles
    5. unable to factory reset / erase profiles (!) 
  2. Macros don’t work in a dozen ways
    1. issues with combined modifiers (like win + ctrl)
    2. keys stuck in down-press or un-press
    3. keys do not respond
    4. corrupted in so many ways...
      1. random keystrokes removed from macros
      2. unwanted duplicates
      3. failure to run
      4. failure to duplicate correctly
      5. corrupted on import
      6. up/down keystroke pairs no longer “linked”
      7. no name “No macro”
      8. unable to edit
      9. unable to wipe from account
    5. NOTE: yes, I am sure many (if not all) the issues stem from Razer/Synapse, not the user. eg i checked the macro files themselves and discovered, for example, some were missing ID tags, had the wrong ID, ordered my inputs differently from what was displayed in Synapse, 
  3. Random:
    1. Razer products to continuously connect/disconnect every 30-40 seconds -- literally unusable. Culprit: plugging in the mouse dock (!)
  4. resource intensive
    1. Consumes 100 MB to 200 MB of GPU VRAM (!) while machine is idle just after rebooting. 
    2. Generated >10 GB per user in AppData. (Razer, what on earth are you doing that requires multiple gigabytes?!)
  5. indirect signs of terrible software:
    1. they made a dedicated razer software/driver removal tool
    2. they advise disabling their own services
    3. their main app (Synapse 4) is kept in perpetual “beta” simply to manage user expectations. (Do you think Razer intends to “release” Synapse 4 anytime soon? or do you think they intend to “release” it only just months before Synapse 5?)
  6. support is terrible
    1. tons of “yes-men” in these forums who just repeat official lines from Razer
      1. … even if the advice is irrelevant 
      2. … even if the advice does not work (see a comment above), eg their driver removal tool doesn’t work on recent patches
    2. they actively dissuade users from contacting support:
      1. they require A LOT of personal info to even start talking to you.
      2. they require VERY invasive logs to even start helping you
        1. even if their intent is completely benign, would you really trust Razer Security™ with your personal info? If you think Synapse code is bad, do you think their internal code is any better?
    3. they can’t help you anyway (so what was the point of collecting all your personal info?)
      1. their main advice:
        1. uninstall/reinstall everything.
        2. don’t get fancy: don’t make complicated (useful) macros, don’t use USB hubs including their own accompany peripheral, don’t ‘run too many things at once’
  7. And yes I’ve tried EVERYTHING while troubleshooting over the years:
    1. clean Windows installs
    2. new machines.
    3. laptops/desktops.
    4. different OS.
    5. different synapse ver.
    6. different combinations of razer products
    7. safe mode
    8. lesson: razer products work better the less you use them.
      1. don’t use synapse
      2. don’t use macros
      3. don’t use chroma / lighting
      4. don’t reassign keys
      5. don’t mix/match razer products
      6. … sefl-defeating etc. ad nauseum 

I could go on for hours… this is just the tip of the iceberg… and these are just the issues i’ve experienced this year alone. 

Razer has written terrible software and fielded terrible support for years and years. Do you expect them to improve any time soon?

From the start and for years on, I was a big fan of Razer products because they offered features not found anywhere else on the market. But their value soured. Their broken software is a deal-breaker. If they invested half as much on software as they did on marketing, they would not need marketing. 

But I can no longer recommend their products any longer. Even if Razer started discounting their products AND Razer’s competitors all went on vacation (no longer true in 2024, if ever), I could not recommend buying Razer products: they just DON’T work. They are tremendously tiresome, hassle-some, fragile, inconsistent, perpetually broken, and time-consuming. They have wasted thousands of dollars of my time. At minimum. 

I bought Razer products because they not only accelerated my work, but also enabled me to do things I could not otherwise. So I tolerated their terrible software for a long time... until now. This is the last straw.

 

One can’t help but wonder whether their software issues are intentional. It would make more sense than this calamitous never-ending train-wreck.

 

final note: if you have specific questions/issues with the blackwidow v4 pro or naga pro, feel free to ask me; i’ve learned far more about them in the last week than i’ve ever cared to. if i can help someone else, at least i will have achieved some return on the time i invested.

I’ve been struggling with this garbage app for months. I have to uninstall and reinstall it if I want it to open and if I want my devices to actually connect properly and be custom lit. Every time I restart my PC. So I just don’t bother and what is the point of even owning RGBs if they’re all on unsynchronized light cycles. When I do finally wrestle it open it maybe recognizes my headset 20% of the time. It has always had problems but it wasn’t this bad until recently. before, it actually provided basic functions. 

