Keymacs keyboard review (Matias Clicky)
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- čas přidán 19. 01. 2022
- Skip to 13:45 for a typing demonstration.
Today we look at the Keymacs keyboard! A high-end machined metal brick aimed towards Emacs users. This thing is quite the piece of kit - also, it's a good time to revisit Matiases a little bit! :)
Intro by Kyle Carter
Outro by Facundo Cabanne
My keyboard reviews: bit.ly/1TbOtft
My switch teardowns: bit.ly/2C1QGHz
My TOP X videos: bit.ly/2FmpZfd
My XL typing demos: bit.ly/2OoAW3w
My tutorials and featurettes: bit.ly/2OrkLUh
My unboxing videos: bit.ly/2TSrr0m
I'm Thomas and I do videos and reviews on mechanical keyboards ranging from the most sickening modern RGB gaming keyboards to vintage hardware relics, or sometimes keycaps or keyswitches ranging from Cherry MX to Alps SKCM to IBM buckling springs and anything in between.
Follow me on Twitter for updates on my keyboard videos! / chyrosran22
The practice sentence was: "Hello my name is Thomas and I'm typing on a Keymacs keyboard right now. This is really a labour of love, I'm very much digging it. Definitely not cheap though!" - Věda a technologie
What a cool keyboard! I lost interest at "900 Euros," though. Still, I'm glad that there are people who are making stuff like this.
The site implies even more, over 1300euros and counting with options.
Indeed. Can't imagine every buying it - but were to I imagine a keeb that would rightfully cost that, it'd be something like this one.
@@Aggnog High end in customs keyboard but it is not that expensive if you are into custom keyboards and this is so unique its basicly a collectors item
Why?
@@bbuggediffy Because I have a perfectly good keyboard that cost me only about $100 ten years ago and came fully assembled. The one in the video looks nice, but I don't have 900 Euros to spend on it.
Wow, that's one of the best boards we've seen on the channel in months. Clearly made by someone with similar taste when it comes to specs and features. The insane build quality was also a pleasant surprise
You know what would fix your ctrl key issues for easier jumping? If you mapped control to that long key in the middle on the bottom row :)
Nah, I already use that one for prone :p .
Scroll wheel for jump 🐇
@@ziniethan free scroll gang stand up
real ones map ctrl to the caps lock key
@@chickenpasta7359 nah, let's just leave CTRL next to "A" where it belongs naturally :)
I love how the spacebar rattles... not in the annoying stab rattle way, but because it's just so massive that it has that much inertia. What a beautiful piece of kit.
Sounds like something youd hear in an arcade
You're right, that is rattle we're hearing, and it's sounds awesome.
It sounds crunchy!
At 900 EUR it should've been tight.
It's more of how fucking dense it is. It creates a marble like thunk beacuse it's so dense not rattle
Hey Thomas, try this experiment: get a clicky and a tactile Matias switch in your hands, put headphones with loud music (so you cannot hear the clicky switch), close your eyes and try to understand which one is the clicky switch. I did this and couldn't tell the difference. In my opinion, Matias clicky feels more tactile due to the clicky sound.
You are now in direct competition with Retro Recipies for voiceover work.
Hi Thomas, thanks for the great review! I am a happy owner of the Orange Alps Keymacs for a few months, the sound and feel put all my other custom keyboards to shame really. Your videos inspired me to explore vintage keyboard and key switches to invest ins the keymacs. Awesome to see things come full circle.
excited for this review! been looking forward to it
Long awaited review of the Keymacs and congrats for the acquisition!
I was already thinking for a bit, that a re-review of Clicky Space Invaders and Matias switches would be cool. And then you show the Matias off in such an amazing Board!
A Keymacs has got to be the Apex of Modern Alps-compatible boards. Really nice video as always, Thomas!
Funnily enough, my first mechanical keyboard was purchased with Emacs in mind: a Matias tenkeyless for it's great ctrl/alt placement and size.
I still adore that board; for what it's worth I used it to death and never personally had any issues with the tactiles chattering.
So I don't really care about the video or the keyboard but your voice is from another dimension.
I will listen to this video again !
I've never been as excited for a video as this.
Glad you finally found a keyboard you like :) I'm looking forward to your review of the Keymacs w/ Blue Alps switches!!!
God Damn! :D That's a good looking and sounding board. Thanks Tom, as always it's great to see you. Go ti!
8:19 critical hit to my ears, -9999HP
btw when will be the zeal clickiez switches review? I am really curious to see how it holds up to genuine blue alps!
Finally! I’ve been waiting for this one!
Smoothly and aesthetically pleasing to look at, AND pleasant to type with
The visual design is so effortlessly classy and timeless. Incredible.
Man those are some chonky clicks. Beautiful.
Great review btw.
