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> Jokes aside, I totally understand the appeal of mechanical keyboards. I’ve used them and it is satisfying to hear that clickity-click sound and the keys do fe

> Jokes aside, I totally understand the appeal of mechanical keyboards. I’ve used them and it is satisfying to hear that clickity-click sound and the keys do feel amazing but that just doesn’t work for me due to being on so many pair programming calls and recording video courses. I don't like it when people equate mechanical keyboards to loudness. They don't have to be loud! My keyboard has MX Clear switches which are not loud in the slightest, and I personally think they feel miles better than any non-mechanical keyboard I've used.

pteraspidomorph 7y ago
That's what I was thinking. Any decent mechanical keyboard has all of these features and more, and the sound the keys make depends on the switches, of which there are many different types. Some switches are designed to be loud (like the MX Blues) but you don't have to use them. I usually find that people who disparage mechanical keyboards do not actually know a lot about mechanical keyboards...
- simonsarris 7y ago
  Which decent mechanical keyboard has the feature of being $14.50?
  - notus 7y ago
    Most engineers with jobs aren't making compromises on the price when their goal is comfort and usability.
    - whitehouse3 7y ago
      You're right. I bought a $250 Leopold FC660C to combat repetitive strain injury, because my doctor said to minimize the distance between the home row and my mouse pad. But most less-expensive 60% ("ten key-less") boards either lack arrow keys or have obnoxious, loud switches. These weren't feasible because I use arrow keys all the time for Visual Studio and I work in open-office hell. The Leopold has quiet Topre switches. I'd buy a $15 keyboard in a heartbeat if it wouldn't hurt my wrists. But for me, the Leopold is a medical device. I would have paid twice as much for it, which has nothing to do with the key switches at all. In fact, I did pay 2x for it because I bought one for my home system as well.
      - vcanales 7y ago
        As a user of the New Poker II 60% and other 60% keyboards, arrow keys are usually one dip switch/macro away. I also use brown dampened switches and they’re not noisy.
      - wilsonnb3 7y ago
        For what it's worth there are many cheaper options that would work for you. For anyone else looking to reduce the distance between mousepad and keyboard, this size is usually called 84-key, 75%, or 80%. They have all of the keys that a tenkeyless has but laid out in such a way that the keyboard is significantly less wide. this one is relatively cheap (they used to sell an even cheaper one that I currently own, which has off brand switched instead of cherry mx) https://www.amazon.com/DREVO-Excalibur-Mechanical-Keyboard-Specially/dp/B01N6GBUQE/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=drevo+84&qid=1567528824&s=gateway&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/DREVO-Excalibur-Mechanical-Keyboard-S...
        whitehouse3 7y ago
        Thank you for this. I haven't scanned the market lately so I entirely missed this new crop of smaller boards. Nomenclature was the big hurdle I had to clear when searching for a keyboard. I didn't know what these boards were called until a fellow engineer introduced me. I'm sure "84-key" will be a helpful keyword to someone else reading this thread.
      - castlecrasher2 7y ago
        I don't mean to intrude or otherwise question you but have you looked into weightlifting as a solution? I used to get RSI pretty bad, and had back problems until about four years ago when I did heavy (two-hours a day, six days a week) weightlifting for a few months. Haven't had it since.
        whitehouse3 7y ago
        Thank you for mentioning this. That's a great data point and I will look into this further.
    - kazinator 7y ago
      Speaking of engineers and jobs, it's part of an engineer's job description to make compromises on cost. I've never seen a mechanical keyboard that wasn't loud; let alone silent. (The thread topic is noise, not comfort or usability.) That doesn't mean they don't exist. Maybe if I rubbed shoulders more with the high society, I might get access to some invitation-only showroom for exotic keyboards where $14K will get you a whisper-silent unit. I do have one almost absolutely silent keyboard. It's quite awful to type on. Basically it's one of those flexible rubber keyboards for industrial environments, where there are spill and dust hazards. I use it at night, not to disturb anyone. I optimized for sound at the cost of comfort.
