IBM Keyboard switch crispness/sound thread

[Redmaus]

I am posting the sound of my keyboards here: https://soundcloud.com/r3dmaus/sets/ibm ... collection

Lets see the sound of all the IBM keyboards at deskthority. Other keyboards are okay, but looking for ibm boards mainly.

Am very interested in any model F's or beamsprings. Also just to throw it out there, recording is very easy and you don't need a pro mic or anything. I just used the mic on my phone and it worked fine.

[0100010]

4704 F107, normal and with buzzer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F291BxffYIA

4704 F107, normal and with solenoid : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2BlwCB_rzI

[Redmaus]

4704 F107, normal and with buzzer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F291BxffYIA

4704 F107, normal and with solenoid : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2BlwCB_rzI

I absolutely love the solenoid. Does it come with the keyboard when they were made? Or do you have to insert one into the keyboard?

EDIT: Is the person in the video you? Or did you just find the video? I don't mind just asking because if so you might know more.

[Firebolt1914]

With sound threads, there should be a standard of what surface you type on, as that influences the sound greatly.

How about putting the keyboard on top of a folded towel, or something that cushions the keyboard greatly?

[Muirium]

Sound is way harder to compare than this. Ideally, you want the same microphone, the same placement, the same typing surface, and even the same typist! Mics "colour" sound like crazy. (Think of pictures shot in day vs. dingy yellow electric night, but in sound instead.) There's a lot going on here!

But then again, as long as we're not picky, any recording is better than no recording. You've just got to be aware of what you're really listening to.

Here's a bunch I made, all the same way:

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/chr ... t9497.html

[seebart]

Sound is way harder to compare than this. Ideally, you want the same microphone, the same placement, the same typing surface, and even the same typist! Mics "colour" sound like crazy. (Think of pictures shot in day vs. dingy yellow electric night, but in sound instead.) There's a lot going on here!

But then again, as long as we're not picky, any recording is better than no recording. You've just got to be aware of what you're really listening to.

Here's a bunch I made, all the same way:

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/chr ... t9497.html

true, and "similair" recording conditions should surfice. I really like to listen to different recordings to get an idea of that keyboard.

[Muirium]

Something I've proposed a few times is that all of us record our keyboards (in a similar kind of way) and add the recordings to the wiki.

I'm not sure the best way to handle sound files in a browser is, though. [youtube] embeds work nicely enough in the forum though. I don't have a video camera, so I throw stills of the keyboard in question into iMovie and make a montage. You may have seen them already! I should do some more, like this Model M2.

Quick, everyone get one of these!

http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Meteor-Stu ... B004MF39YS

[seebart]

I think phone recordings should do. But there needs to be a recording parameter so we don't get too much variation.

[Touch_It]

4704 F107, normal and with buzzer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F291BxffYIA

4704 F107, normal and with solenoid : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2BlwCB_rzI

I absolutely love the solenoid. Does it come with the keyboard when they were made? Or do you have to insert one into the keyboard?

EDIT: Is the person in the video you? Or did you just find the video? I don't mind just asking because if so you might know more.

The solenoid does not come with the line. Solenoids came with most beam springs and the ibm f 3178. Cindy probably still has a few for sale, likey 25 a piece. I am in the process of putting one in my 4704 107 key. Waiting to purchase a driver board from xwhatsit.

On a completely unrelated note I am now dreaming about kishsavers. I had found a super rare 62 key. Was just like the actual kishsavers but the top didn't extend out (where the controller resides). I might need help, lol.

[Muirium]

Tell me about your mother's keyboard.

[seebart]

You found a kishsaver?[emoji50]

[andrewjoy]

Quick, everyone get one of these!

http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Meteor-Stu ... B004MF39YS

Are they any good ? Better than a high quality senhiser headset mic ?

[Muirium]

Imagine someone just asked if IBMs are really any good, compared to a Topre. Depends what kind of answer you're looking for!

The Samson has a one inch diaphragm so it gets a much richer sound than smaller microphones can. But you probably wouldn't want to strap it to your cheek!

[andrewjoy]

True, but i want to get better quality headphones , but i need a mic for when i am playing games with the internet peoples . So i was just wondering if it would be a decent quality mic for that. I was going to connect it to a swing arm so i could just move it where i need it.

As long as it is as good or better than this.

IMPEDANCE 2 kΩ FREQUENCY RESPONSE (MICROPHONE) 50 - 16000 Hz SENSITIVITY AS PER 121 TR 9-5 -38 dBV/Pa

And does not pick up every single background noise i will be happy.

[Muirium]

That last bit was just like "and won't make colleagues want to murder me" is when I'm just about to rave about buckling spring! How dare you!

Yes, it's super sensitive to background noise. Good when you're recording a keyboard, or yourself in a quiet setting, but not great someplace loud. You can just turn the gain down, though. But you likely want something lighter. This one's a solid metal desk mic.