I'm glad there are still people who make very very niche and very very high quality keyboards, in 40 years the next Chyrosan will appear and review this keyboard
God, I got super excited about this keyboard and then I saw the price 😭 I thought by expensive he meant something like 700 bucks
Yeah, I was all excited, but I can't really justify 1300+ dollars.
@@calebland6246 i mean its hard to justify 300 bucks even for a keyboard. 1300 dollars is just next level. Pure luxury gimmick.
@@prokopf-9332 welcome to the keyboard market
@@prokopf-9332 for an Emacs user, the options are this or make your own.
Or worse, try to use layers on other keyboards.
@@prokopf-9332 It literally is a bespoke product he makes one when you order so.... its expected, imagine asking a guy to make you a bespoke car, how extrememly expensive will that be or bespoke watch
Such a beautiful-looking keyboard. Increadible.
I know a lot of people may balk at the price, but take it from someone who has cobbled together a few custom SKCM/SKCL ALPS builds, this is absolutely worth it's price. Plus it's an all in one experience, which is unheard of with custom ALPS KBs. Like Chyros said this definitely is not for everyone. Although if you want the custom ALPS experience hassle free you can't go wrong here IMHO.
ehh yeah if youre willing to spend like twice as much to avoid the hassle and save time, *and* you like this layout, sure. but you can build a very high quality alps custom for like half this price. not saying *not* to get this, people can spend their money on whatever they want, but im just saying its not like the price is comparable to alternatives
@@Crokto No way! You have a better chance of seeing a unicorn then finding any alps with as good of a keycaps set.
@@Crokto lol
@@Crokto Not with hand-crafted thick aluminium and thick bezels, hand-crafted massive PU keycaps, and rare switches (if you choose Alps). There's no contest for such board, even with highest-quality Alps board ever built. Because it's actually NOT Alps board, but just happened use Alps for its key switches (the original Symbolics use different key switches).
Also, I'm not talking about key feel, which is irrelevant in topic. Also, if you got skills to build same board it's also going to be much cheaper already.
How can you even fathom to build a custom ALPS board? There is no way to buy the switches waywhere. I basically would have to butcher my existing vintage boars for that.
For that backspace key, I personally find it to be much more comfortable place to use than top right, especially when the actual key has only 1u long in some boards. I use Colemak so caps-lock as backspace is very useful for me.
Hey! I use Colemak too. I put escape there though.
I love the look of this thing! It's so pretty. I just think that your palms would get chilly on all that aluminum
The keyboard looks and sounds amazing!
I personally really like how there doesn't seem to be a particular "niche problem" to it that will need fixing in 30 years.
I had to replace the foam in my model F for example.
Love the ball shape caps.
Thanks for converting to smoothbrain! I was getting lost there with the metric mumbo jumbo
I program the mac style edit cluster onto arrows keys, even on standard layouts - it's genius fn + ↑ is PG UP, fn + ↓ is PG DN, fn + → is END, fn + ← is HOME, It's so much easier to use than fishing around in the nav cluster, plus thumb + arrow key is super natural to use. On F77 keebs it lets you have a numpad and nav cluster all in one
Cool vid. Thanks Thomas!
Wow, what a beauty!
I'm a lifelong gamer with plenty of mechanical keyboard use experience but just in the last six months got into the enthusiast part of the keyboard hobby spectrum and I must say that watching this video was to me similar to when I was a beer/shots drinking early twenties at my first wine tasting. I must say the sound of this keyboard is quite unique and almost soothing.
This channel should be just called Keyboard ASMR.
Currently using vim, but seeing this emacs keyboard is super interesting. I'll try and switch maybe to test the waters. Otherwise the craftsmanship on this build justifies the price, and I wish I could afford it.
That space bar sounds nuts!
Many of us had been waiting for this review for a while now... And we all knew it would be eccentric, beautifully made, sound like a symphony and cost a fortune! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But yeah... As a proud owner of a Leading Edge DC-2014 (with SKCM Blue) myself, I have to say that this Keymacs (with Matias switches no less!) takes its place as the best sounding keyboard ever featured in this channel. Simply mesmerizing!
4:04 love that sound when you are sliding your fingers across the keys
Honestly the Keymacs sounds damn similar to how the KB-101A did with SA caps, just without the rattle issue
Seriously imagine how good this thing must sound with blue Alps
If u want to know, keymacs’ channel has a bunch of sound tests for the kb (yes th blues too)
I wish more keyboards had the alpha block in the center of the keyboard tbh. And the price is more easily justified here. It's one guy doing it as a hobby. Probably not selling much of them since it's a niche audience. Not to mention if this is truly a perfect keyboard for somebody, they'd more likely buy it at that price. So much to love here
THe best looking keyboard I've ever seen, amazing.
