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thnikk's Osu! Keypads [Development]

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The Gambler

RedPanda wrote:

They shouldn't really be compared to Razer switches at all. Most keyboard enthusiasts prefer Gateron switches over cherry mx.
Just recommending the closest switch in terms of functionality/type. I'm not necessarily comparing them in terms of feel and performance.

OT: Are Matias switches also worth exploring? I've played with a friend's Quiet Pro keyboard and they are surprisingly tactile.
bolt997
I see, thanks for the feedback.

I certainly prefer a tactile feel for my keyboard switches.
To those who own gateron clears, do they give a tactile kind of feel? Some say they're linear and others say they're tactile.
ZenithPhantasm

bolt997 wrote:

I see, thanks for the feedback.

I certainly prefer a tactile feel for my keyboard switches.
To those who own gateron clears, do they give a tactile kind of feel? Some say they're linear and others say they're tactile.
Linear and smoother than reds.
Topic Starter
Thnikk

FieryLight wrote:

Oh, my bad. I could've sworn I saw 2 years on your profile >< But yeah, I do think a lot of people have come up with this idea on their own but never actually went on to make them. And certainly you were the first to mass produce them for others. But really, it's not nice to shame them since they did clearly show that this was coming long ago
I'm not trying to shame anyone, I just said it was convenient. There was the video before I started this and I thought it looked really cool, but it wasn't in existence and I wanted one so I made my own. People said they were interested so I started selling them. There was no talk of actually starting any sort of production (as far as I could see) until after I sold a decent amount. It makes sense for someone to be more willing to invest in something knowing it would be successful, there's no shame to be had there.

Also, I'm not really mass producing. All of my keypads are made by hand.

ZenithPhantasm wrote:

bolt997 wrote:

I see, thanks for the feedback.

I certainly prefer a tactile feel for my keyboard switches.
To those who own gateron clears, do they give a tactile kind of feel? Some say they're linear and others say they're tactile.
Linear and smoother than reds.
Yup. For anyone who wants the info on Gateron switches, this is from Massdrop:

Peak force:
Blacks - 50g Linear
Blues - 55g Clicky
Clears - 35g Linear
Browns - 45g Tactile
Reds - 45g Linear
Yellows - 50g Linear

They all feel smoother, too. It's most noticeable on lighter switches since there's less resistance.
autoteleology
If I was going to buy one of these, would you be willing/able to put some kind of weight in mine? I watched the test video and I saw the keypad wobbling all over the place.
Topic Starter
Thnikk

Philosofikal wrote:

If I was going to buy one of these, would you be willing/able to put some kind of weight in mine? I watched the test video and I saw the keypad wobbling all over the place.
Was it Kev's video? He stuck it to his mousepad so it was pretty shaky, but if you stick it directly to your desk it shouldn't move around at all. The one I sent him was before I started using the tape I use right now. It was way too strong at the time and I think took some paint off his table so he stuck it to his mousepad. I've since switched to Scotch Restickable Tabs that stick well (but not too well to take paint off) and they can be cleaned.
Shizuyi
How often can you reattach and clean the tape? Since if i would buy one i would do it multiple times a day?
Topic Starter
Thnikk

Shizuyi wrote:

How often can you reattach and clean the tape? Since if i would buy one i would do it multiple times a day?
I would rate it at twice a day for a month before the first time you should have to clean it as long as you're putting it on a clean surface. You can extrapolate from there, so if you doubled it you'd probably have to clean it for the first time a few weeks after you got it.

It seems like after cleaning it the first time you do have to do it more frequently to get the same effect, but not to the degree of eventually having to do it every day. My friend has had a keypad that he's been using for the past few months and moves it multiple times a day, and he doesn't need to clean it more than about once a week. Of course, eventually replacing them would be better, but he's told me he doesn't think he'll have to replace them anytime soon.
Topic Starter
Thnikk
Small update 6/11:

BPM lighting effect added to the RGB keypad.
[link] Gif added to RGB page
[link] Code on remapping page updated to 1.1 and a changelog was added

For anyone who's ordered an RGB keypad, you all get the new LED mode. I made the change late Sunday night and everything was shipped out Monday morning.
THE FLAT EARTH
Got my keypad in the mail today!
Smoothest switch I've ever used, and awesome build quality as well.

