Mechanical Keyboard Sound Isn't That Simple
Figure 1: I couldn't think of a more literal way to represent this article if I tried... Looking back just a few years ago, there’s no doubt that the huge influx of people that joined the hobby at the peak of the COVID pandemic were drawn to keyboards by way of YouTube, TikTok, and other audio-visual content platforms. Even as the output from these content creators has waned in recent months, their collective impact and legacy on the keyboard hobby is rather firmly etched in the history books. As a result of all of their sound tests, build logs, and opinion videos, the message is clear to any new person joining the hobby: mechanical keyboards are all about the sound. Thock this, clack that. Whether it’s keyboards, keycaps, or even singular switches, seemingly everyone new to the hobby meticulously pores over each component of their keyboard not in an attempt to figure out how it will feel in hand, but how it will sound as they’re furiously grinding their way out from...
Mar 27, 2024
The LED bleed seen here is the result of the white plastic color picked for the WhiteFox. The color picked was intentional as the keycap profile and aesthetic are all an integral part of the keyboard. We tried several manufacturers and the quality of the keycaps is consistent with the designs. I am attaching an image here of different color keycaps by the same manufacture as a comparison shot for bleeding.
With regards to the off centered legends, that is not acceptable and we are manufacturing/sending replacement to make sure that everyone gets the right keycaps.
I also would like to stress on the fact that we don’t take community projects and the fulfillment of them lightly. The delays happened because we always want to make sure we do right by the community. We’ve been transparent on the process, but if there are concerns that people have surrounding that, please reply to this message and I’ll make sure to give you the current status and information.
Secondly, even if it takes you another 6 months to get a replacement set of keycaps ready, I would not mind as long as you learn from the mistakes of this drop: Give yourself more time to work with, provide more updates, make sure that any delays are worth the wait, and don't screw up the keycaps again. I feel that some delays for quality are expected (I still think you could account for the delays ahead of time as mentioned above) but when there's 2 months of delays and (most likely) more delays for the people who have not had things shipped yet (because of quality concerns).
Note: If you are going to delay the rest of the drop because of concerns about the keycaps, please do offer an option for those people to forfeit their keycaps (or get them sent at a later date). I think that's the best thing you could do at this moment in time.
Lastly, (although I am not a fan of LEDs) I find it strange that the colour of the keycaps has anything to do with how well the LEDs bleed through different keycaps of the same set. From pictures I've seen on massdrop and reddit which showcase PBT keycaps which allow LEDs to bleed through, the bleed through of light seems rather consistent throughout even keycaps of a completely different width. I would expect maybe a slight difference between say the "ASDGHKL" keys and the "F" and "J" keys because they have a slightly different profile (for homing purposes), but I would not expect differences between keys on a row with the same profile and I think the differences between the bleed through of keys on the home row and other rows is quite drastic.
Certainly I understand where people are coming from when they say that the bleed through variation is unacceptable.
Thanks for the update Yanbo.
All anyone wants is better communication. That's all I've ever wanted, I could handle a year of delays if I got a weekly DETAILED update that wasn't just a bunch of smoke being blown up my behind.. That 300 a week nonsense went on for far too long when you guys knew that was not actually taking place. Unacceptable.
I cannot, of course, speak from personal experience regarding keycap quality. My kit has yet to ship. That's annoying, but hopefully when it does arrive the caps won't look like crap.
I can completely understand about the backlight bleed, as with white keycaps that is to be expected. What I do not expect is that some caps are thicker than others, thus less light shining through some. I also do not expect the caps to be different heights, nor misprinted.
I have been involved on the granite drop once and this wasn't an issue, so I am unsure what the issue is now outside of the manufacturer. That is where a LOT of the complaints are from, not the complaints about MD processing but instead the quality of the final product for the keycaps.