      - eukaryote31 7y ago
        Most silent mechanical keyboards are about the same cost as clicky ones.
        kazinator 7y ago
        Great; I'm in Vancouver, Canada; where can I walk into a brick-and-mortar store to try one?
        PascLeRasc 7y ago
        Memory Express has a pretty good selection, I'd try there.
        kazinator 7y ago
        I was at a ME not long ago; I tried my hands on everything on display; they all make a sound. Some are good about not making a sound when the switch goes down, but the key makes a sound when bouncing back up, if your finger is completely off it. Space bar keys are particularly bad. A keyboard isn't silent if the space bar isn't.
        grp000 7y ago
  - tapland 7y ago
    There were some mx red ones for $18 shipped in the US last week linked on geekhack
  - linsomniac 7y ago
    If price is my primary selection criteria, it's hard to beat free. I suspect I'm not the only one that has keyboards literally laying around: home, the office, friends houses, friends offices...
  - mdszy 7y ago
    You really should not cheap out on something you will literally be spending thousands of hours of your life using.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    You can find something a whole lot nicer than the Amazon keyboard for $10 or $15 on ebay.
- unicornfinder 7y ago
  Indeed. I use a cherry MX brown board with o-rings at work, and it's reasonably quiet and feels so, so much nicer to type on than the rubber dome board it replaced.
somedrag 7y ago
I was surprised by this point - I have the same keyboard as the author but when I'm on video calls I tend to use the keyboard on my MacBook because I've gotten numerous comments about how loud my keyboard is. I use the MacBook built in speaker (not a detached microphone like he does in the video). My keyboard is on a wooden desk directly in front of the the laptop (with an open screen for even worse acoustics). Maybe I'd have better luck with a raised microphone like in the video in the article, but I would not say this is a particularly quiet keyboard.
- cj 7y ago
  Agreed. I also have the same keyboard. And when on video calls, I regularly switch to the Macbook Pro built-in keyboard if I don't want the other person to hear me typing (it is quite loud and definitely audible over a video call).
- nickjj 7y ago
  This would be a problem with any keyboard that's resting on the same surface as your microphone stand. So in your case, it's not because the keyboard is loud. It's because you have huge rumble vibrations getting through to your mic, and this is masked with your laptop's keyboard since it's absorbing some of that. If you look at the link in the post it has a sample of what the keyboard sounds in a typical screencast scenario when you have a proper microphone stand. No standalone keyboard is going to prevent rumbles if you have it sitting on the same surface as your mic. Especially if your desk or microphone stand is wobbly (but it would still happen on a heavy stable desk too).
notus 7y ago
Well the author also thinks pair programming is a good idea so I'd take what they say with a grain of salt. Also I get the impression this article is just a thinly veiled ad for their courses.
- borski 7y ago
  Sorry, enlighten me - why is pair programming such an awful idea, in your opinion?
  - vkou 7y ago
    You are paying 2 people for what is, 95% of the time, less than twice the output of one person. There are particular mentoring objectives that you can hit with it, and there is value in bouncing ideas off another person, but I don't need to sit in front of a computer screen for the latter.
    - borski 7y ago
      There are definitely benefits that are larger than just mentoring or bouncing ideas. Often, the sum is actually greater than the individual parts, as fewer mistakes get made and more fruitful paths get explored earlier/faster.
      - vkou 7y ago
        Most coding mistakes are not very expensive.
      - notus 7y ago
        As the other poster said, most coding mistakes are not expensive and the ones that are should have automation/testing in place around them. It is definitely not worth having someone look over your shoulder and eat up the little breaks you naturally give yourself. There is a reason that hardly anyone at companies like Google, Amazon, etc. do pair programming.