Decided to make an (awful) video of my first impression/review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRkpvaiRt0

Reddit thread if you care about that stuff.
http://www.reddit.com/r/osugame/comment ... mpression/
Topic Starter
Thnikk

Kaas wrote:

Got my keypad in the mail today!
Smoothest switch I've ever used, and awesome build quality as well.

Decided to make an (awful) video of my first impression/review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRkpvaiRt0

Reddit thread if you care about that stuff.
http://www.reddit.com/r/osugame/comment ... mpression/
The video is perfect because you said my name perfectly! :)

Video added to the OP. Thanks for posting on Reddit, too. Sharing really helps me a lot.
I'm Probably just going to add a link to a playlist soon, it's getting too long with all of the videos now (which is a good thing.)
Magicrider
Hey thnikk, your keyboards seems really cool; I'd like to buy one but I have some questions to ask because I don't want to waste my money stupidly:

Is 8ms a too high latency to play Osu? I'm actually playing Osu since 4 months ~~ with my laptop, I would like to have mechanical switches since a long time and I don't want to buy a 200$ keyboard, so this would be the best for me. But I don't know what really 8ms represents in Osu!, and I can't buy the keyboard v2.1 because I don't have a micro usb port on my laptop and I can't find any adaptator.. I don't even know how much latency there is on a true mech keyboard.

Can someone tell me, is 8ms latency a real problem to play or this is not even noticeable ? Thanks :)
ZenithPhantasm

Magicrider wrote:

Hey thnikk, your keyboards seems really cool; I'd like to buy one but I have some questions to ask because I don't want to waste my money stupidly:

Is 8ms a too high latency to play Osu? I'm actually playing Osu since 4 months ~~ with my laptop, I would like to have mechanical switches since a long time and I don't want to buy a 200$ keyboard, so this would be the best for me. But I don't know what really 8ms represents in Osu!, and I can't buy the keyboard v2.1 because I don't have a micro usb port on my laptop and I can't find any adaptator.. I don't even know how much latency there is on a true mech keyboard.

Can someone tell me, is 8ms latency a real problem to play or this is not even noticeable ? Thanks :)
Unless you're playing AR11 no. Just change your offset to like -8 ms.
autoteleology

ZenithPhantasm wrote:

Magicrider wrote:

Just change your offset to like -8 ms.
This does nothing whatsoever to solve the problem. Having a polling rate of 125Hz means the input is sampled anywhere from 0-8ms late. All you've done is (a desync the music and b) make the input poll exactly the same on a different polling period.

Don't buy the cheap keypads. Get the two more expensive ones because they poll at 1000Hz. Buy this. http://www.monoprice.com/mobile/Product ... 317&cpnCd=
Topic Starter
Thnikk

Magicrider wrote:

Hey thnikk, your keyboards seems really cool; I'd like to buy one but I have some questions to ask because I don't want to waste my money stupidly:

Is 8ms a too high latency to play Osu? I'm actually playing Osu since 4 months ~~ with my laptop, I would like to have mechanical switches since a long time and I don't want to buy a 200$ keyboard, so this would be the best for me. But I don't know what really 8ms represents in Osu!, and I can't buy the keyboard v2.1 because I don't have a micro usb port on my laptop and I can't find any adaptator.. I don't even know how much latency there is on a true mech keyboard.

Can someone tell me, is 8ms latency a real problem to play or this is not even noticeable ? Thanks :)
I would say Zenith is right regardless of offset. If you're serious about the game and want to be in the top ~10k, the investment in a v2.1 is probably worth it. If not, you will probably never notice.

Also consider that if you're playing with laptop keys right now, you'll probably improve a lot regardless of model. If you feel like your growth is slow at this point, it may speed up after you get one. This may encourage you to set a higher goal for yourself, so the 1000hz models seem better for you since you're already at 50k.

Also, all of my keypads come with a USB cable. The interface on the keypad itself is micro-USB but a micro-USB to USB cable is included. All you need is a USB port ;)
ninjastarr
ordered an RGB yesterday, expecting great things~

also i might review it but dont hold me to this
Magicrider

Thnikk wrote:

Also, all of my keypads come with a USB cable. The interface on the keypad itself is micro-USB but a micro-USB to USB cable is included. All you need is a USB port ;)
Oh, okay!
Thanks for your answers guys; I was thinking about buying the cheaper ones because on the description of basic keypads, it says "6 foot micro USB to USB" and in the v2.1 keypad, it only says "6 foot micro USB"; I thought you needed some micro USB port on your computer so that's why I watched the basic versions.
Anyway, thank you, I'm going to buy the v2.1 keypad in the next days, seems really nice :)
samotoda
What is the location of keycaps you selected? if I want to use my own custom keycaps, what is the location of them?
Topic Starter
Thnikk

ninjastarr wrote:

ordered an RGB yesterday, expecting great things~

also i might review it but dont hold me to this
A review would be great ;)

samotoda wrote:

