KeyEcho alternative for Mac: what the sounds cost in each app

Two catalogs, two approaches

KeyEcho lists 71 packs: 18 free and 53 paid. In its own words: Every pack is sampled per key; each key has its own press and release. If what you want is lots of sounds to choose from, that's the bigger menu.

Keyslam has 15 packs: mechanical boards, two typewriters and a MacBook keyboard. Each pack's keystrikes come from one real typing recording released as CC0 on Freesound, with the recordist credited (the typewriters add a second recording for the bell). Every strike is detected and paired with its key-up, then sorted by natural loudness into four bands, soft, medium, hard and slam (the hardest ~8%), and each band is leveled. On a MacBook with the motion sensor, how hard you hit a key picks the band. Every pack is set to the same loudness, −28 LUFS.

Types in Keyslam today: Buckling spring · Butterfly · Clicky · Electro-capacitive · Linear · Linear, modded · Mechanical · Tactile · Typewriter. See every pack and who recorded it.

How is Keyslam different from KeyEcho?

KeyEcho fits better if

• You want to pay nothing: the app and 18 packs are free.
• You also use Windows or Linux. One KeyEcho key covers all three.
• You want a far bigger menu of sounds: 71 packs.
• You want open-source code (AGPL-3.0), or to install with Homebrew or winget.
• You want it today: KeyEcho is downloadable now, and Keyslam is live too.

Keyslam fits better if

• You want the sound to change with how hard you type, on a MacBook Pro with M1 Pro or M1 Max and later, or a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with M2 and later.
• You want to try everything first: 7 days, no account.
• You'd rather pay $3.99 once than pick packs one by one.

Also in Keyslam: a shortcut (⌃⌥⌘K by default) to turn sounds on and off from any app, an automatic pause while any app is using the microphone, and no network connections at all.