        7y ago
nickjj 7y ago
I wouldn't say I'm a mechanical keyboard expert in the sense that I personally spent months assembling and disassembling a few of them while putting on custom switches and all of that but I have used (and listened) to a few of them in situations where it was in a controlled environment (I know what the room is like, the mic used, positioning of everything, the switches, etc.) and I haven't found any mechanical keyboard / switches that were quiet enough for me on video based on what I heard. Do you have a high end recording set up? A good mic, boom stand, etc.? It would be curious to hear your set up on how it comes off on video when typing at your max WPM.
- equalunique 7y ago
  Silenced Cherry, Gateron, ZealPC, Aliaz, and Outemu switches are near inaudible when lubed.
  - nickjj 7y ago
    Near inaudible is also bad because it's important that you hear something in the videos (this is explained in the article). But I definitely never heard of having to lube your keyboard before using it. I'll look into that just to see what it sounds like. Hopefully someone with high end recording gear has done real world tests.
    - Bluestrike2 7y ago
      Silent switches aren't completely silent; near inaudible is relative, and given that you're evaluating switches in terms of their sound on a recording, "near inaudible" might work great for you. There are a lot of variables when it comes to lubed switches, with the type and amount of lube used having an effect on the overall feel and sound. This is an interesting guide and rather long discussion about methods of lubing Cherry MX switches, for example.[0] You'll find a lot of videos some decent decent recording tests[1] of switches in general out there, but not a ton that are exhaustive comparisons of different switches and modifications. This video,[2] for example, compares decibel readings from Cherry MX Red, Blue, the Topre 45g, and Cherry MX Silent Black and Reds.[0] Comparing across different tests has obvious problems, and since you're looking for a sort of goldilocks sound level for a specific use case (not inaudible, not too loud, just right for recording), you might wind up wanting to experiment a bit with a switch tester. Other factors like the keyboard case construction and the keycaps you're using are going to have an effect as well; a mat underneath the keyboard will have a noticeable effect for many keyboards, for example. Not to mention how you type and whether you're bottoming out. Personally, I find that kind of experimentation fun but not everyone will agree. Because you're recording, it might be easier to look at testing different microphone positions and experimenting with positioning a few layers of foam between your keyboard and microphone to absorb some of the higher frequencies. You won't be able to make it entirely silent, which isn't the goal, but you might be able to get it to a level that sounds pleasant in your recordings. 0. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34332.0 https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34332.0 1. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=56648.0 https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=56648.0 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdFIht3A2To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdFIht3A2To
bonestamp2 7y ago
Agreed, I have MX Clears and they're not bad at all. That said, they are still louder than standard (rubber dome) keyboards, even with o-ring dampeners installed. But, I switched to a noise reduction headset and my screen sharing partners say my keyboard noise is now equivalent to people with rubber dome keyboards (you can barely hear it). I have a keyboard on order with "silent red" mechanical switches. From what I understand, they're similar to rubber dome keyboards in noise level and if that's true then I won't have to use the headset all the time.
- eropple 7y ago
  You can also get a better microphone. I use a Logitech G Pro keyboard, which sounds (to my ears) roughly the same as MX Browns, but I use a supercardioid dynamic microphone (the sE L7, which for my money is the best dynamic microphone you can buy until you get up into the ElectroVoice RE320 territory) on an arm. It's got a tight enough polar pattern that I don't even need headphones because my desk speakers don't feed back, let alone the keyboard that's at a 90 degree angle from the business end of the mic.
  - bonestamp2 7y ago