I saw this project in either youtube or deskthority a while ago and I think its one of the most beautiful keyboards ever. I would love to get one, but a thousand euros for a keyboard its slightly out of my price range (slightly read as "3 months of rent")
gorgeous on all levels.
That is the exact sound I am looking for. It just has that computer terminal from the late 70's sound & feel.
There just does not seem to be a consumer option for one that would work with Windows 10/11
.
I recommend making the key left of A a backspace key on any layout.
You mostly had me interested up to 12:23...
My ocd kicked in, couldn't stop looking at that bit stuck right next to the ctrl key.
Techincally, weren't keyboards of high quality of the same or similar cost back in the day? Surely, accounting for cost of inflation, you'd find quite a few IBM models to cost around the same if not mpre than this.
You bet! All hardware was expensive as hell.
Yes! It was rational to cheapen production of keyboards as computers became more useful and more necessary. But we lost something along the way. Keymacs gives us the magic back. What a beautiful keyboard.
Our holy father uploads
That is one beautiful keyboard
Be lovely if you could do a typing video on this kb it sounds soo good
I suppose ctrl for jump goes hand in hand with having a print screen key that's half the size of the keyboard.
I love using Emacs. I use it every day, for Python programming, terminals, and organising my work life. This keyboard is great, and the price is next-level.
I am seriously impressed considering that it is a Matias keyboard.
You can have any three of your preferred build quality, layout, switch, and keycaps profile.
it's beautiful
are you the only channel who does clickies? everytime i watched any videos about switches there was always hatred towards them so i never liked them until i tried it in a store :D i love clicky switches
I have to ask, where does the Control for jump keybind originate from? Been gaming on pc for 15ish years and aside from your channel I have never heard of this. Great video as always, if the board didn't cost the price of a used car I would definitely be interested in getting one.
Old DOS games used Ctrl for Jump back in the days. He has a list of those in his Model M15 video.
Will we have to wait until March for the Clickiez review?
Man, I wish I could get behind Mathias switches but I’ve had 3 keyboards with them and they’ve all had issues with chattering.
Could u recommend any clicks switches that sound good I have blues, I have tried tactile but the numb is t enough and want some good sounding clickies
Personally I very much enjoy the feel of the lettering sticking out a bit, it gives a nice texture.
The caps just look and sound as if they completely outclass all other keycaps everywhere though all time.
The Matias clicky switches have been known as "canada blue" alps because they are so similar to blue alps and matias is a canadian company. I'm so glad they're getting their due.
They are great. I have a set that's been waiting for a board I like for years now though. Can't seem to find anyone that makes a layout I like enough to spend the money on. I did a trial run on an infinity 60% but I'm a 75% and up kind of guy.
Really appreciate the review, which brings attention to artisan keyboard manufacturing. Case construction, which is one of the most important design elements to sound, has a gorgeous bassy and satisfying thock sound. GMMK, NK65, DROP, et al. should take note should take note, and try to make keyboards in a similar vein using a similar design (or even Apple Extended Keyboard) in the $200-$300 USD range. The $1K USD entry point, which is justified for a bespoke product if you have alot of cash or have the impulse control of a ritalin starved 5 year old wailing on pots and pans with a wood spoon, is too inaccessible for the rest of us.
these keycaps are clean
Early morning, clicking on the first recommended Chyrosran22 video to start the day.
Thinking it was an oldie. Then I hear "Zeal 3in1", I check the date and omG...
Am I in a new video right now?
I basically live in Emacs: e-mail, Jira, project management, note taking, scripting, etc. pp. While I like the idea of having access to Super and Hyper modifiers, I wonder if in daily use one can really keep all those levels in finger memory. One advantage of Emacs is to offload lots of commands to this »subprocessor« and doing them subconsciously while focusing on the task.
This keyboard seems great nevertheless, and if I weren't so happy with my Unicomp PC122 with Unix firmware and Ctrl/CapsLock swap, I'd consider the investment. I used to have a Matias Tactile Pro and found the switches lacking, especially in longevity. Mine got scratchy and also developed the problems with double characters that you describe. Are the old complicated Alps better in this regard?
These issues were related to the old Matias switches. Since they have reworked the tooling the issues almost disappeared (at least in my experience).
Masterpiece
Is it wrong to want to use every modifier keys up there as a vim user?
Nope. :)
WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING THIS TO MY ATTENTION!!!11
How do the PU caps compare with other materials for wear resistance? I'd like to hear how similar thickness caps in ABS, PBT, and other more esoteric materials sound in that chassis.
I have a typing demo comparing the keycaps and some standard PBT keycaps. The problem is that with the traditional injection moulding, it is very hard to make anything with a similar thickness. The material is slightly softer than ABS but in my experience does not get glossy over time.
@@keymacs I'll check it out.
