Audio and Waveforms of Assorted Keyboards

[Hypersphere]

Here are some videos with audio clips and waveforms of some assorted keyboards. The selections include comparisons of a standard HHKB Pro 2 45g with 45g and 55g HHKBs fitted with Silencing Rings.

Recordings were made using a Samson Meteor Mic suspended 17 in (43 cm) above the center of each keyboard using a Røde arm with a Radius II shockmount. Recording software was MS Sound Recorder for Windows 8.1. Waveforms (amplitude vs time) were made from mp3 audio files using Sonic Visualiser 2.4.1 for Windows.

Keystrokes were 3 each of Tab, Backslash (HHKB Delete/Backspace), CapsLock (HHKB Ctrl), Return, Left Shift, Right Shift, and Spacebar, followed by 3 each of "This is this." (without quotation marks), ending with 3 each of Return and Spacebar.

HHKB Pro 2 45g Stock (No silencing rings)

HHKB_45.png (5.95 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

HHKB Pro 2 45g with Silencing Rings

HHKB_45_SR.png (5.27 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

HHKB Pro 2 55g with Silencing Rings

HHKB_55_SR.png (5.14 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

IBM XT

IBM_XT.png (8.31 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

CM Novatouch with Leopold PBT Keycaps

Novatouch_LeoPBT.png (6.42 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

Poker II mx Brown with Imsto PBT Keycaps

Poker2_ImstoPBT.png (6.4 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

Realforce 87UB 55g

RF87U_55.png (5.98 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

KBP V60 Matias Click

V60_Matias_Click.png (7.9 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

KBP V60 Matias Quiet

V60_Matias_Quiet.png (5.11 KiB) Viewed 7677 times

[Chyros]

Great stuff, nicely done!

The waveforms really show off how effective the damping mechanism is on the Matias Quiet switches, too =o .

[Muirium]

These all sound very accurate. Nice work. The only improvement I can think of is trying some light typing too, without bottoming out. Though that's easier said than done for some of us!

Your damping rings make your HHKB sound just like my Type-S! Impressive.

Matias Quiet Click switches are good and quiet. They got that part right. The feel is what I'm not so keen about. But I'm spoiled with nice clean complicated Cream Alps, and Topre of course.

[Hypersphere]

Thanks for the comments, Mu. It seems that light typing is not in my repertoire. I'll have to leave the light non-bottoming out typing to someone else!

Yes, the silencing rings do seem to be a good DIY path to a Type-S HHKB, and others seem to be finding that they provide a way to get a silent-type RF or Novatouch. It is very gratifying to see that the rings are working out rather well thus far.

Regarding Matias, yes, I quite agree about the feel. As others have observed, it might be good to try removing the bottom damper from the Matias Quiet switch, leaving just the top damper for the return stroke. As you have noticed, I don't mind bottoming-out sounds! However, like many others, I don't like the return-stroke clack.

Thanks for the tips about how to produce and embed YouTube videos as a way to post audio files.

[pyrelink]

Very nicely done. Very impressed with how silent those Matias Quiet switches are. Wasn't expecting that.

You really did a fantastic job with those silencing rings. Thanks again!

[Hypersphere]

Thanks, pyrelink! Yes, the Matias Quiet switches do indeed live up to their name. Although the timbre of the sounds differ between the silenced HHKB and the V60 with Matias Quiet switches, it appears that the amplitudes of the Matias Quiet are on par or perhaps even a bit lower overall than those of the silenced HHKB.

[IjonTichy]

Thank you very much! I was always interested in sound comparison between Topre silenced and Matias quiet. They both seem equally silent. Because of money, I have to like the Matias switches more than Topre

[Hypersphere]

Thank you very much! I was always interested in sound comparison between Topre silenced and Matias quiet. They both seem equally silent. Because of money, I have to like the Matias switches more than Topre

Your are welcome. Matias Quiet switches are indeed quiet, but some people prefer the feel of Matias Click switches. I think this is mostly because the down-stroke of the Matias Quiet switches has a similar feel to that of O-rings on Cherry mx switches. In contrast, the silencing rings for Topre switches are designed to affect mainly the return-stroke "clack".