    I do have a few studio microphones and a high end (apogee ensemble) audio interface. But, that setup is even less convenient than wearing a headset. I appreciate the suggestion though... if I am going to record or broadcast any keyboard sessions that require some polish then I'll definitely isolate my voice with a pickup pattern.
    - eropple 7y ago
      YMMV, but I solved the convenience issue by putting that arm on a flange mount (not a clamp) and that alone made things a lot easier. It also makes people think you're more serious, which is a nice side effect. I have a bunch of studio mics, too, but I've found that teleconference is easier with a cheap but tight-pattern dynamic. Check out the sE V7. It's tremendous for exactly that.
sli 7y ago
Yeah, no offense to the author, but this article read like one written by someone who really doesn't know much about keyboards. There is a whole slew of different silent, non-clicky, tactile and linear switches to choose from, as well as sound dampening o-rings.
- connor4312 7y ago
  There's also several new 'silenced' switches[1][2] which have dampening built-in by moulding in a softer plastic into the switch stem. I can't stand the feel of o-rings; I use a Zilent switch keyboard for work and it's quieter than a lot of my coworker's non-mechanical/rubber dome boards. 1. https://zealpc.net/products/zilents https://zealpc.net/products/zilents 2. https://kbdfans.com/products/pre-orderaliaz-silent-switch-tactile https://kbdfans.com/products/pre-orderaliaz-silent-switch-ta... (unaffiliated with either of these stores)
  - flamtap 7y ago
    The o-rings also don’t dampen the upward click of the key in release, whereas the dampened switch models do.
- PascLeRasc 7y ago
  I can't really blame him though, if you assume Amazon is the standard marketplace for everything all you'll find is Cherry blue and red switches, and Razer/Logitech's versions of those. It wasn't until I attended a mechanical keyboard conference that I found out about Zealios, by far my favorite switch but near-impossible to find in pre-built boards. Even Clears, which are really great and my favorite Cherry switch, are somewhat hard to find if you don't know specific keyboard sites.
  - mixmastamyk 7y ago
    I have the wasd keyboard with red switches and thin o-rings and it is quiet, quieter than my mouse buttons.
    - 7y ago
aloisdg 7y ago
MX Clear switches are a joy to use and are Open Space friendly. I tried a lot of cherry MX and I wont switch.
tracer4201 7y ago
+1 on cherry clears. I recently switch from typing on WalMart keyboards at home and Mac keyboard at work to using a Code keyboard with clear switches. By God typing is such a wonderful experience now, and the noise isn’t worse than the WalMart keyboards. granted it’s not as quite as the Mac keyboards that are so thin, but it just feels day and night different (better).
magashna 7y ago
The average rubber dome keyboard is significantly louder than my cherry pinks
loup-vaillant 7y ago
Many mechanical keyboard users bottom out. That is noisy. It also hurts their fingers. My brother loved his mechanical keyboard (Cherry MX blue). Very loud (he bottomed out), very satisfying, but he had to quit because his fingers hurt.
- api_or_ipa 7y ago
  Not all bottom-outs are created equally. I bottom out on my MX Clears but the increased stiffness dampens the force to the point where my typing is comparable to the latest apple keyboards my colleagues use. I don't even use rubber dampeners which would further reduce sound.
jgalentine007 7y ago
My Cherry MX Red Silents are really quiet (as quiet as a membrane or laptop keyboard, without the chatter) and very crisp.
KingMachiavelli 7y ago
I have MX Reds at work and while they don't have the 'click' that Blues have, when the keys bottom out it's still louder than a membrane keyboard. Fortuently, you can get cheap o-rings on Amazon designed to force the switch to bottom out before the key cap hits the floor of the keyboard or the switch. It's a remarkable improvement for especially quiet offices.
DavidVoid 7y ago
As long as the switches aren't of the clicky variety (e.g. Cherry MX Blue) you can make the keyboard really quiet with GMK QMX clips or something similar [1]. How well isolated the keyboard is from the table can also make a big difference so it can be worth to put a piece of folded microfiber cloth or something underneath it. [1]: GMK QMX Clip sound test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UroBHvL5LZ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UroBHvL5LZ8

