Introduction & Background:

Hello, good reader – I got some new keycaps in the mail today, so I feel like talking about profiles.

It seems like there’s all sorts of new profiles out there these days; there’s a thread about it and everything. This being the first in the series, I’ll be including something of a primer on profiles, focusing mostly on familiar ones – which you can skip by scrolling to the next horizontal divider. Onward!

When I first got into keyboards for their own sake – or even just as not the least important part of my PC – I didn’t know what “profiles” were, and I’d never heard the word “keycap”.  I later learned that keys have a top part called a cap, and that those keycaps come in different shapes – and those shapes are generally called profiles.

I learned the shape I’d been using pretty much my entire life up to that point was called OEM. The shape of keys on most keyboards I’d owned up to that point – most, except the wretched thing that was so bad it convinced me to go for something better in the first place.

The DELL keyboards in the library. The beige keyboards with the HPs and eMachines and the really funky Packard-Bell shenanigans – more or less, that’s all OEM. Ducky, Filco, CoolerMaster, SteelSeries – pretty much all the modern gaming keyboards not also marketed as low-profile are going to be in OEM profile.

Much later, I learned that particular “profile” is something of a small can of worms in that it’s less an exact standard and more of a loose grouping – but for most practical purposes, it’s fair to lump them together. Not everyone’s “OEM” is the same, but they do tend to follow a particular set of criteria: cylindrical, sculpted, and when it comes to MX specifically, tall and wide enough to accommodate switches regardless of their mounting direction. In other words, it has room for an LED right under the letter in case the keyboard has back-lighting – which wasn’t really a thing when Cherry designed MX switches and their companion keycap profile.

They did design the switches with a slot right in them to fit 3mm LEDs – for indicators – which with the original keys, had windows in the bottom-middle of the cap, facing the user. Later on, someone had the idea to flip the switches around and have LEDs in that slot illuminate translucent letters instead – but that required taller keycaps. No, that’s not where OEM came from to begin with – but it is at least one reason why it’s the default shape of choice for commercial MX keyboards.

So that’s the og Cherry and its ubiquitous cousin OEM – but those are the baseline of the MX-compatible keycap universe. While I may end up writing an entry on Cherry profile, the meat and potatoes of this series is going to be about everything but OEM and Cherry.

Going back to when I first got into all this business – there were a fair number of other choices available at the time, but not exactly easy to find in a non-hobby-customer sort of way. You might luck out and find something cool in-stock at Pimp My Keyboard, which at the time was mostly SA and DSA profiles (more about those in the glossary if you’re not familiar). I’m not sure about DSA, but I know SA specifically has its roots in retro computing going back as far as the late 70s, and the MX-compatible tooling for SA was adapted from some older tooling used for a different mount.

Say all that to say – there were choices in 2015 – but there weren’t very many, and while some were pretty cool, none of them were particularly fresh.

I’m writing this in December of 2022, and right now, there are more profiles available to the average consumer than I can list in any reasonable amount of time. Caps are available in a nearly uncountable array of shapes and sizes, with new ones emerging on a seemingly weekly basis – which brings us to today’s specimen.

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EMA Profile

This is more of a first-look and comparison article and not so much a review – once I’ve had some time with these under my fingers I’ll be glad to tell you what they’re like in practical use – but for today, I have plenty of comparison images and a few thoughts to share.

Browsing GH the other day, I saw a new listing for a profile I hadn’t heard of before: EMA. They soon showed up on Drop as well, and the set on that site is doubleshot PBT and has 140-something keys, and was going for 30 bucks during the preorder. I decided to poke around and see if EMA sets showed up anywhere else, and it turns out the profile is a fairly recent creation of IDOBAO – a name familiar to many a budget keyboard enjoyer.

The thing about this profile that caught my attention when I saw this listing were the broad top surfaces. I’ve enjoyed other profiles with broad tops like MelGeek’s MDA, and a friend of mine had recently picked that as a favorite when I let them try a bunch – so I’d been on the lookout for that or something similar.

The ones on Drop were a mixed colorway, but I found an all-black one I was much more interested in on Idobao’s site on sale for less than 20 bucks – so I snagged a set and promptly forgot about it before they even made it into a shipping container.