[IjonTichy]

I was not aware of that difference, thanks again. But the downstroke of Cherry mx with O-rings did not bother me at all. That might be the reason why I like the Matias Quiet so much.
Unfortunately, I do not have a Topre keyboard to compare...

[Hypersphere]

The feel of my 55g RF 87UB has ruined most other keyboards for me, except for my silenced black HHKB Pro 2 with transplanted 55g domes, which I favor over the RF because of the 60% form factor and layout. Sometimes, though, I like to get the full impact of the aural and tactile feedback afforded by an IBM Model F or a Matias Click keyboard.

Soon I will be putting silencing rings on my Novatouch and RF boards. The NT certainly could use the "silent treatment", and I anticipate that the already refined RF will be exquisite after fitting it with the rings.

[jacobolus]

Does anyone know an audio plotter that will do a more useful spectral analysis than just a one-dimensional waveform like that?

I’d really love to see some summaries of keyboard / switch audio which show not only volume but also the break-down of frequencies in the sound.

[XMIT]

The last time I had to do this sort of thing for real - in school, about a million years ago - MATLAB's DSP toolbox was helpful. http://www.mathworks.com/help/dsp/ug/si ... atlab.html .

I don't know of a nice visualizer offhand, sorry.

[vvp]

If something simple is enough then you can try audacity: http://audacityteam.org/about/features
You can select a part of the loaded audio file and draw few kinds of spectrum charts for the selection.

[jacobolus]

I’m thinking about this kind of thing:
http://www.mathworks.com/help/signal/re ... ogram.html

[TheNacho]

Novatouch with thick PBT caps, 55gram domes and Hyperspheres silencing rings:

waveform NT55-Type S

NTthickPBT.PNG (7.93 KiB) Viewed 7297 times

https://soundcloud.com/mbsoundwolke/typ ... -55g-domes

Sorry for soundcloud, but the youtube online video creator sucks...

If anyone is interested, I could also offer some other caps on the Novatouch, Gateron Blues in an Infinity, a FC660C, or some Model M/SSK goodness.

[Hypersphere]

@Nacho: Thanks for the audio clip! What an amazing sound! It reminds me of bursting bubbles of hot mud from one of those geothermal springs, like Rotorua in New Zealand.

EDIT: Just completed installing 55g domes and my Hyper-Rings in my Novatouch. What a difference! The sound and feel are beautiful.

Keycaps make a big difference as well. Currently, I am using Vortex doubleshot PBT. They are OEM profile, which is high enough to avoid downstroke contact noise on most keys. However, I still needed to put a black O-ring on the center stem of the Enter and Right Shift keycaps.

Overall, the board now has an agreeable deep thock with almost no stabilizer rattle. The spacebar was a nice surprise -- low-frequency thunking sound with no stabilizer noise at all.

[TheNacho]

@Hypersphere: So youre now rocking the Realtouch Novaforce aswell? I couldnt get myself to hack up the nice black PBT spacebar I have yet, since the universal stabs are in the way.

[Hypersphere]

Here is a clip of my Novatouch with 55g domes, Silencing Rings, and Ducky PBT OEM profile keycaps:

NT_Rings_DuckyPBT.png (5.14 KiB) Viewed 7146 times

The rings alone provided marked suppression of return-stroke clack sound, but with Leopold PBT caps there was still quite a bit of noise from bottoming-out contact. However, with Ducky PBT OEM profile caps, the bottoming-out contact noise was essentially eliminated. The spacebar sound is now a dull thud, which I prefer. There is still a bit of stabilizer rattle, especially from the Right Shift key, but overall I am pleased with the result. I highly recommend using OEM profile caps on the Novatouch.