Awesome Keyboards

Logitech’s Pro X 60 may be marketed to competitive gamers, but this 60% keyboard has some genuinely practical features. It has an easy-to-reach volume dial on the side, factory-lubed optical switches, and a battery that lasts up to 65 hours per charge when connected via the 2.4 GHz wireless dongle. It comes with either tactile or linear switches.

Customizing is the point of modern mechanical keyboards. But Wired In’s Protagonist takes it to a different level. This 60% keyboard has a swappable hybrid faceplate and case top called a keyframe. Not only does the keyframe come in a ton of colors and material options, it also comes in Winkey, Winkeyless and HHKB layouts.

If we had to pick the silliest musical instrument, it would be a Jew’s harp or a slide whistle. After building a MIDI-controlled slide whistle, engineer mixtela upped the complexity by creating a slide whistle orchestrion. It combines four mechanical slide whistles to produce 4-part polyphonic sounds. The best way to describe it is a drunken calliope.

8BitDo’s latest retro computer keyboard is inspired by the Commodore 64. The 87-key mechanical keyboard is finished in C64 grey with rainbow graphics. It offers Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, and USB wired connections and comes with a joystick and jumbo-sized buttons. Compatible with Windows and Android. Pre-orders start shipping on 5.28.24.

There are lots of gadgets on the market which are marketed as rugged, durable, or indestructible. But are shockproof and waterproof devices really better? Mrwhosetheboss purchased a bunch of these items, including cables, watches, keyboards, speakers, and a laptop, and put them to the test to see how just much torture they could withstand.

Wooting’s new 80% gaming keyboard has the same instant reset Hall Effect switches from the 60HE. But the 80HE also debuts a new setting that can further reduce mistakes and allow for rapid multiple inputs. The 80HE can be set to detect multiple key presses but activate only the one that was pressed furthest.

Borrowing a page from Drumeo’s book, the YouTube channel Pianote invites keyboardists to create their interpretations of popular songs they’ve never heard. In this video, Snarky Puppy’s Justin Stanton takes on Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now, imparting the dance-pop hit with a smooth blend of jazz and funk after only hearing the drums and vocals.

Keyboard enthusiast and woodworker Barrett Creative makes beautiful wood keyboard cases. They’re sold in kit form with a KL-90 circuit board, encoder(s), and a matching wooden knob(s). They’re currently available in Woodland, Rustic, and Infernum kits. Keycaps, switches, and stabilizers are not included. Hipyotech has a hands-on look at one of these keyboards.

Musician Gabriel Guardian shows off Excalibur, a versatile new musical instrument designed by Looyay that combines an electric bass, a keyboard, and digital drum pads in one. Gabriel’s performance of Killer Queen takes advantage of Excalibur’s unique capabilities, and shows off his own multitasking skills. Now, enjoy a little Billie Jean.

Having a wrist rest at the base of your keyboard is a must for protecting your arms from carpal tunnel syndrome. OUSI’s ergonomic wrist rests offer an elegant solution to this problem. Each one is handmade from full-grain leather and wrapped around a supportive structure. Price shown is for the 18″ wide version.

Created by German instrument maker Sauter, the Mikroton is a specially-tuned piano that only has 1/16th of a step between its keys. Despite having nine more keys than a regular piano, it only has a one octave range. Musician Antune demonstrates its ability to produce an incredibly smooth progression of notes.

Game controller makers 8bitdo are now making keyboards in the style of 8-bit game consoles. Their 87-key mechanical keyboards are inspired by the NES and its Japanese counterpart, the Famicom, and come with a programmable dual “Super Button.” Compatible with Windows and Android devices via Bluetooth, 2.4G wireless, or wired connections.

The MuteKit by On Air Warning aims to improve video calls. The MuteSwitch is a three-button, illuminated keypad with buttons to mute/unmute your microphone, camera, or both. The On Air Warning light indicates when your camera and mic are live, while MuteBar software puts the controls front-and-center and lets you freeze your image as an “instant selfie.”

Eric Carr of EMC Productions is no stranger to doing weird things with drums. This time, he set up a ridiculously complicated drum kit where snares and toms represent letters of the alphabet, the bass is the space, smaller drums are numbers, and cymbals provide punctuation. It’s not the quickest way to type, but it’s certainly the most rhythmic.

The DaptKey keypad is ideal for improving creative workflows. It has 20 keys and five knobs which can be programmed to operate application shortcuts, macros, and slider inputs. A bright OLED screen sits beneath all the controls and can display icons for each. Control software is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Work Louder’s latest keyboard has hot-swappable mechanical keys along with programmable rotary encoders, quick-access buttons, and a 1.9″ IPS screen that can display widgets to help with focus and time management. Its incline is set using a removable magnetic ruler, and it’s available in ANSI and ISO layouts for various languages.

After laying his eyes on the giant mechanical keyboard that Razer brought to CES, keyboard enthusiast Glarses wanted one for himself. And after Razer wouldn’t sell him theirs, he got to work building his own from scratch. He was able to use some off-the-shelf giant switches, but everything else had to be custom fabricated.

This small, programmable computer keyboard connects via USB or Bluetooth and provides nine mechanical keys and three knobs for controlling games and productivity applications. It’s available in a plain version and one with RGB accent lighting for about the same price. Note, the programming software is for Windows only.

Isn’t this so adorable? This 9-key macro keypad looks like a tiny retro telephone. Steboards ships this USB macropad fully assembled with Gateron Red, Blue, or Brown mechanical switches. The keys come mapped to functions 13 to 21 but can be reprogrammed on request or using the included code and the Arduino IDE.

Give your keyboard a small but playful makeover with these unique keycaps. They replace the standard arrow keys with cartoony lightning bolts, along with some goofy faces on the sides of the keys. They fit standard MX switches and let backlighting shine through. Made from ABS plastic with durable double-shot printing.

A while back, Fletcher from Everything Is Hacked came up with a way to control a computer with his face with your face. Now he’s created an input method to get his cardiovascular system going. He used a computer vision algorithm to detect the positions of his arms and legs to type letters and numbers using semaphore.

This neat little gadget is a sampler and looper with a chromatic keyboard. The Chompi has 7-voice polyphony, records up to 6 hours, and has knobs for selecting start and end points, pitch, attack and decay, and effects like reverb, filters, and saturation. Its tape-style looping engine is truly magical.

Flux aims to steal some thunder from the Finalmouse Centerpiece with their own under-keyboard display. Clear maglev keys float above a full HD screen, which can display key shortcuts, colors, patterns, and animations. Its keyframe can be removed for use as a touchscreen, and add-on modules include dials and media buttons.