Oh yeah! These things. While the PBT ones on Drop were in group-buy, the ABS ones on Idobao’s site were in-stock – so while it took a minute for them to get here, it was still faster.

Checking them out, the first thing I notice is the texture. The second thing I notice is they have no homing keys.

Well. That’s something of a deal-breaker for me personally, but I didn’t really get these with myself (or a touch-typist for that matter) in-mind. These are here a.) to satisfy my curiosity which I then share with you fine folks and b.) as potential candidates for use on a bluetooth couch-keyboard for a friend who likes broad-topped keys. That being the case, no-homing isn’t necessarily a no-go.

Some profiles have a space bar that’s symmetrical front-to-back, but most have one that shares the sculpt angle of the bottom row – and this one’s no exception. In those cases, I tend to flip them around because I type like a heathen with my wrists resting right on the desk, and I still want my thumbs to be comfortable – so I’ll definitely be doing that with EMA. To quote Busta Rhymes, “flipmode is the greatest.”

From what I can tell, EMA is Idobao’s second foray into new keycap profiles, after the notably less conventional MA.

So, starting from that, EMA is a step towards the conventional – but it manages to be its own thing. On that note; there are quite a few profiles born from the idea of striking a balance between the big spherical retro chonkness of SA and the sleek, practical low-profile of Cherry. This profile appears to be another of them, but setting itself apart in that space with rather broad, nearly-flat top surfaces while retaining a fair bit of angled sculpt from row to row.

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Comparisons

There are plenty of other broad-topped profiles; CXA, XVX, and MDA come to mind. The first two are closer to Cherry in terms of height and angle, but the other is a bit closer to what we have here today – but even more broad. MDA is almost as wide at the top as it is at the bottom. Wouldn’t you know it, I bothered to take some comparison photos and managed to bring up the two profiles I have on-hand but didn’t include. Ah well – just imagine flat Adam Driver as a keycap and you pretty much got it.

Alright – ones I forgot to include in the group photo aside, let’s get to the fun part – direct comparisons. Group photo!

These are all taken from the same row, whichever key from it I happened to grab first – aside from XDA, which is the same on every row. SA sets come in a variety of row combinations ranging from fully sculpted to uniform, with all rows being the flat-angled one from sculpted row 3 – so I’ve included an extra SA key from that row for comparison as well.

EMA is about on-par with XDA when it comes to surface-area, but XDA has a flat and uniform row sculpt as opposed to EMA’s angled rows. MDA sits between them in terms of angle, but has the most broad surface area. They’re fairly flat, but not quite as flat as EMA.

It’s mostly comparison photos from here; I’ll be reviewing the set at some point, but for now, here are a bunch of close-ups from various angles comparing EMA with other profiles:

You know, this might be the most middle-of-the-road profile I’ve ever seen. Neat.

Well – that’s about all I have for you today. I’ll be back at some point in the un-scheduled near future with more ramblings, reviews, and other such information.

Be seeing you.

Originally posted April 2021

Earlier this month, Keebtalk user keyliber posed the question, Why Keyboards?

He invites us to share our own reasons thusly:

This is a place to share reasons why keyboards are not in fact useless so you can justify spending more for your keyboard than your PC and having more GMK keysets than you have fingers.

I’m about to ramble something fierce because I’ve been asked why I like my favorite thing, but before I do here’s the most important bit I have to say: having reasons you can identify for enjoying your hobby is great – but you don’t need justification.

If you enjoy it – you enjoy it! Knowing why might help you get more into it or get the most out of it, but yeah. If someone asks me why I have more currency in colored plastic squares than my car, I’ll say SUCH IS MANGO! and exit stage right.

Now… about keyboards.

I used to work with a guy that had a massive sneaker collection, mostly limited editions in really wild colors. He often wore ones coordinated with his uniform. Had a display wall for them and everything. When he asked me about keyboards, I said, well – it’s a lot like your shoes, man – and he got it.

Aside from what’s already been said about how much time a lot of us spend using this kind of input device both for work and play, I do have some other reasons.

I enjoy human-interface machines in general, and am fascinated with the variety and the reasons for it. Before keyboards, it was bikes. I got really into all the possibilities within limitations, and experimented with different builds based on ideas (and subsequent lessons).