pteraspidomorph 7y ago

That's what I was thinking. Any decent mechanical keyboard has all of these features and more, and the sound the keys make depends on the switches, of which there are many different types. Some switches are designed to be loud (like the MX Blues) but you don't have to use them. I usually find that people who disparage mechanical keyboards do not actually know a lot about mechanical keyboards...

simonsarris 7y ago
Which decent mechanical keyboard has the feature of being $14.50?
- notus 7y ago
  Most engineers with jobs aren't making compromises on the price when their goal is comfort and usability.
  - whitehouse3 7y ago
    You're right. I bought a $250 Leopold FC660C to combat repetitive strain injury, because my doctor said to minimize the distance between the home row and my mouse pad. But most less-expensive 60% ("ten key-less") boards either lack arrow keys or have obnoxious, loud switches. These weren't feasible because I use arrow keys all the time for Visual Studio and I work in open-office hell. The Leopold has quiet Topre switches. I'd buy a $15 keyboard in a heartbeat if it wouldn't hurt my wrists. But for me, the Leopold is a medical device. I would have paid twice as much for it, which has nothing to do with the key switches at all. In fact, I did pay 2x for it because I bought one for my home system as well.
    - vcanales 7y ago
      As a user of the New Poker II 60% and other 60% keyboards, arrow keys are usually one dip switch/macro away. I also use brown dampened switches and they’re not noisy.
    - wilsonnb3 7y ago
      For what it's worth there are many cheaper options that would work for you. For anyone else looking to reduce the distance between mousepad and keyboard, this size is usually called 84-key, 75%, or 80%. They have all of the keys that a tenkeyless has but laid out in such a way that the keyboard is significantly less wide. this one is relatively cheap (they used to sell an even cheaper one that I currently own, which has off brand switched instead of cherry mx) https://www.amazon.com/DREVO-Excalibur-Mechanical-Keyboard-Specially/dp/B01N6GBUQE/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=drevo+84&qid=1567528824&s=gateway&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/DREVO-Excalibur-Mechanical-Keyboard-S...
      - whitehouse3 7y ago
        Thank you for this. I haven't scanned the market lately so I entirely missed this new crop of smaller boards. Nomenclature was the big hurdle I had to clear when searching for a keyboard. I didn't know what these boards were called until a fellow engineer introduced me. I'm sure "84-key" will be a helpful keyword to someone else reading this thread.
    - castlecrasher2 7y ago
      I don't mean to intrude or otherwise question you but have you looked into weightlifting as a solution? I used to get RSI pretty bad, and had back problems until about four years ago when I did heavy (two-hours a day, six days a week) weightlifting for a few months. Haven't had it since.
      - whitehouse3 7y ago
        Thank you for mentioning this. That's a great data point and I will look into this further.
  - kazinator 7y ago
    Speaking of engineers and jobs, it's part of an engineer's job description to make compromises on cost. I've never seen a mechanical keyboard that wasn't loud; let alone silent. (The thread topic is noise, not comfort or usability.) That doesn't mean they don't exist. Maybe if I rubbed shoulders more with the high society, I might get access to some invitation-only showroom for exotic keyboards where $14K will get you a whisper-silent unit. I do have one almost absolutely silent keyboard. It's quite awful to type on. Basically it's one of those flexible rubber keyboards for industrial environments, where there are spill and dust hazards. I use it at night, not to disturb anyone. I optimized for sound at the cost of comfort.
    - eukaryote31 7y ago
      Most silent mechanical keyboards are about the same cost as clicky ones.
      - kazinator 7y ago
        Great; I'm in Vancouver, Canada; where can I walk into a brick-and-mortar store to try one?
        PascLeRasc 7y ago
        Memory Express has a pretty good selection, I'd try there.
        kazinator 7y ago
        I was at a ME not long ago; I tried my hands on everything on display; they all make a sound. Some are good about not making a sound when the switch goes down, but the key makes a sound when bouncing back up, if your finger is completely off it. Space bar keys are particularly bad. A keyboard isn't silent if the space bar isn't.
        grp000 7y ago
- tapland 7y ago
  There were some mx red ones for $18 shipped in the US last week linked on geekhack
- linsomniac 7y ago
  If price is my primary selection criteria, it's hard to beat free. I suspect I'm not the only one that has keyboards literally laying around: home, the office, friends houses, friends offices...
- mdszy 7y ago
  You really should not cheap out on something you will literally be spending thousands of hours of your life using.
- jacobolus 7y ago
  You can find something a whole lot nicer than the Amazon keyboard for $10 or $15 on ebay.
unicornfinder 7y ago
Indeed. I use a cherry MX brown board with o-rings at work, and it's reasonably quiet and feels so, so much nicer to type on than the rubber dome board it replaced.

somedrag 7y ago

I was surprised by this point - I have the same keyboard as the author but when I'm on video calls I tend to use the keyboard on my MacBook because I've gotten numerous comments about how loud my keyboard is. I use the MacBook built in speaker (not a detached microphone like he does in the video). My keyboard is on a wooden desk directly in front of the the laptop (with an open screen for even worse acoustics). Maybe I'd have better luck with a raised microphone like in the video in the article, but I would not say this is a particularly quiet keyboard.

cj 7y ago
Agreed. I also have the same keyboard. And when on video calls, I regularly switch to the Macbook Pro built-in keyboard if I don't want the other person to hear me typing (it is quite loud and definitely audible over a video call).
nickjj 7y ago
This would be a problem with any keyboard that's resting on the same surface as your microphone stand. So in your case, it's not because the keyboard is loud. It's because you have huge rumble vibrations getting through to your mic, and this is masked with your laptop's keyboard since it's absorbing some of that. If you look at the link in the post it has a sample of what the keyboard sounds in a typical screencast scenario when you have a proper microphone stand. No standalone keyboard is going to prevent rumbles if you have it sitting on the same surface as your mic. Especially if your desk or microphone stand is wobbly (but it would still happen on a heavy stable desk too).

notus 7y ago

Well the author also thinks pair programming is a good idea so I'd take what they say with a grain of salt. Also I get the impression this article is just a thinly veiled ad for their courses.

