Keyslam
Short answer: mechanical switches come in three sound types. Clicky switches, like Cherry MX Blue, have a part that snaps and clicks as the key actuates. Tactile switches, like MX Brown, have a bump you feel but barely hear. Linear switches, like MX Red, slide straight down, so you mostly hear the keycap bottoming out. Buckling springs, Topre, laptop and typewriter keys work differently again. After the switch, the keycaps, plate, case and desk decide most of the sound.
What you hear in one keystroke
Slow a single keystroke down and it has up to four parts. Every sound type below is a different mix of them.
- The click. Only clicky switches have it: a jacket or bar inside the switch snaps as the key actuates, partway down and before the bottom.
- The bottom-out. The stem hits the bottom of its housing and the keycap's energy goes into the plate and case. This is the main sound of every mechanical board.
- The ring. What the case, plate, springs and desk do after the hit. A hollow case rings; a heavy or foam-filled one goes quiet fast. Springs can add a metallic ping.
- The return. When you let go, the spring pushes the stem back up and it taps the top of the housing. Clicky switches click again.
Clicky: a click before the bottom
A clicky switch adds a dedicated noise-maker. In Cherry MX Blue it's a click jacket, a plastic sleeve on the stem that catches and then snaps down at the actuation point, 2.2 mm into its 4 mm of travel. Some other brands use a thin click bar instead. Either way you get a crisp, high click on every press and a smaller one on release. That usually makes clicky switches the loudest of the three switch families.
Hear it next to the other two Cherry switches in Cherry MX Blue vs Brown vs Red.
Buckling spring: a spring that snaps
IBM's Model F and Model M keyboards make their click a different way. Under each key sits a long coiled spring; pressed far enough, it buckles, and that sudden snap is both the click you hear and the moment the key registers. The spring keeps ringing a little after the snap, which is why these boards sound loud and springy rather than just sharp. Our Unicomp pack is a buckling-spring keyboard by Unicomp, which carries on the Model M design; the Model F pack is an early-1980s IBM Model F XT.
Tactile: a bump you feel
A tactile switch has a bump on the stem's legs that you push past at actuation, but nothing that clicks. MX Brown's bump peaks at 55 cN. Some enthusiast tactiles, like the Hako Violet switches in the WhiteFox pack, have a much more pronounced bump. Because the sound is mostly bottom-out and return, the keyboard around the switch matters a lot: our Leopold and MX Brown packs use the same switch and sound clearly different, partly because the Leopold has a mix of PBT and GMK keycaps and was miked from a wrist rest, right in front of the keys.
Linear: smooth all the way down
A linear switch has no bump and no click, just a spring and a straight slide. MX Red actuates at 45 cN. With nothing happening mid-press, linear boards can be very quiet when you type lightly, and almost all of their sound comes from the bottom-out when you don't. Lubed or waxed linears sound smoother and softer, which is where the word creamy comes from. Our Vintage Technics pack is a modded board with waxed Gateron Yellow linears; the MX Red pack is a Corsair K95. MX Black is a Leopold FC980M PD with Cherry's heavier Black linears, and Gateron Red a GMMK TKL with Gateron Red switches.
Topre: a dome and a spring
Topre isn't a mechanical switch in the strict sense. Under each key sits a rubber dome with a conical spring inside, and the keystroke is detected electro-capacitively, with no metal contacts touching. The dome cushions the bottom-out, so instead of a clack you get the low, rounded sound enthusiasts call thock. Our pack is a Happy Hacking Keyboard.
Laptop keys: short and soft
Laptop keys aren't mechanical switches either. The 2018 MacBook Pro in our Laptop pack uses Apple's butterfly mechanism: a very short press onto a dome switch under a thin keycap. Short travel and little moving mass make a quick, soft tap with almost no ring. Current MacBooks have gone back to a scissor mechanism.
Typewriters: a strike, not a switch
A typewriter key does mechanical work. On a manual like the Olivetti Lettera 22, your finger swings a typebar into the platen, so a light press and a hard press sound very different. On an electric IBM Selectric II, a motor rotates and tilts a typeball into the paper, so the machine, not your finger, sets the force. Both are louder and ring longer than a computer keyboard, and in Keyslam Return comes with a bell. More in typewriter sounds for Mac.
