MY first keyboard was on a Remington portable manual typewriter. By the time I was on my third (or was it fourth?) laptop, however, I found I was getting very slow at doing anything on a keyboard, and I found my fingers would get tired quickly (and just be on the verge of aching). Last year I was able to get a keyboard with Cherry MS green switches (which, I’m told, have the stiffest springs). It is wonderful! I’m back to at least 70 wpm (without even trying) and my fingers don’t tire AND I can type a lot longer comfortably. I cannot go back to the flat, no-tactile-response keyboards common on laptops (and given away with desktops). They are like trying to do serious writing on a cell phone.
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For a long while my favourite keyboard was a £10 Dell one. Yes it has membrane keys, but it had proper key travel and didn’t take up much room on my desk.
Eventually I caved and spent ten times as much on a lovely DasKeyboard, and you know what? I don’t find it any better or worse than the Dell.
I know this is heresy to the “IBM model M is the one true keyboard” crowd, but I’ve spent a long while on both and it really didn’t affect my typing much at all.
(The media keys and USB3 ports are handy though)
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“Tenkeyless” generally does still include a dedicated function key row, arrow keys, and Ins/Del Home/End PgUp/PgDn.
That’s more of a “60%” keyboard. And it would drive me nuts.
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I’m actually kinda intrigued. I’ve looked at a few massdrop keyboards (this was one I was tempted by: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/infinity-keyboard-kit) and never took the plunge. Mostly because I don’t use my own computer for work and just use a laptop at home.
How hard are these to assemble - soldering required, right?
Of course back in the day, those keys were “Dead” because they didn’t advance the carriage.
If arrow keys are doing it wrong, I don’t want to be right.
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I find this entire conversation very, very weird. For hundreds of years us musicians have been trying to make action smaller and lighter, to increase speed and decrease fatigue. And typists want to increase action? The pianoforte was invented so action could be reduced by means of a mechanical hammer. Woodwinds have springed keys, but they are kept as light as possible (source: me, a trained wind instrument technician). Finger travel is always low and light.
How many notes per second can a player make on a keyless flute? We are talking zero travel and the only tactile response is the body of the instrument. You should never, ever rely on a click to indicate that you have completed a downward motion on your stroke, learn the damn distance.
(I’ve officially had a Get Off My Lawn moment :D)
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Right now I have dell keyboard for the office desk and a microsoft 600 cheapo for the home desk. they are both membrane keyboards and work quite well for what they are. I actually quite like the microsoft one a lot even though it has the stupid tiny F keys.
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And here I am, with a 82-key Deck keyboard (with blue LEDs) on my desk, along with an IBM Model M.
There’s a balance though.
Many musicians hate electronic keyboards in general if they’re not weighted or semi-weighted. At the more extreme end, have you ever tried playing a QuNexus/K-board? The keys are rubber pads with a membrane beneath. No travel, and no tactile feedback. Or worse, a touchscreen.
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Oh, I understand. But that is the secondary purpose, not the primary. But it so happens some people prefer the secondary (I call them weirdos).
To use a metaphor: remember that scene in Kill Bill where uma Thurman had to punch through something four inches away? Yeah, that’s where I’m coming from. The punch is important, not the distance. The stroke is important, not the resistance.
(I had a good night’s sleep, why am I riled up? 
)
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Huh? Why would I want to read-mail real-fast? (also: I thought the proper ending to that was “.” but I’m just an idiot)
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That took me a beat, then I giggled 
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Muscle memory is a real thing!
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I stand corrected, It’s been a little while since I delved into the world of mechanical keyboards and terminology. It is indeed a 60% !
I had to unsubscribe from the Massdrop newsletter - I was finding that every single day they emailed me about something I wanted to buy.
Not hard at all. Yes most of the custom keyboards are in kit form, although you can get a Planck preassembled for example, but it’s just basic through hole soldering of the keyboard switches nothing like smd’s. Beginner level stuff. A lot of them require compiling a new firmware if you want to program a new layout or layers. For the Infinity keyboards there’s a web interface that delivers a compiled version to you. It’s all still pretty geeky but not too hard core.
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Seriously. I am way out of practice but I can juggle 3 balls without thinking and I could probably still get can’t walk straight drunk and still juggle them without too much trouble.
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There’s a lot of different mechanical switches for people who prefer different feels. There’s linear, that just have a spring action, tactile which have a bump at the actuation point, and clicky which have a bump and click at the activation point. There are different kinds of bumps and different weighted springs in each category. So you can really customise the key feeling to what feels best to your fingers.
Also most mechanical switches activate at the midpoint, not when you bottom them out at the end of the stroke. This can be easier on the fingers because you don’t have the abrupt stop, if you can learn the distance. For gamers this activation point halfway with a very light switch apparently allow them to “spam” the key more effectively, or so some claim.
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Pico forever.
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