What is the location of keycaps you selected? if I want to use my own custom keycaps, what is the location of them?
Do you mean the location on the keyboard? As far as I know, the metric is inconsistent since some manufacturers would say row 1 and some would say row 4, but they're all row 1 according to the chart from signature plastics here.
Elric
one thing you can look forward aswell is other payment methods, not everyone has a visa to get one ://
ZenithPhantasm
Accurian
Really wanted to get the RGB variant, but they didn't have the switches I preferred.
Topic Starter
Thnikk

Elric wrote:

one thing you can look forward aswell is other payment methods, not everyone has a visa to get one ://
Sorry, but credit card + paypal is the best I can do. If something like PSC was more ubiquitous here in the US I'd be more willing to accept it, but as it is it's like giving me foreign currency.

ZenithPhantasm wrote:

Can't go wrong with these.
I do really like these. I was planning on adding them to the shop once everything calms down a few months ago but it never did. Thanks for reminding me ;)

Accurian wrote:

Really wanted to get the RGB variant, but they didn't have the switches I preferred.
What would those be? I plan on getting blues and more clears with the next Gateron drop (whenever that happens, request here if you want them sooner.)
Accurian
What would those be? I plan on getting blues and more clears with the next Gateron drop (whenever that happens, request here if you want them sooner.)
I'm not sure if it's possible to have Cherry Blue switches on the RGB version, but I've actually purchased a v2.1 already so it's too late for that now. :P
Magicrider
Hey thnikk, just ordered my v2.1 keypad yesterday; I took the 8 bit keycaps but I saw today that they are out of stock, I was wondering if I took the last ones or if I have to choose another one? Because it's not shipped yet :/
Topic Starter
Thnikk
Just a small update:

I completely rewrote the website so some links previously posted may be broken since some pages were renamed. All pages still exist. I also added a button and floating box for contact instead of a dedicated page on the website. I'm not using a fixed header anymore and I don't want people to have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find the page.

There are some other site/guide related things I'm going to try to work on in my spare time between my overwhelming amount of orders :?

Accurian wrote:

What would those be? I plan on getting blues and more clears with the next Gateron drop (whenever that happens, request here if you want them sooner.)
I'm not sure if it's possible to have Cherry Blue switches on the RGB version, but I've actually purchased a v2.1 already so it's too late for that now. :P
Unfortunately it isn't possible since the RGB requires the transparent housing of the Gateron switches. Maybe if Cherry would just release their RGB switches for everyone... nah, that'll never happen.

Magicrider wrote:

Hey thnikk, just ordered my v2.1 keypad yesterday; I took the 8 bit keycaps but I saw today that they are out of stock, I was wondering if I took the last ones or if I have to choose another one? Because it's not shipped yet :/
You're fine, you got the last ones :)
ZenithPhantasm

Thnikk wrote:

Accurian wrote:

I'm not sure if it's possible to have Cherry Blue switches on the RGB version, but I've actually purchased a v2.1 already so it's too late for that now. :P
Unfortunately it isn't possible since the RGB requires the transparent housing of the Gateron switches. Maybe if Cherry would just release their RGB switches for everyone... nah, that'll never happen.
There's always Kailh switches which support RGB LEDs. It MIGHT be possible to replace the Kailh switch mechanism with Cherry's.
Tomoko Kuroki_old_1
Bought the basic keypad with clear Gateron switches. Expecting good things!

EDIT: How long will it take to ship to the east coast of Murica?
Topic Starter
Thnikk

ZenithPhantasm wrote:

There's always Kailh switches which support RGB LEDs. It MIGHT be possible to replace the Kailh switch mechanism with Cherry's.
I know for sure you can switch the mechanism in a Gateron switch, but it's not really worth the time to carefully swap out internals when it would be easy enough to mess something up and there's not enough of a difference between Cherry's switches and Gateron's.

I'm honestly not much of a fan of Kailh switches. I love Gaterons because they're smoother and have a clear housing, and otherwise are physically identical to a Cherry switch. Kailh switches aren't 100% identical and they don't really bring anything new to the table (except for RGB LEDs, but nothing new compared to Gaterons.)