Edit: oh, you're using a boom? (Arm.) It's got the bolt for that and would work just the trick. You'd need to watch the level a bit though, like I said. Try looking for "dynamic microphones" which arent as sensitive as condensers lile this. The most famous dyanmic one is the Shure SM57: the mic you ALWAYS see at press conferences, it's a workhorse classic. But needs preamp etc. The Samson Meteor meanwhile is dead easy to use as its USB and has a headphone jack for monitoring. You plug in and you're done.

[andrewjoy]

hmm i will have a look around. Any ideas?

I need to find somewhere that does good reviews of stuff like this , without being the place where people think that copper can have a direction. And that gold plated cables give you better 1s and 0s.

[Muirium]

Like this?

http://www.podcastmethod.co/podcasting-equipment-guide

The guy's a pro podcaster, so his advice is towards fancier stuff than you need. But he's good at explaining, and doesn't buy into cable fairies!

[andrewjoy]

don't get me wrong , a decently made cable with thicker wire helps but i mean look at some of the stuff people pay for £100 for a HDMI cable , they must be nuts .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12GHUf8DOPs

[Muirium]

Yeah, the audiophiles are notorious cargo cultists. (I want my coconut headphones!)

Trouble is, everything that people don't understand yet feels the same way. We talk about keyboards here that we know are better than the disposable junk regular people use, and how do we explain it to them? It's all about feel! Audio gear is ultimately subjective too. But we can all agree those guys are clearly crazy…

[Firebolt1914]

I definitely do agree that there are so many variables that determine the recording, but my suggestion was to remove just the easiest variables.

[andrewjoy]

I will have a look at that mu thanks, 1/2 of the stuff he recommends is twice the price in GBP than it is in USD . Basically all i want is something that is better than what i have now with a swing arm so i can move it where i need to . want to pay about 60 quid in total.

[Redmaus]

4704 F107, normal and with buzzer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F291BxffYIA

4704 F107, normal and with solenoid : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2BlwCB_rzI

I absolutely love the solenoid. Does it come with the keyboard when they were made? Or do you have to insert one into the keyboard?

EDIT: Is the person in the video you? Or did you just find the video? I don't mind just asking because if so you might know more.

The solenoid does not come with the line. Solenoids came with most beam springs and the ibm f 3178. Cindy probably still has a few for sale, likey 25 a piece. I am in the process of putting one in my 4704 107 key. Waiting to purchase a driver board from xwhatsit.

On a completely unrelated note I am now dreaming about kishsavers. I had found a super rare 62 key. Was just like the actual kishsavers but the top didn't extend out (where the controller resides). I might need help, lol.

Would a solenoid work with my F122? Or does it only work with 4704's and beam springs?

[0100010]

4704 F107, normal and with buzzer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F291BxffYIA

4704 F107, normal and with solenoid : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2BlwCB_rzI

I absolutely love the solenoid. Does it come with the keyboard when they were made? Or do you have to insert one into the keyboard?

EDIT: Is the person in the video you? Or did you just find the video? I don't mind just asking because if so you might know more.

As Touch It said, got the solenoid from an IBM 3178 board. Yes, that is me typing in the videos.

[0100010]

Would a solenoid work with my F122? Or does it only work with 4704's and beam springs?

Solenoid could work on an F122, if you replaced the controller with an xwhatsit and added a solenoid driver.

[0100010]

On a completely unrelated note I am now dreaming about kishsavers. I had found a super rare 62 key. Was just like the actual kishsavers but the top didn't extend out (where the controller resides). I might need help, lol.

What? Where? Need pics!

[Touch_It]

On a completely unrelated note I am now dreaming about kishsavers. I had found a super rare 62 key. Was just like the actual kishsavers but the top didn't extend out (where the controller resides). I might need help, lol.

What? Where? Need pics!

Oh, it seems I was slightly unclear with what I said earlier. Just to be clear it was in a dream I had last night. If I could figure out how to take pictures of my dream I would definitely post them though .

[Muirium]

You were clear. Everyone seems to be dozing while reading today! Just the mention of the word Kishsaver wakes them up with a start.

[Redmaus]

I don't even want an kishsaver that badly. My dream board is an Unsaver or a 4704 with that lovely solenoid.

I really don't want to tamper with my F122's controller as it works perfectly at the moment with soarers converter.

[joc]

Here are a couple more Model F sound samples:

https://soundcloud.com/joc-23/sets/ibm- ... -keyboards

[Rotti]

Just thought I would post a couple videos I made. They are on my IBM F XT. One was before a floss mod and the other is after. Both are shot on the same night, same table, same camera, same tripod. I just didn't feel like editing video (haven't done that yet) so I shot the first one, did the mod, and shot the second video.

I didn't use standard floss, I used the interior core strands from paracord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtAxlWFqW7g is before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH6w93jY7UM is after.

Sorry about the background noise. It was about -20°F that night and I live in a 100 year old house. So the furnace ran about all night.