@@keymacs I have to say the PU keycaps sounded awesome compared to the PBT ones. Were they thin PBT keycaps? They sounded super plasticky in comparison to the PU.
I would kill for an ortho version of this (accepting some design changes would be necessary ).
Fortunately I use mouse 4 as jump and not that loud brick on the bottom row
Especially because I use box jades.
I wonder if Richard Stallman could use one of these. I heard he still does his e-mail through emacs.
My actual real life reaction when you dropped the keyboard on the desk "God damn!"
Truly a goatee keyboard of all tme.
If hed release one in standard layout even if its some weird stuff like nordic iso or jis or whatever... I would buy it
Wow - what a gorgeous design - and handmade resin keycaps!. It's got that "future executive" look.
What - you don't like hearing your teammates space bar THUNK THUNK THUNK as they jump around the map?
would love to see another video of this keyboard being outfitted with genuine alps instead of matias!
"How many modifier keys do you want?"
"Yes!"
Interesting to see how much of those they actually sold. They look nice and very cool to have all those extra buttons. But wtf the price, I will stick to cheap crap, at least if it breaks or acquires too much crumbs inside you don’t care that much about it.
"Go-tea keyboard"
Your British is dangling out your fly, mate.
Bri'ain fook yeah m8
Why is the backspace in place of escape by default? :p
No Buckling spring sound comparison?
that spacebar is huge
I wish somebody would make a modern Lisp Machine clone to go with this keyboard.
cant u take out those keys and put them on alps keyboards????
When do we get the vim version
I want to see v2 of this. As a groupbuy with at least the case made in China and maybe with a different mounting system / a pcb that is MX-compatible.
This is exactly the thing I do not want to do.
@@keymacs Then don't do it. It would make the board a lot cheaper / more affordable.
@@philipp594 I understand the intention but it will not make it cheaper as long as I keep making the keycaps myself and spend two weeks making a single set. A group buy may probably cut the price by 50€.
Holy shit you got one
This looks really cool, although I really wish they made a full keyboard layout of this for Windows, especially with the arrow keys and numpad.
The real fact of the matter is that control is not jump, it's strafe, arrows are forward/back/look left/look right. No comment on space because it differs game to game and therefore a definitive argument cannot be made. This is correct.
Have you considered reviewing a modern style custom with alps compatibility? A lot of boards use the H87/H88 PCB that can use alps, e.g. Frog TKL
He said he doesn't want to review custom keyboards (unless they have something special like zealiostotle switches or that 40% ortholinear that he has reviewed). But my guess is he wouldn't like it so much and will say something roughly similar to the gmmk pro review: it's a thick metal chassis with no room for sound to reverb within (keymacs have a lot more space beneath the pcb for that + half of the reason why it sounds so good is the keycaps and not just the switches themselves), and cue the rant about not knowing how to flash qmk and brass weight
@@aragami0686 I reckon he'd appreciate the frog, he's left comments on a few custom videos. Without foam theres quite a bit of reverb which is what most enthusiasts don't want nowdays, but still has the option of stuffing it with foam still.
Different wants and needs but I'd like to see his perspective on a proper custom instead of the GMMK pro which is pretty much a cash grab instead of a passion project. Still a decent board regardless of Glorious' reputation
Yeah this review reeks of not knowing much about the options out there. Why avoid customs if you're going to review a board that costs more than twice what most customs do, and is still DIY at the cheapest price point?
@@estebandelasexface8193 I wouldn't say that, he's shown appreciation for boards like the j01, but not his style probably. It's mostly his audience that get the wrong idea and are staunchly anti-custom and anti-MX
@@RetardedAsianGuy I think the review would be somewhere between gmmk pro and the keymacs, still not his fav, but he'll like many aspects of it. Also something like frog with blue alps just doesn't sound all that "great" to me at all, still good, but not endgame good (Karolus' frog with blue alps)
With that said, without the caps to back it up I doubt he would care about the keymacs as much as he is in the review, and that's something h8x tkls don't have. Plus remember: he is not just "trying" the board like at the meetup, he has to use it for a week, review it, and very likely returning the board too
CTRL isn't jump, it's primary attack/fire. Jump is MOUSE 4.
Ide love to hear those keycaps with proper tactiles
Binge watching your videos while I deep clean my OmniKey 101!
Good taste in keyboards! :D
@@Chyrosran22 It's all your fault!
Where is he able to source SKCM Alps switches to offer them as a option with this keyboard?
I traded switches for a Keymacs kit. 🙂
🤘THONKY TO THE MAX!!!🤘
jump is mouse wheel what you on about?
Judging by the typing test videos the creator made, the Matias Cliky actually sound better than the Blue Alps in my opinion, so you got the best one soundwise
It would be nice if he made the source files for the PCB available so people could make a cheaper version themselves with different materials for the case and keycaps.