Changing the sound of a clicky MX switch

[jamster]

I'm thinking of switching a clicky switch into the caps lock position of my non-clicky keyboard. I've recently swapped the caps lock and left control keys, and want an audible reminder that I'm hitting caps lock.

Is there any way to deepen the sound of an MX switch? I find the standard click too high pitched and a bit tacky sounding.

I suspect that because the click is built into the slider mechanism, the answer is "no", but thought I'd check here first.

[jacobolus]

Not really that I can think of, though MX green (with a stiffer spring) is slightly better than MX blue. The high-pitched plasticky sound of clicky MX switches is one reason many people prefer e.g. buckling springs or Alps clicky switches.

[KHAANNN]

I've recently played with switches to the extremes

You can squeeze their springs to make them click louder and stronger, similarly putting a red-spring into a blue/green switch will make it sound lighter, I'm not sure whether it works tho, I didn't need to test it (it might not have enough strength to reset the 2-part stem)

One simple method to mellow out the click is to lube the switch externally from the sides, it's an easy process, it might even eliminate the click if you use a low viscosity lube (left and right sides)

If you have many switches, you can also try playing around with the stem part, each modification modifies the sound/feeling of the switch, you might scratch the bottom part of the main stem, to make the white-part produce a different sound when it hits the main stem

Long story short, since you're disturbed by the click, lubing seems to be the easy solution, I've just tested it on a green switch, it reduced the sound to the levels of a blue switch

[jacobolus]

It sounds like he wants to deepen the click’s pitch, not change its volume.

[KHAANNN]

It sounds like he wants to deepen the click�s pitch, not change its volume.

It might make it feel deeper, but can it turn a treble into a bass? I don't know.

Low viscosity lube + a piece of o-ring inside the stem pole might produce a more deeper / heavier click experience

I initially removed all my o-rings as they were preventing a full/high-pitched click, causing heterogenouity in clicks, as each switch handles the o-ring differently, now after modding the switches, the clicks are extremely high pitched, I'm wondering whether I should've applied the o-ring-under-the-stem-mod (can't apply o-rings as the new keycaps are not compatible) - adding the o-ring cushion definitely lowers the pitch a bit

[Oobly]

You can't fundamentally change the frequencies of sound generated by a clicky switch, only dampen the ones you don't want. Unfortunately, they just are high pitch and that cannot be "fixed". Personally I find the sound very irritating. You can dampen it a bit by using thick heavy keycaps and orings, also by lubing and installing an absorption mat between the PCB and case.

I'd rather got with a different slider type (linear if you're using tactile for the rest of the board or tactile if you're using linears) and stronger spring, so you get a tactile difference with more resistance rather than an audible reminder.

[jamster]

Thanks everyone.

I'll try experimenting with a clicky switch as described above (if I can find a cost-effective source for a single clicky switch!) I'd probably settle for the high pitched click of a Blue if I can at least lower the volume of it via a thick lube.

I can't really go with linears as they feel sufficiently close to the tactiles that they won't trigger any sort of mental alert that I'm hitting capslock, nor can I go with a heavier spring as I hit capslock with my pinky so a heavier spring will be quite uncomfortable.

[KHAANNN]

You can't fundamentally change the frequencies of sound generated by a clicky switch, only dampen the ones you don't want. Unfortunately, they just are high pitch and that cannot be "fixed". Personally I find the sound very irritating. You can dampen it a bit by using thick heavy keycaps and orings, also by lubing and installing an absorption mat between the PCB and case.

I'd rather got with a different slider type (linear if you're using tactile for the rest of the board or tactile if you're using linears) and stronger spring, so you get a tactile difference with more resistance rather than an audible reminder.

Off topic, under-pcb absorbtion mats and methods turned out to be completely ineffective in my experiments, they only make the case feel solid, mostly psychologically, yet can't change the actual sound dynamics much, can't prevent plate pings etc. (I thump the plate/keys so hard that, I can't prevent pinging even If I hold the plate, press the plate)

As a reminder, low-viscosity oil is risky, high viscosity oil is less risky, low viscosity oil might eliminate the click all together, if you don't use the caps lock key a lot, I suggest leaving the high pitch as it is, if you decide to buy 20 switches for example, you can also find an odd one that clicks the way you want, they are very heterogenous, I bought my switches from WASD, bought 50, they also let me choose different varieties as I was buying them after an issue, but they might be always allowing that with post-order emails
(Having many different spare switches is pretty good, you can later use them as spares / experiment subjects)

[jamster]

As a reminder, low-viscosity oil is risky, high viscosity oil is less risky, low viscosity oil might eliminate the click all together, if you don't use the caps lock key a lot, I suggest leaving the high pitch as it is, if you decide to buy 20 switches for example, you can also find an odd one that clicks the way you want, they are very heterogenous, I bought my switches from WASD, bought 50, they also let me choose different varieties as I was buying them after an issue, but they might be always allowing that with post-order emails
(Having many different spare switches is pretty good, you can later use them as spares / experiment subjects)

That sounds like a tactful way of saying "Cherry has crap QC"

[KHAANNN]

As a reminder, low-viscosity oil is risky, high viscosity oil is less risky, low viscosity oil might eliminate the click all together, if you don't use the caps lock key a lot, I suggest leaving the high pitch as it is, if you decide to buy 20 switches for example, you can also find an odd one that clicks the way you want, they are very heterogenous, I bought my switches from WASD, bought 50, they also let me choose different varieties as I was buying them after an issue, but they might be always allowing that with post-order emails
(Having many different spare switches is pretty good, you can later use them as spares / experiment subjects)

That sounds like a tactful way of saying "Cherry has crap QC"

While modding the switches, I had a lot of time to think about that, I think they only care about the switch functionality, and not much about the experience/consistency

The switches are VERY solid by design, no matter how much you fail, they just keep on working as expected

I noticed that they don't ping/sound better if the spring holds onto the enclosure, by chance, which is 60%, I don't think there is much they can do about the homogeneity with the current design, they might produce them, autonomously test them, and only sell 20% of the switches, and even in that case, I'm sure there will be odd ones out (there is also lubes at the stem contact points, some switches click lightly as they lube them too much, again, happens by luck)

So better mod the switches yourself if you're an obsessive person(like me)