What an utter garbage this software is. Bring back the old synapse, at least it would launch.

It truly is a terrible software. I updated to windows 11 and synapse simply stopped working. I reinstalled it and now it demands a product code to use spatial audio on a razer headset i’ve had for years. Thier customer support phone lines are so terrible that I hear only static or nothing at all. I’m never buying a razer product again.

 

The worst thing is that it isn’t just a razer problem. I have Asus armoury crate and it has loads of issues too. I hear iCue has it’s problems. It’s like there just isn’t any good software out there. But synapse is still the worst simply because it’s preventing me from using the headset’s spatial audio that I paid for.

Userlevel 3
Yeah, I just installed the new update that just released. Now my Devices show up in the small windows when I click on the synapse Icon in my Task Bar but when I open Synapse and go to the "Devices" Tab nothing shows up. My Devices work (my basilisk ultimate still only works wired tho) but I cant change any settings. It just keeps getting worse.
Razer Software really is a nightmare. I stopped recommending Razer products because of their shit software and also shit responses when adressing MAJOR bugs.
After dealing with crazy firmware problems with my BlackWidow Mini, now my fucking lighting doesn't work when Synapse is on. What the fuck is this shit? This company hopelessly sucks. Will never buy anything from them again. These firmware and software bugs are just embarrassing.

I still haven’t gotten synapse to work. I’ve all but given up, my devices all work without it, i just can’t control the lighting. Razer has high end products, and low end customer support. Whenever I call tech support all they do is tell me to download the synapse logs and email them, but I never hear anything back. What happened to tech support being f’n tech support?  

 

It makes it awfully to recommend products when the support is lacking so much. Please do better.

I purchased a new Razer Blade 17 laptop and absolutely love it (even more so than Alienware 17), except for… SYNAPSE.  From day one it has been buggy like everyone reported. If I close the lid and laptop goes to sleep, synapse does not work after waking up from sleep. I am also suspecting that it may be causing problems with my USB wireless mouse (the issue goes away if synapse is not active).  I am sure that Razer is actively working to improve synapse, but I am surprised to see so many issues ongoing since version 1.

And one year later, Synapse is still crap. Every time there’s an update, something doesn’t work. And even though I have Synapse set to automatically update, it doesn’t. It lets me discover I have no sound or my mic or keyboard won’t work once I am already ingame. I realize this is largely my fault… for using Razer products. I already retired the Razer mouse my boyfriend got me & went back to my Logitech. I thought the Logitech was buggy; I knew nothing! My keyboard (Huntsman) is great but Synapse is problematic. I have the same problems with the switching of profiles (or lack of).

Thanks, just venting.

Yeah, this software works like ....!
I updated to the latest version and now I can't set anything. After starting Synapse and try to set my Ornata, Basilisk and my Pad to a different RGB-Setting the Program freeze and nothing happens.
Problem though is, that I turn off RGB when I'm watching a movie on my PC and now I can't set it to my normal RGB Setting which is very annoying.
Userlevel 3
Jayxe
What the fuck is this Razer? I only ever created 3 profiles. 3090MonsterDefault, Warframe, and Satisfactory. Why the hell are 3 more defaults made? Why won't the profile change from Warframe to Default when I close Warframe? And now, why won't any macros work under Hypershift? It claims I need synapse to run. IT'S RUNNING! Seriously, Razer, fire -EVERY- person in your software department and hire people who know what they are doing. This is absolutely BONKERS that the program is so incredibly broken and mishandled. Min Lian Tan, if you're reading this, I feel so embarrassed for you. This type of quality in the software is just so poor. I would never stamp my name on such low quality material.

Amen.
Huntsman Elite Kept spamming keys now only spams Y but problem disappears with Synax off
Userlevel 1
My gear is usually detected. However, my problem is that Synapse only remains functional for 3-5 minutes while in Studio. I know saving often is a good idea, but with this P.O.S. software, I have to save after every single design change. Even the smallest change. I never know when Synapse is going to crash. I've been down the "Uninstall re-install" road a few times already. I've watched the videos, read the chatter, done this, that and the other thing and it just comes down to this: The Razer software engineers should all be fired! Like Yesterday!
Userlevel 1
AndreAzevedo
stop demanding mass layoffs, you don't know people who develop synapse 3 about their mistakes, failures and successes. but what you should expect is that they take responsibility for what they do in the name of razer.

