Its major strength is generally agreed to be on its ability to generate complex evolving pads and its arpeggiator.

With sufficient adjustment, the Fizmo can be used for bass lines and sound effects though users may find this less intuitive than with more application-specific synthesizers.

The Fizmo received much criticism over its short commercial lifetime for its unreliable power supply, unpolished operating system, idiosyncratic patch editing, and a general misunderstanding of its concept and sound.

Further, external software is required to access the full set of features (such as the envelope generators, arpeggiator patterns, and effects).

After SoundDiver ceased to be sold and supported, in 2019, Defective Records Software released Fauxmo, a software application that enabled bi-directional, real-time editing of all of the Fizmo's parameters, as well as other functions that facilitated creation, editing and storage of presets.