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 first was an IBM Selectric II typewriter that I would endlessly hammer on. As a toddler it was absolute gibberish, but the whirring and satisfying thwack noises it would make were irresistible. Though it was a short lived passion as my parents grew weary of the noise and the cost of ribbons.
I remember being about 2 or 3 when my dad brought home an IBM Personal System/2 which of course came with the Model M keyboard and my second noise maker. Clacking out basic commands in DOS to boot up my little indian counting game and blackjack from floppy. Every keystroke with a single pointer finger and a delightful twang.
After that was a long stream of rubber domes until one day in highschool I found that old Model M in the closet and was pleased to find it still worked. My friends at the LAN parties were much less happy.