I know if I had this many issues that were so blatant, I would have been fired when I was programming. At the very least, figure out who is responsible, and show them the door. I don't care how many there are.
Userlevel 2
"Funny" thing is, if there still was only, say, the Nostromo SpeedPad software by Belkin (which was the predecessor to the Tartarus keypads), it might still just work since that software was so rudimentary and not trying to be all fancy like Razer's stuff.
Now, I haven't had many issues with Synapse other than say account-login stuff, but it feels so sluggish and bloated for no reason. - All it should do is control features of peripherals, quickly and efficiently, and be flexible at it.

That said, I moved to Linux and my Tartarus is now a paperweight because there's zero support for it and it's completely dependent on Synapse. - I don't mind that in general, I would just use it... if I COULD. But I don't even think there's an option to, say, program it on a different computer with Windows, and then have the profiles on the device or something. - But nope, none of that flexibility even.

I bought my first and last Razer headset. The Black shark V2 Pro. The default audio sucks and Razer Synapse is the most frustrating inconsistent program I’ve ever used. Every application you run changes your audio settings and volume.

I’ve had the same drivers for 2 years because it’s impossible to download new drivers from the razer website. The process of plugging dongle and wire for wireless headset simply does not work. MAN WHAT DOES WORK ON THIS MESS. nothing works. Half assed and full priced product here. 

Set all apps and games to music mode? Make set a preset identical to another NOPE they all have different volumes and sound totally different wtf is this

NEVER EVER BUYING ANOTHER RAZER PRODUCT AGAIN!!!!!!

Paid $180 wouldn’t take it for free after using

Userlevel 7
Badge
Itsmepancakess
i totally agree
personally i just cant start synapse i tried all possible techniques but nothing works razer steals our money

Typically it's some runtime missing like .net 4.8 or Visual C++.
Sometimes uninstalling Visual C++ helps.

Also I'd recommend doing a clean Synapse install:

  • Uninstall Synapse
  • Download & run this tool: https://rzr.to/Tf53xj to remove any razer drivers/leftovers
  • Then restart your PC
  • After reboot install Synapse again (as administrator).
Jayxe
Synapse is, without a doubt, the most embarrassing, unfinished, buggy piece of software I have ever had the misfortune of having to deal with. Why is it always - ALWAYS - so buggy?

All I want is for the software to do what it tells me it's going to do. But that rarely happens. Macros don't record properly. Lighting effects don't save. Profiles don't switch. PROFILES DON'T SWITCH. This is the most incredibly annoying thing. I have a profile that I made for a game to spam quick attack (middle mouse button). and when I leave the game, it does not switch my profile back to default. So now when I middle click a web page to scroll, it just spams middle click until I manually change the profile back to default. There are so very many things wrong with all version of Synapse, and I plan to eventually write them down as I run into them. But it's getting harder and harder to recommend friends, or even continue to be interested myself, to Razer.

I would be so embarrassed to have released not 1, not 2, but THREE incomplete versions of software for all the peripherals made from this company. I am a big fan of the aesthetics and ergonomics of a lot of Razer's stuff, but I 200% loathe the fact that this incredibly sub-par software is required to configure them, and doesn't even do it right.

100% agree, synapse never detects my razer kraken, I have tried almost everything and it still doesn't work, it's just so annoying
this is for Razer Synapse 3 version RazerSynapseInstaller_V1.9.1.344.exe
even after the last update which is done on November 8, 2022
Razer Synapse version is named 3.7.1103.110716

install file is named RazerSynapseInstaller_V1.9.1.344.exe
the update version is Razer Synapse version is named 3.7.1103.110716

(but this problem still remains)
another problem has now come up

get exactly the same message
"dial tcp 10.0.1.166:6380: connect: connection refused"
managed to get back into my account using the forgotten password feature
thus enters your own Razer account, but you cannot revoke the previous session and reconnect with a new session to your own Google account
when I still try, you get a new notification
access token is invalid




have also tried to save as local or in the cloud the same problem no matter what I choose anyway



(Export a profile)

thus only trying to save the profile, i.e. exporting data from my own profile to a file that the Razer Synapse 3 can understand and interpret already there it stops as one's own settings are never saved at all


(Import a profile)

thus only trying to save the profile, i.e. Importing data from my own profile into a file that Razer Synapse 3 can understand and interpret already there it stops as one's own settings are never saved at all



strange behavior when export your profile
when Hypershift should also be enabled

strange behavior when import your profile
(note that Hypershift should also be enabled)


this setting is easy to test out


enable Hypershift



Left Click
Speed (press/20 sec)
enable Turbo

Right Click
Speed (press/20 sec)
enable Turbo

setup the profile as you want the profile


then test to export and import as see if this setting got saved or not

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