[IC] Reverie - A dreamy keyboard from CannonKeys designed by James from AKB

[upas]

Reverie / ˈrɛv ə ri /
Noun

1. a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing: “lost in reverie…”
2. a daydream
3. a fantastic or visionary idea

(From James, the designer:)
It’s fitting that the core idea for this board came to me in a dream many years ago. I fell in love with the word as soon as I discovered it and I’ve been sitting on it ever since, waiting for the right project to come along so I could fully embrace the concept.

I often find myself daydreaming, and imagining I’m on an odyssey across another world far from home. Reverie serves as an outlet to depict my wandering thoughts and to capture them within the confines of a beautiful metal rectangle.


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Links
CK website
Reverie coming soon page
Join the discussion on our Discord

Feedback form link


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Design brief & history


For Reverie, the decision to make it a 65% keyboard wasn’t arbitrary. The genesis of the design centered around the aesthetics of the external weight, and in order to fit the construction of the illustration perfectly around the keyboard's complex internals, the proportions of the 65% format provided the perfect size to work with. Couple this with the fact that the 65% layout has a smaller footprint while still offering all the keys you would typically need throughout your day, and it makes for a compelling combination.


After much testing, we have decided that top-mounting the plate provides the most agreeable type-feel and sound, especially with polycarbonate. This will most likely be the default option with this board as it provides a comfortable typing experience and a pleasant sound profile across each switch type tested.



The corner plate mounts also align with the case screws, and typically we would have to compromise and move one or the other to ensure proper part clearance but that would mean compromising the desired type feel. It would also have been difficult given that the space usually reserved in the internal cavity of the case for the screwless mounts is already occupied by two daughterboards (more on those below). In this case, these were alterations that we didn’t want to consider, so we created option B.




Option B was to introduce two internal brackets which are installed once the plate has been screwed in, and when closing the case in the traditional “screwless” fashion you screw through the conveniently-placed holes in the plate to finish the case assembly. These parts are also force-broken with very soft poron gaskets, above and below, in order to control the vibronic resonance in those areas of the board. There are additional gaskets placed at the front and the rear of the case to continue this effect throughout the design as a whole.




With the great success of implementing USB hubs in other internal projects, as well as those with AKB, we wanted to continue this with Reverie. We partnered up with our friend Cipulot to develop a bespoke daughterboard set that fit within the confines of this design, consisting of a USB-C daughterboard and also a USB 2.0 hub board with 2 x USB type-A connectors. This hub unit is ideal for various devices such as flash drives and bluetooth dongles for your mouse or headset. You could even daisy chain another keyboard to this, if that’s what the heart desires.





The Reverie theme carries all throughout the board, The daughterboards are lovingly enclosed by an elegant internal weight, which also carries the Reverie theme through the internal design.




The most visually striking element of Reverie is the external weight. Our initial idea was to depict a dreamy image of resting on clouds, but that has been done expertly on the Cloudline already. After much thought (and further daydreaming), we eventually found ourselves on a cascading odyssey through the stars, and the canvas that the external weight provides contains a beautiful snapshot of that journey. In order to achieve the two-tone look, the weight itself consists of two layers which are sandwiched together when screwed into the bottom part of the case.



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Specifications: (the details below are accurate at the time of writing the IC)


Typing angle: 8 degrees

Part materials (confirmed): 6063 Aluminum case & brackets, polycarbonate plate (default)
Materials (unconfirmed): Internal weight, external weight (2 layers)

Manufacturer: Hongtu

Built weight: ~1.46kg

Dimensions: 321.6mm x 117.2mm x 34.2mm

Front height: 19mm

PCB: 1.6mm, hotswap or solderable



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Solderable PCB compatibility:




Hotswap PCB compatibility:


(render coming soon - this has been expanded based on IC feedback)

If there is anything you think may be missing from the PCB compatibility, please be sure to let us know in the feedback form.


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Ballpark pricing - sub-$350

GB ETA of Late Q3 2024 / Q4 2024

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>> Feedback form link <<

[upas]

This one is pretty interesting to me - I'm posting the IC on behalf of CannonKeys, but I didn't design this one myself. I think it's the first keyboard IC I'm posting which isn't one of my own!

James from AKB designed this - but his geekhack account name is "AlchemistKeyboards" which doesn't quite fit. It's meant to be a CannonKeys board, not an AKB one.