Before, I wouldn’t have guessed that there’s as much variation with keyboards as with bikes – but there really is, and that has only been growing over time (and quickly). I get the sense this is a great time to be getting into keebs.

Until I got an especially bad one (seen above), I don’t think I’d ever considered a keyboard in any way other than you kind of need one to use the computer. When the extra crap one came along, I started looking into what might be better…

With keyboards as with bikes before, I take specific enjoyment in helping people find the right device for them. If I see it make some kind of positive difference, that’s the biggest win – so once I discovered how much aesthetic and functional customization was possible with keyboards, I was in for the long haul.

I’m still a relatively new builder, but after seven or so builds for other people I’ve already tried and learned a few things I never would have otherwise – that’s something fun that keeps me engaged. Easy builds are relaxing. Others can be exercises – or challenging puzzles – either way, I’m having fun.

I have some mild nerve damage that doesn’t effect much these days, but it does make writing kind of slow and awkward – but typing! It’s so much more natural and effortless feeling for me compared to writing by hand.

Even before the nerve stuff, there has always been neuro stuff – let’s just say that typing makes it so much easier to actually get my thoughts down before they evaporate. And the tactility! The sound. It’s like a fidget thing I can fidget with while also being productive.

But you know what my favorite part is? You folks. Like just about everything, the best part is the people you meet through it.

Originally posted February 2021

As I sit down to write the first article for my new website about mechanical keyboards, I reflect on what my priorities have been in the mechanical keyboard space thus far. When I began, I went pretty much as cheap as possible, just so I could see what the fuss was about without too much commitment. Heh…

My new VicTsing EasternTimes Tech TOMOKO Amazon Spicy Fried Chicken Biscuit TKL was the best darn keyboard I’d ever used, and its crunchy blue switches were just so satisfying after the slippery, flexible, gummy mush that had inspired me to buy the thing in the first place. “If the lowest-end is this good,” I thought, “I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.”

Only in the past few months have I genuinely been dipping my toes in the high-end custom realm (switches excluded). For most of my journey so far, I’ve been focused on the lower-to-middle-end; if only because any true middle-market was at worst a scarce and barren space, and at best boring – at least in the West. Its few interesting examples often significantly flawed, missing the mark, or surrounded by a haze of unpalatable drama.

Thankfully, that’s no longer the general state of things. In fact, I think we’re seeing something of a middle-market renaissance here in early 2021.

The most obvious herald of this is of course the NovelKeys NK65EE, or Entry Edition. While certainly not cheap at $95 bare-bones, it’s extremely competitive when it comes to features and quality in the price range – at least, for the moment. While for a brief time it appeared this board held absolute dominance in this emerging higher quality middle-market, many competitors have risen to fill the adjacent space – and that’s awesome.

There’s the TKC Portico, Idobao ID series, the newer generation of Keychrons, the GMMK Pro, and my personal favorite, the KBDFans KBD67L, or Lite.

Every one of these options offer features that used to be the exclusive domain of high-end, low production run customs. No mistaking, these aren’t high end, low production run customs – but they’ll get you much closer for your dollar (each in their own ways) than most anything that came before them. I think this is generally good not just for the hobby, but for the casual consumer who just wants a really nice keyboard (and not a new hobby).

Now, for what a “high end” gaming keyboard from Big Box cost just a year or two ago, you can get a big heavy aestheticc wedge – or a nuanced mounting system that reduces fatigue – or some really dope switches that feel better than anything in the store.

This also appears to be having the effect of bringing prices down in the adjacent market of gaming keyboards. Thanks to the rise of streaming in general and TaeHa x Tfue specifically, there are a lot of former Logitech, Razer, and Steel Series customers hopping on NovelKeys.xyz for those sweet scratchy Creams – and an NK65 while they’re at it. I guess that means the Big Box brands are having to respond in the only way they can at the moment. Small violins for them, another boon for the consumer.

From the ready availability of smooth, middle-priced JWK’s to the meteoric rise of Gazzew’s boutique line of tweaked Outemu switches, the middle-market for switches has been flush lately as well. Maybe a little too flush. But hey – it beats having to pick between Cherry Reds and Kailh Reds and what the hell is a Holy Panda?

