Why Trying To Build For Keyboard Sound Is Almost Impossible

Over the course of the past 4-5 years, there has been a fundamental shift in how people begin the process of building a keyboard in the mechanical keyboard hobby at large. Prior to the “COVID Era” of the hobby, people sat down and planned their out their builds by first considering the types of switches, profiles of keycaps, and layouts of the boards they would be building – a.k.a. all things that largely affect how a keyboard feels to be typed on. As more and more people have joined the hobby during the pandemic and subsequent years after, though, people have since begun first to consider the material of their switches, the modifications that could be made to their boards, and the materials of the keycaps that they want to type on first – all things that are more focused on how a keyboard sounds than it feels. While this shift in priorities is almost ceratinly due to the rise of YouTube, TikTok, and other audio-visual social media platforms where mechanical keyboards ran rampant during the pandemic, it is still ultimately just a shift in preferences. Keyboards are still built the exact same way today as they were all those years ago.  However, as more people have joined the hobby with an acoustic-first consideration for their first keyboard builds in mind, many don’t quite realize that controlling or even planning for a distinct sound in your keyboard is not nearly as simple as they’ve been led to believe by all of those sound tests online. So instead of just telling you to take this claim on faith, let’s go through all of the incredibly complex reasons why mechanical keyboard sound is a lot more nuanced than you would have imagined.

For the time being, let me go ahead and assert without proof that the shape of your keyboard case and the specific keycaps that you would choose for your first board will definitely affect the sound of your overall build. (We’ll get to that a bit later on.) Instead let me just start at the simplest of components that I personally know the most about – switches. I’m sure in pursuit of a specific sound profile, you’ve seen people refer to switches like Cherry MX Blacks as “thocky” or Novelkeys’ Cream switches as “clacky”. If you’ve looked a bit beyond these initial few famous switches, you’ll see that the community has extrapolated these terms quite a bit further than just these two switches. Seemingly, all Cherry-made switches are referred to as ‘thocky’ and basically any all-POM switch like that of the Creams is referred to as ‘clacky’. If you’ve dug even deeper than this, you’ll reach a point where you see these terms crisscross, with some people referring to clacky switches as thocky or defining other terms like “creamy” based on a mashup of thocky, clacky, or even some other terms you’ve not yet heard of like poppy or squishy. Does it feel a bit confusing, yet? Well, it should as absolutely none of these terms have an agreed upon community definition and if you ask a dozen people, you’ll likely get at least a half dozen different answers as to what each of these words means. So, at the bare minimum, just trying to read up on and look into switches will get you a confusing rat’s nest of vague onomatopoeias that will not help you guess the sound of your overall keyboard build. The reality of the sound of switches, whether or not anyone will tell you this directly, is that it is based on basically everything involved in the switch itself – its type, its manufacturer, the material used in its housings, and even the spring weight of the overall switch. While there are some trends that can be seen between some switches – such as all thick Cherry nylon housings having a distinctively deeper, more bass heavy sound – the generalizations hardly stretch more than a few switches at a time. And all of that is before you lube, film, or modify your switches too! In reality, the only way to know how a particular switch will sound in a build is to try them for yourself, in person first.

Figure 1: Switches actually vary by more than by just their colors when you start to think about it a bit...

“Well, none of that matters to me, Goat, as I’m over here in a ride or die situation with <insert my favorite switches here> and I’m going to run those in whatever keyboard and with whatever keycaps I like the most. It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out the sound with only two different components, right?” While I’m sure you could already put together the obvious differences between how a board made out of aluminum sounds versus one made out of injection molded or machined plastic sounds, did you ever stop to think that just the mere internal shape of your keyboard can and very much will influence the sound of your overall build? Hollow, extremely airy cases like that of the classic CA66 keyboards can and will sound very different than cases that are thick, solid, and built like bricks such as that of Cannonkeys’ Brutalist line of keyboards. How much free space is inside of your keyboard will cause the sounds produced by the switches in your overall build to vibrate, echo, and rattle around in your board just as much as the material of the plate you choose to put your switches in – such as carbon fiber, aluminum, or polycarbonate. All of this is even before considering foam and/or tape mods too! People intentionally stuff their keyboards with all manners of foam and wrap their PCBs in all sorts of tape to slightly alter how the vibrations and sounds of their keyboards come out to their ears. In spite of the complexity in trying to guess the impact of any one of these things, let alone a combination of all of them growing exponentially with each sentence here, know that all of the same thoughts can be applied to keycaps too! Tall profile (SA, MT3) keycaps made of ABS will certainly echo sound differently than flatter profile (DSA, G20) keycaps made of PBT, and so much so that when I’m testing out switches for my own reviews I have to consider the profiles of keycaps I’m using. In case all of that has you feeling a bit confused and uneasy about guessing the sound of keyboards based on the parts you’ve picked out thus far, let me make it just the tiniest bit worse in saying that it doesn’t just stop at the edge of the keyboard either!

If you’re beyond extremely lucky, you may be able to find a typing test somewhere online that is the exact combination of keycaps, keyboard, and switches that you were wanting to build and you’re certain that this will set the record straight for you. If you liked the sound of it, I’m glad to hear that. However, did you notice what material the desk was made out of for that typing test? Did you see if that keyboard hobbyist had carpet floors, wooden floors, or wooden floors with carpet? Did they have tall ceilings or were they in a short basement somewhere? Believe it or not, all of these things also can and very much do affect the overall sound of keyboards and I’ve personally experienced this myself upon moving across the country after leaving school. In the move from a high ceiling, narrow, entirely wood floor apartment to one with lower ceilings, carpeted floors, and wider open spaces, I found a board that was once loud and full of complex tones instead much more quiet, muted, and seemingly neutered by the environment surrounding it. All of that is to say that even if that content creator in that video didn’t lie to you by editing their video, and why would they ever consider doing something of the such to try and generate money through clickbait and ad revenue, just the way that your room is shaped and the desk is situated that you’ll be using your keyboard on can and very much will affect the sound of your keyboard.

At this end of the article, I hope you’ve concluded that it is basically impossible to replicate the sound of any keyboard you hear online nor is it really all that feasible to be able to guess what a keyboard will sound like from a list of parts, alone. While this may seem obvious to all of you who have built a keyboard or two in your time, know that this is becoming increasingly less obvious to newer and newer people joining the hobby. The only tried and true method to know how a keyboard will sound will be to try a fully built version of it in your own house and/or at a local community meetup or gathering. Luckily for you, the keyboard community is more than generous in hosting meetups and sharing all sorts of information with beginners no matter where you look. Speaking of which, consider checking out some of my more prescriptive and constructive articles here on Dangkeebs to learn about mechanical keyboard switches, such as ‘Magnets Might Be the Future of Switches’ or ‘The Different Types of Clicky Switches You’ll Encounter’!