borski 7y ago
Sorry, enlighten me - why is pair programming such an awful idea, in your opinion?
- vkou 7y ago
  You are paying 2 people for what is, 95% of the time, less than twice the output of one person. There are particular mentoring objectives that you can hit with it, and there is value in bouncing ideas off another person, but I don't need to sit in front of a computer screen for the latter.
  - borski 7y ago
    There are definitely benefits that are larger than just mentoring or bouncing ideas. Often, the sum is actually greater than the individual parts, as fewer mistakes get made and more fruitful paths get explored earlier/faster.
    - vkou 7y ago
      Most coding mistakes are not very expensive.
    - notus 7y ago
      As the other poster said, most coding mistakes are not expensive and the ones that are should have automation/testing in place around them. It is definitely not worth having someone look over your shoulder and eat up the little breaks you naturally give yourself. There is a reason that hardly anyone at companies like Google, Amazon, etc. do pair programming.
      - 7y ago

nickjj 7y ago

I wouldn't say I'm a mechanical keyboard expert in the sense that I personally spent months assembling and disassembling a few of them while putting on custom switches and all of that but I have used (and listened) to a few of them in situations where it was in a controlled environment (I know what the room is like, the mic used, positioning of everything, the switches, etc.) and I haven't found any mechanical keyboard / switches that were quiet enough for me on video based on what I heard. Do you have a high end recording set up? A good mic, boom stand, etc.? It would be curious to hear your set up on how it comes off on video when typing at your max WPM.

equalunique 7y ago
Silenced Cherry, Gateron, ZealPC, Aliaz, and Outemu switches are near inaudible when lubed.
- nickjj 7y ago
  Near inaudible is also bad because it's important that you hear something in the videos (this is explained in the article). But I definitely never heard of having to lube your keyboard before using it. I'll look into that just to see what it sounds like. Hopefully someone with high end recording gear has done real world tests.
  - Bluestrike2 7y ago
    Silent switches aren't completely silent; near inaudible is relative, and given that you're evaluating switches in terms of their sound on a recording, "near inaudible" might work great for you. There are a lot of variables when it comes to lubed switches, with the type and amount of lube used having an effect on the overall feel and sound. This is an interesting guide and rather long discussion about methods of lubing Cherry MX switches, for example.[0] You'll find a lot of videos some decent decent recording tests[1] of switches in general out there, but not a ton that are exhaustive comparisons of different switches and modifications. This video,[2] for example, compares decibel readings from Cherry MX Red, Blue, the Topre 45g, and Cherry MX Silent Black and Reds.[0] Comparing across different tests has obvious problems, and since you're looking for a sort of goldilocks sound level for a specific use case (not inaudible, not too loud, just right for recording), you might wind up wanting to experiment a bit with a switch tester. Other factors like the keyboard case construction and the keycaps you're using are going to have an effect as well; a mat underneath the keyboard will have a noticeable effect for many keyboards, for example. Not to mention how you type and whether you're bottoming out. Personally, I find that kind of experimentation fun but not everyone will agree. Because you're recording, it might be easier to look at testing different microphone positions and experimenting with positioning a few layers of foam between your keyboard and microphone to absorb some of the higher frequencies. You won't be able to make it entirely silent, which isn't the goal, but you might be able to get it to a level that sounds pleasant in your recordings. 0. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34332.0 https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34332.0 1. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=56648.0 https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=56648.0 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdFIht3A2To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdFIht3A2To

bonestamp2 7y ago

Agreed, I have MX Clears and they're not bad at all. That said, they are still louder than standard (rubber dome) keyboards, even with o-ring dampeners installed. But, I switched to a noise reduction headset and my screen sharing partners say my keyboard noise is now equivalent to people with rubber dome keyboards (you can barely hear it). I have a keyboard on order with "silent red" mechanical switches. From what I understand, they're similar to rubber dome keyboards in noise level and if that's true then I won't have to use the headset all the time.