We’ve got silent switches that aren’t awful, and don’t cost an arm and a leg. Even Hall-effect and optical switches are making a real come-back. We’ve got Gateron Caps bringing linear Thock to the masses, low-profile switches that aren’t the devil’s bottom, and even color-matched stabilizers and special edition switches for popular keysets. The middle-market for keycaps is still a fairly iffy place – but there’s gold in them there hills if you have patience and persistence.

Say all of that to say;

Whether you’re in for the long-haul or just passing-through, there’s never been a better time to get your hands on a mechanical keyboard.

Originally posted June 2021

Ah, Frankenswitching. For the neophyte, it is playground and pitfall alike. For many experts, it lies somewhere between begrudged annoyance and trivial pursuit. So why on Earth do I fool with it so much? Well – I’m here to give you fine folks an answer.

While some part of my monkey-brain would get satisfaction out of finding some miracle combo like the Holy Panda and being the first to claim it, this is not what keeps me cracking switches open late into the night.

As much light-hearted jest is in that comment, it’s also true. The other side of the Holy Panda discovery is the tidal-wave of innovation and new interest it brought to the hobby. Think of how many good switches we have now as a result – whether they be strong tactiles seeking to imitate directly, more mild tactiles that take cues from the divine ursidae, or even the slew of new linears featuring longer stem poles chasing that distinctive sound. (These may have a more direct linage to other linear frankens, but I still believe it’s the HP hype that brought them attention – how many linears have been sold with a tagline something along the lines of, “like a Holy Panda, but linear!”

The Holy Panda is basically The Beatles of frankenswitching.

Most obvious example out of the way, I can think of a few more that have had a positive influence on subsequent commercially-available products;

• Ergo Clears (quite a few good switches have come from chasing this one’s properties)
• Zykos (mad expensive – but they inspired a new and very promising upcoming switch)
• UHMWPE Creams (not great in and of themselves IMO, but now we have Hippos!)
• Holy Bobas (I think it’s safe to assume these begat the much-beloved U4Ts)

I think this is what keeps me coming back to kit-bashing switch parts together; not only does it help me learn about the donor switches and switch dynamics in general, it also holds the alluring promise of bringing further innovation to the “official” side of things. I may find combinations that I really like, and I’ll happily describe them and extol their virtues – but I’m also all-too happy to see them made redundant by a singular product that isn’t so difficult or expensive for enthusiasts and casual clackers alike to obtain.

So, for those of us who enjoy experimentation and/or are obsessively curious, frankenswitching can be a rewarding, albeit expensive practice. I sincerely do not recommend it for everyone – as there’s a genuinely good chance one might end up pouring quite a bit of dosh into a theory that sounds great and turns out underwhelming, leaving one with a bunch of expensive parts they don’t actually enjoy. On the other hand, I do like seeing the small but dedicated community of frankenswitchers churning away and discussing what’s good and what’s garbage – as I believe this is beneficial to the community as a whole in multiple ways:

1.) As mentioned before, lots of great switches have come from emulating expensive or elusive franken recipes.

2.) Lots of knowledge about switches in general is permeating through the community as a result of the experimentation.

3.) The buzz generates plenty of sales, giving some of our favorite vendors and manufacturers more capital to work with and thus more resources to improve and expand.

In addition, once in a blue moon myself and others will indeed stumble upon a novel and/or somewhat unique and positive combination – and whether or not it actually ends up influencing any manufacturer choices, the discovery leaves the door open and, in the mean time, provides an avenue for curious experimenters to share in the enjoyment and discussion of such a discovery.

“Deadpools” come to mind; I think there’s at least one upcoming switch out there chasing the acoustic properties of this one, if not directly, certainly in general. Long pole linears, specifically of the very thocky variety, are becoming less of an odd-ball as time goes on – and I think it’s a safe bet to say that commercial attempts at such a switch won’t be plagued with un-intended down-sides such as a lack of leaf retention, which make Deadpools challenging to work with and nearly impossible to use on a hot-swap board, for example.

So, while it may be a bit irritating to see post after post about untested theories, assumptions of striking gold, or – one that I’m totally guilty of – unintuitive, uninformative naming schemes; I think it’s quite worth it for the overall resulting positives. Besides; for folks like myself, there’s plenty of fun to be had – and that’s reason enough for me.