I've been playing mania for about 3 months. All the while using a membrane keyboard. I've started with 3.5-4* maps, but the streams trills and jackhammers are too fast. Is my skill just awful, or is my keyboard holding me back? Stairs and alternation is easy enough at that level, but my performance just drops when the trills and JHs starts.

If my keyboard is the issue, any recommendations?
If my skill is the problem, any maps I can play to improve?

Not sure how to post Replays.

keyboards have only a small impact. You might potentially improve a small bit from a better keyboard, but its still possible to play at the top level on a rubber dome kb.

Unless your keyboard is sticky or broken, there won’t be a lot of instant improvement, should you switch over so you don’t need to worry about that

Just play maps featuring those patterns to practice on (srry don’t have any maps)

This might help if you decide to get a new keyboard. I am no expert and this is just my personal opinion. I'm probably wrong about something so feel free to correct me :^)

Changing keyboards can help even if it's a cheap rubber dome keyboard. The most important thing is how it FEELS. I recently went from a slim, flat HP keyboard to a regular sized one with indented keys and rounded spacebar and playing 7k with keyboard is SOOOOO much more comfortable. It's the spacebar and the size that did it for me. I do miss the laptop-like travel time of the thin keyboard but this is much more comfortable overall.

With that being said, mechanical keyboards will last longer. I can't say that they're more comfortable since there are so many god damn switches nowadays, but it won't be hard to find a fit for you. The advantage is that you know exactly what you're getting with the switches. With mechanical keyboards, the travel time and such varies from keyboard to keyboard and probably isn't even specified. This means actually having to feel the keyboard physically. I never touched this keyboard before I bought it but I got lucky and liked it better. They're also likely to be of higher build quality. You probably already knew that. The disadvantage is that they typically cost more and they're probably noisier than your mechanical keyboard.

Point is, you don't necessarily have to spend the big bucks on a new keyboard. Go to the store and start typing on those keyboards. Find one that feels nice and works nice. If you have a little money to spend on a mechanical keyboard, do your research on switches and such. Go tenkeyless to save some money. I doubt the normal person actually uses the numpad regularly enough to miss it.

Now, if you have absolutely no money to buy a new keyboard, work on your technique. For example, put your hand on your table or some flat surface while sitting down. Now do some trills and try to make it as light as possible. Now try it on your keyboard. You might have to put slightly more force in your fingers but again do it as light as possible. This might not be how it feels when you're playing. You're likely to go a little harder than that. You might even shitmiss more trying to play light, but it does help a lot to know what it feels like to play light and you will play with less effort. Just remember how it feels.

I play on a laptop. I tried switching to my mech kb but couldn't get used to the increased key travel and angled kb (it's a ducky shine, and doesn't have an adjustable angle. Neither does the laptop, but it's much flatter than the mech.) The ducky is certainly better for jacks, and I found myself getting better overall accuracy in 4k, but I also had an increased miss count. (7k was a completely different matter altogether, I couldn't get used to it at all, which is why I eventually went back to playing on laptop.)

You are right that it's all about how the KB feels to you, but my point still stands that in the end, a keyboard isn't going to take a noob and make them staiain/jakads instantly. The difference is small. The only real way to get better at patterns like these is practice, and try to improve your technique.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I recently started playing more maps that focus on JHs and trills (I found a training map https://osu.ppy.sh/beatmapsets/219701#mania/914465).

Although, if you guys come across other training maps, let me know. I also looked for keyboards that might fit my hard-pressing style, although I'm trying to lighten it as you guys suggested, and decided on a Razer keyboard (it fit my preferences for osu and other games I played).

The membrane keyboard I have as of now (ASUS Cerberus), has a deep rubber dome, so even if I did make my key-press lighter, it would end up not registering, and if did press it, it takes too long for it to reset and press again. The rollover on this thing isn't the best either. But I do agree that keyboards don't make a world of difference, but I hope it makes a things easier.

If you guys have some good maps I could try other than the one I found (even converts), I'm open.

Maybe I'm too late, but honestly I haven't heard many good things about Razer keyboards. I heard they break faster, and often register a single keypress twice/doubletap. You might want to reconsider.

Another thing is that you should be able to trill and jackhammer fine on most keyboards, so it's actually unlikely your current keyboard is the issue (though it might be). What helped me with jacks personally was to just relax my hands and not tense up, and bounce my hands on the keyboard if that makes sense. It's tricky to keep rhythm on jacks and trills though.

On the contrary, I've heard the opposite. They last a good long while, and work better than most membranes. Are you speaking out of experience, or out of rumors? Either way, I know changing my keyboard won't make me a pro. But this membrane keyboard is just becoming too limiting for me, in contrast to the keyboard I found which fits my needs for osu and other games.

If you can suggest another keyboard, that'd be great.

Razer keyboards have non-standard keycap sizes and layouts, so it's harder to find replacements when they break.

I haven't bought a Razer Blackwidow since 2012, so I can't talk about current versions of their keyboards. In the first one I had, the USB cable failed quickly, which is a rather hard piece to replace (it doesn't use a standard USB cable on both sides, and the replacement requires opening the case, which voids the warranty). In the second one, keys started chattering (registering a single key-press twice or more) after about 1 year of use. Repairing the key chattering wasn't hard (the Blackwidow used MX Cherry switches back then, now they use other switches); keycaps become very smooth and slippery after use, and the keyboard is only 6kro (which limits the key configurations you can use in osu!mania, the only configuration I found that worked for 10K was very uncomfortable), so I stopped using that keyboard.

I am currently using a CM Storm Quickfire TK I bought in 2012-2013 (don't remember exactly when). The bottom row has some non-standard keycap sizes (but you can still find replacements online), and the keycaps break very easily (it seems like translucid ABS plastic has a tendency to shatter, compared to opaque ABS plastic which is more elastic and doesn't break as easily). Keys start chattering after some months of osu!mania use, but that's because the solder that connects the switch to the PCB board cracks, which is easy to fix (the keyboard case is easy to open and replacing solder is quick). The "00" button in the numpad is not very useful and has some glitches, and having to switch Num Lock Off to enable the arrow keys can take some time to get used to. If I needed to buy a new keyboard I would buy one similar, but truly full-size.

I heard a lot of negative opinions of Razer compared to other mechanical keyboard brands
That been said, I never used one myself so I can’t really give a good opinion on it

If you can live with 68 keys, which you probably can, Qisan's Magicforce is a damn cheap mechanical keyboard and is being used by Jakads currently