KeyslamClicky · sound test
Cherry MX Blue sound test
A Cherry keyboard with MX Blue switches, recorded by EricsSoundschmiede and released as CC0 on Freesound. Press a band below to hear the click from a light tap up to the hardest strikes in the session.
Updated
Short answer: Cherry MX Blue sounds like a sharp, high click on every press, a lighter click as the key comes back up, and the plastic clack of the keycap bottoming out underneath. This page plays a real recording of a Cherry board with Blue switches, cut into 46 takes across four strength bands.
Cherry MX Blue sound test
Each button plays real strikes from one strength band of this recording. Natural mix lets every key vary, like normal typing. Headphones help.
Press a band to hear “click clack” typed on MX Blue strikes from that band, then type below.
About this recording
- Keyboard
- Cherry keyboard (model not named)
- Switches
- Cherry MX Blue, clicky
- Keycaps
- Not stated
- Recorded by
- EricsSoundschmiede on Freesound
- Uploaded
- February 26, 2017
- Original file
- WAV, 24-bit, 44.1 kHz, stereo, 2:21
- License
- CC0 1.0 (public domain)
- In Keyslam
- 46 takes, 6 of them key-up
“You are hearing a Cherry Keyboard with Blue Switches. You also can use this as some sort of typewriter soundeffect.” — EricsSoundschmiede, on the Freesound page (checked November 2, 2026)
How a Blue makes its click
Cherry, the German company behind the MX switch since the 1980s, makes the Blue as its clicky switch. Around the stem sits a separate plastic collar called the click jacket. About 2 mm into the 4 mm of travel, the jacket snaps down against the housing. That snap is the click, and it happens before the keycap reaches the bottom.
On the way up the jacket is pulled back into place, which makes a second, quieter click. So a Blue makes three sounds per keystroke: the click, the bottom-out and the return. The tactile peak is around 60 g, a little heavier than a Red or a Brown.
Measured from the app's pack files
What the Cherry MX Blue pack contains, band by band. Peak is the median take's loudest sample; audible length is how long it stays within 30 dB of that peak. Soft to slam spans 12.0 dB. How the bands are made.
| Band | Percentile of strikes | Regular-key takes | Space, Return, Delete | Median peak | Audible length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soft | 8th–30th | 6 | 4 | −16.4 dBFS | 68 ms |
| Medium | 38th–62nd | 6 | 4 | −10.2 dBFS | 58 ms |
| Hard | 70th–88th | 6 | 4 | −5.6 dBFS | 55 ms |
| Slam | 92nd–100th | 6 | 4 | −4.4 dBFS | 69 ms |
What this recording adds
EricsSoundschmiede uploaded 2 minutes 21 seconds of steady typing in February 2017 as a 24-bit stereo WAV. The page names the switch and the maker but not the model, case or keycaps, so we don't either. The uploader's own note says it could double as a typewriter sound effect, which tells you how present the click is.
Keyslam kept 6 key-up takes from the session. They play when you let go of a key, a little softer after a soft press, so you hear the Blue's second click too. Regular keys have six takes per band, and the wider Space, Return and Delete keys have 4 of their own.
MX Blue next to MX Brown and the Selectric
Two neighbours worth hearing back to back. Play each a few times; the numbers below come from the pack files.
- MX Brown: the same switch family without the click jacket. What's missing is the high click before the bottom-out.
- Selectric: a real office typewriter, for anyone who took the uploader's typewriter comment literally. It's heavier and has no key-up sound.
| Pack | Type | Recorded by | Soft to slam | Audible length (medium) | Hear it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MX Blue | Clicky | EricsSoundschmiede | 12.0 dB | 58 ms | |
| MX Brown | Tactile | majod | 11.1 dB | 75 ms | |
| Selectric | Typewriter | secretmojo | 12.6 dB | 99 ms |
Who it suits
Pick MX Blue if you want to hear every keystroke land, or if you learned to type on a clicky board and miss it. The click is easy to hear under music.
Pick something else if you share a room or take calls on speakers. MX Brown keeps a tactile character without the click, and the Laptop pack is a short, soft tap.
Cherry MX Blue: questions
Do MX Blues click on the way up too?
Usually, yes. The click jacket resets as the key returns, which makes a quieter second click. This pack keeps 6 key-up takes from the recording and plays one when you release a key.
Which Cherry keyboard is in this recording?
The uploader doesn't say. The Freesound page describes it only as “a Cherry Keyboard with Blue Switches”, so we don't name a model.
Does the click get louder when you press harder?
A little. The click happens at the same point whatever your force, but a hard press adds a louder bottom-out. In this pack the slam band peaks 12.0 dB above the soft band, the 10th widest of the 15 packs.
Keep exploring
Hear Cherry MX Blue on every keystroke.
$3.99 once after a 7-day free trial. On MacBooks with the motion sensor it follows how hard you type; on other Macs you pick the strength.