The thock unappreciation thread

[grids]

Am I the only one who *really* dislikes the word "thock" (double dislikes if it comes with 2 c's!)?

"Thocky" keyboards themselves are fine; it's just the term itself that I'm talking about.

(No, but really.)

(Wanted to post this in "Keyboards". Oh well.)

[Piperaceae]

I'm mostly bothered by the fact it has no real meaning; it's just a word people assign to whatever their preferred sound is. No two people use it for the same sound. Anything that's not a an unpleasantly high-pitched noise is just automatically thock.

[winkwork]

Same here! I appreciate a good keyboard sound, but 'thock' makes me think of something hitting a wall. It's just not a pleasant word.

[TomahawkLabs]

Thock is just the inverse of clacky. I would describe "thock" as the sound that has a heavily dampened case and well lubed and quality stabilizers. Keyboard sounds are all the sounds your keyboard makes at the same time combined. So when you reduce those higher pitched tones that are distracting (often from wobblily keys/stabilizers, echoes in the case, etc) you are left with thick plastic hitting solid surfaces.

Any amount of plastic squeaking as the case flexes will contribute to that higher sound. Higher pitches require less energy to produce the same level of sound pressure than lower sounds do, which is why subwoofer amplifiers are 5-20x the power rating as speaker amplifiers.

If you want that deeper (thock) sound you need a desk mat to absorb the force coming from the case into your desk as you type, a quality case that doesn't flex or creeeeeek as you type on it, and case/plate foams can very much deepen the sound.

[Rhienfo]

I've never liked these terms, they always sounded weird to me. I just like describing sound by like how high or low pitched it is, how full or hollow it is, is it resonant or dead sounding etc. More accurate than "thock" or "clack" ever will be.

 Also very strange that how thock changed from describing what topre sounded like to generally deep sounding switches as well.

[Evolurkeeb]

I've never liked these terms, they always sounded weird to me. I just like describing sound by like how high or low pitched it is, how full or hollow it is, is it resonant or dead sounding etc. More accurate than "thock" or "clack" ever will be.

 Also very strange that how thock changed from describing what topre sounded like to generally deep sounding switches as well.

Agreed, these terms are highly subjective.

[Hans_Luber]

petition to change clack to thwack.

[Pyre]

I think the terms give people a good general reference point to what something sounds like - but they are a sign of the hobby becoming more 'consumerist' where everything is boiled down to marketable buzzwords

I arbitrarily draw the line at 'creamy' - thats just weird

[Fraaaan]

I think the terms give people a good general reference point to what something sounds like

But it doesn't. Thock has been used to describe every trendy keyboard sound in the last 4 years.

Topre? Thock.

Deep sounding MX build? Thock.

Foam? Thock.

8 different foams? Thock.

Ceramic keycaps? Thock.

[grids]

I think the terms give people a good general reference point to what something sounds like - but they are a sign of the hobby becoming more 'consumerist' where everything is boiled down to marketable buzzwords

I arbitrarily draw the line at 'creamy' - thats just weird

My interpretation is that "creamy" is the sound/feel you'd think you'd get if your keycaps were mounted on mayonnaise, or some other high-viscosity substance.
(If this is correct then it's equally as insane as "thocky".)
(With the "mod" videos I've watched, I'm surprised no one has made a "mayo mod" before.)