That said - I provided some feedback to James through the process, and am happy to answer questions

We're also working on a wireless kit for this board. It wasn't designed with wireless in mind, really - but we think we can support it.


Reserved for more below.

[codog]

1.5u 1u 1.5u 7u 1.5u

bottom row please on solder pcb

[upas]

1.5u 1u 1.5u 7u 1.5u

bottom row please on solder pcb

You my friend have found the first mistake in the IC. I can't make fancy renders of layouts like James did, but in the meantime, I'll replace it with a KLE

The Solder PCB has expansive layout support:
We have the two traditional:
1.25 / 1.25 / 1.25 / 6.25 / 1.25 / 1.25
and
1.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 7 / 1.5

But we also have:
1.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 3 / 1 / 3 / 1.5

Note that the last layout isn't supported by the plate, but its there on the solderable PCB.

[Zurichan]

Board looks amazing. I love the weight design. But I would want more layout support for hotswap. Preferably 1.5-1-1.5 7-1.5. Are there any color options you plan for sure to make other than the one in the current renders?

[mr_foggy]

lovely board but 65? ehh
instabuy if it was 60

[upas]

Board looks amazing. I love the weight design. But I would want more layout support for hotswap. Preferably 1.5-1-1.5 7-1.5. Are there any color options you plan for sure to make other than the one in the current renders?

Based on current IC feedback - it seems that we will probably add 7U support to the bottom row of the hotswap PCB.

lovely board but 65? ehh
instabuy if it was 60

If you like 60%s... keep your eyes open for something coming next week 

[HubertThemad]

Board looks amazing. I love the weight design. But I would want more layout support for hotswap. Preferably 1.5-1-1.5 7-1.5. Are there any color options you plan for sure to make other than the one in the current renders?

Based on current IC feedback - it seems that we will probably add 7U support to the bottom row of the hotswap PCB.

lovely board but 65? ehh
instabuy if it was 60

If you like 60%s... keep your eyes open for something coming next week 

  I can't wait! Lots of cool looking ICs coming out recently. Time to get a second job to afford them haha

[upas]

Update - I added stepped caps and 7U bottom row (1.5/1/1.5/7/1.5) to the hotswap PCB.
It's been submitted for prototyping.

The IC feedback has already been strong enough to influence this change, so I went ahead and did it.

Adding ISO to the same hotswap PCB (as has been suggested in the IC as well) won't be possible - I know some PCBs do support this, but I don't think we (at CannonKeys) will choose to add it.
To support ISO hotswap (along with normal enter hotswap), you need to put switches in at 90 degrees.
But the sides of switch stems are not all the same thickness.

Rotating the switch like that risks damage to keycaps, so we probably won't support it on any product.
if there is enough demand for an ISO specific hotswap PCB, that's the route we'd take.

[Randomlosername]

Update - I added stepped caps and 7U bottom row (1.5/1/1.5/7/1.5) to the hotswap PCB.
It's been submitted for prototyping.

The IC feedback has already been strong enough to influence this change, so I went ahead and did it.

Adding ISO to the same hotswap PCB (as has been suggested in the IC as well) won't be possible - I know some PCBs do support this, but I don't think we (at CannonKeys) will choose to add it.
To support ISO hotswap (along with normal enter hotswap), you need to put switches in at 90 degrees.
But the sides of switch stems are not all the same thickness.

Rotating the switch like that risks damage to keycaps, so we probably won't support it on any product.
if there is enough demand for an ISO specific hotswap PCB, that's the route we'd take.

Wish I would have saw this before I did my IC form lol. That was my biggest concern as well. Glad to see you taking feedback into consideration so quickly!

[upas]

I took a quick sound test of Reverie.

https://vocaroo.com/1g1XgiRXdIic

Alu Plate
GMK Moondust
Everfree Curry Switches (prelubed only, not hand lubed)
No Foam

This is basically just using my desk setup - it's not really setup for amazing sound tests. You can hear background noise, etc.
But it should give you a decent idea of what the board will sound like.

[mr_foggy]

lovely board but 65? ehh
instabuy if it was 60

If you like 60%s... keep your eyes open for something coming next week 

just seen that, very nice. I still prefer the butt on this one tho

[Keebzncables]

chonky chonky