eropple 7y ago
You can also get a better microphone. I use a Logitech G Pro keyboard, which sounds (to my ears) roughly the same as MX Browns, but I use a supercardioid dynamic microphone (the sE L7, which for my money is the best dynamic microphone you can buy until you get up into the ElectroVoice RE320 territory) on an arm. It's got a tight enough polar pattern that I don't even need headphones because my desk speakers don't feed back, let alone the keyboard that's at a 90 degree angle from the business end of the mic.
- bonestamp2 7y ago
  I do have a few studio microphones and a high end (apogee ensemble) audio interface. But, that setup is even less convenient than wearing a headset. I appreciate the suggestion though... if I am going to record or broadcast any keyboard sessions that require some polish then I'll definitely isolate my voice with a pickup pattern.
  - eropple 7y ago
    YMMV, but I solved the convenience issue by putting that arm on a flange mount (not a clamp) and that alone made things a lot easier. It also makes people think you're more serious, which is a nice side effect. I have a bunch of studio mics, too, but I've found that teleconference is easier with a cheap but tight-pattern dynamic. Check out the sE V7. It's tremendous for exactly that.

sli 7y ago

Yeah, no offense to the author, but this article read like one written by someone who really doesn't know much about keyboards. There is a whole slew of different silent, non-clicky, tactile and linear switches to choose from, as well as sound dampening o-rings.

connor4312 7y ago
There's also several new 'silenced' switches[1][2] which have dampening built-in by moulding in a softer plastic into the switch stem. I can't stand the feel of o-rings; I use a Zilent switch keyboard for work and it's quieter than a lot of my coworker's non-mechanical/rubber dome boards. 1. https://zealpc.net/products/zilents https://zealpc.net/products/zilents 2. https://kbdfans.com/products/pre-orderaliaz-silent-switch-tactile https://kbdfans.com/products/pre-orderaliaz-silent-switch-ta... (unaffiliated with either of these stores)
- flamtap 7y ago
  The o-rings also don’t dampen the upward click of the key in release, whereas the dampened switch models do.
PascLeRasc 7y ago
I can't really blame him though, if you assume Amazon is the standard marketplace for everything all you'll find is Cherry blue and red switches, and Razer/Logitech's versions of those. It wasn't until I attended a mechanical keyboard conference that I found out about Zealios, by far my favorite switch but near-impossible to find in pre-built boards. Even Clears, which are really great and my favorite Cherry switch, are somewhat hard to find if you don't know specific keyboard sites.
- mixmastamyk 7y ago
  I have the wasd keyboard with red switches and thin o-rings and it is quiet, quieter than my mouse buttons.
  - 7y ago

aloisdg 7y ago

MX Clear switches are a joy to use and are Open Space friendly. I tried a lot of cherry MX and I wont switch.

tracer4201 7y ago

+1 on cherry clears. I recently switch from typing on WalMart keyboards at home and Mac keyboard at work to using a Code keyboard with clear switches. By God typing is such a wonderful experience now, and the noise isn’t worse than the WalMart keyboards. granted it’s not as quite as the Mac keyboards that are so thin, but it just feels day and night different (better).

magashna 7y ago

The average rubber dome keyboard is significantly louder than my cherry pinks

loup-vaillant 7y ago

Many mechanical keyboard users bottom out. That is noisy. It also hurts their fingers. My brother loved his mechanical keyboard (Cherry MX blue). Very loud (he bottomed out), very satisfying, but he had to quit because his fingers hurt.

api_or_ipa 7y ago
Not all bottom-outs are created equally. I bottom out on my MX Clears but the increased stiffness dampens the force to the point where my typing is comparable to the latest apple keyboards my colleagues use. I don't even use rubber dampeners which would further reduce sound.

jgalentine007 7y ago

My Cherry MX Red Silents are really quiet (as quiet as a membrane or laptop keyboard, without the chatter) and very crisp.

KingMachiavelli 7y ago

I have MX Reds at work and while they don't have the 'click' that Blues have, when the keys bottom out it's still louder than a membrane keyboard. Fortuently, you can get cheap o-rings on Amazon designed to force the switch to bottom out before the key cap hits the floor of the keyboard or the switch. It's a remarkable improvement for especially quiet offices.

DavidVoid 7y ago

As long as the switches aren't of the clicky variety (e.g. Cherry MX Blue) you can make the keyboard really quiet with GMK QMX clips or something similar [1]. How well isolated the keyboard is from the table can also make a big difference so it can be worth to put a piece of folded microfiber cloth or something underneath it. [1]: GMK QMX Clip sound test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UroBHvL5LZ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UroBHvL5LZ8