My keypads are also made as a video game peripheral, not a keyboard. The RGB LED mounting on Kailh switches makes more sense for a keyboard since you are just trying to illuminate the legends on the top of the keycap, but mine are more of an arcade-style controller. Since you can see the entire switch, it's a much nicer visual effect to have the entire switch glow evenly rather than having one really bright point above the stem.

Tomoko Kuroki wrote:

Bought the basic keypad with clear Gateron switches. Expecting good things!

EDIT: How long will it take to ship to the east coast of Murica?
Usually about 5-7 days after it's been shipped. Yours will be out Monday morning :)
[ Ash ]
Bought v2.1 can't wait ^.^

hopefully it dosen't slide around to much thoo?
[Aiko]
[deleted]
[ Ash ]
Do i need to change the tape after like a week or so? or will it stay sticky for long period of time?

Thxnks for the help <3
[Aiko]
[deleted]
Tomoko Kuroki_old_1
I hear these are very light, might I suggest putting some kind of heavy metal block inside then put some rubber feet on the bottom? I see things like that in budget gaming mice all the time, one time I had a heavy CM Storm Devastator mouse and I opened it to find 90% of its weight on a led block.

I might actually open my keypad and do just that when I get it.
[Aiko]
[deleted]
Shizuyi

Tomoko Kuroki wrote:

I hear these are very light, might I suggest putting some kind of heavy metal block inside then put some rubber feet on the bottom? I see things like that in budget gaming mice all the time, one time I had a heavy CM Storm Devastator mouse and I opened it to find 90% of its weight on a led block.

I might actually open my keypad and do just that when I get it.

I like the idea. Without having one of the keypads i can say that i would trust the metall block more than the taps. Especially because i would reattach them multiple times a day.
The Gambler
Now that I've received my first paycheck in a while, these keypads look really attractive to me. I'm just wondering whether I'm limited to MX-style switches or can I go Matias Tactile Pros on these switches as well?
Ciuriya
Got my v2.1 with Gateron Clear switches about a week ago and I must say it works really well. The only issue I had was the side button spamming itself when clicked but I simply changed the delay to 250ms and it works perfectly now. I love it :)
Topic Starter
Thnikk
As it says on Etsy, the shop will be down for the next few days while parts come in. I'm hoping I can have it back up by Friday but it might be Saturday or Monday.

In happier news, Gateron switches are back on Massdrop! Now I can restock on clears and finally get some blues :)

Shizuyi wrote:

I like the idea. Without having one of the keypads i can say that i would trust the metall block more than the taps. Especially because i would reattach them multiple times a day.
I would implore you at the very least to try the tape first. It seems like the people with doubts before buying and people who didn't know the tape could be cleaned have been the most vocal. A lot of people have told me they've had no problems with the tape (including CelticDog in his post immediately before yours) nor have I.

If you feel, after buying one, that it's still too light (even though it's taped to your desk,) by all means, throw a piece of metal in there (and insulate it properly unless you want to short something.) It's not something I will ever include because I'm already losing money on shipping for every international order and I'd rather not bump it up another price bracket by adding weight for the sake of adding weight.

Again, http://thnikk.moe/clean.php

The Gambler wrote:

Now that I've received my first paycheck in a while, these keypads look really attractive to me. I'm just wondering whether I'm limited to MX-style switches or can I go Matias Tactile Pros on these switches as well?
They are currently limited to MX-style switches. Sorry, but I don't really have any plans to change that when taking all of the logistics into consideration.

Smc wrote:

Got my v2.1 with Gateron Clear switches about a week ago and I must say it works really well. The only issue I had was the side button spamming itself when clicked but I simply changed the delay to 250ms and it works perfectly now. I love it :)
Thanks for reporting this. Since the side button is low priority (relative to the face buttons) I'll make this change for both the v2.1 and RGB models (just a little bit lower though.)

I'll try to get this done before the shop goes back up, so all newer models will ship with this fix. If anyone has the problem, they can go to the reprogramming page on my website for the latest version (I'll make a dedicated post when it's up.)
Magicrider
Got mine today; I won't do a 50 lines review like some people but if I can say one thing, at least:
It works PERFECTLY ! I used to play with laptop keys, I couldn't single tap as fast as I can now and I like how it's smooth. I never touched mechanical keys before, and I wanted to thank you thnikk because this is an awesome product. :)
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