[IC] GMK sets interest check and planning

[calavera]

Those four colors are the most popular choices? I was expecting something that would match the purple mods more closely.

[IvanIvanovich]

4 1x1 windowed key 1 for each row B-E profile mean one windowed 1x1 key for each row profile so you could put them on 2 W S X for example.

Most people don't seem to want to keep doing anything with purple. I try to get away from it, but still offer some choices that can work with purple, or black, dolch...

[bazemk1979]

4 1x1 windowed key 1 for each row B-E profile mean one windowed 1x1 key for each row profile so you could put them on 2 W S X for example.

Lysol you know there are new boards out there especially the Duckies that come with 108 keys right? those 4 extra keys above the numberpad are with LED's, something you might consider adding R1 4 keys x1 blank windowed in purple to the purple NAV set?

Also this option of keys Trix has it too

EDIT: and if there is not enough votes for purple, we should move on to different color vote for the NAV pack, but please consider the 4 keys x1 for the NAV pack no matter what the new color choice is voted on.

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes, taken care of, look closer at list. There would actually be 6 E row in total with window plus one for each of other row, caps lock, and mods.
If NAV pack don't have enough interest, it will be scrapped and will move that list of keys in NAV pack for round 3 with cohesive 'full set' one colorway. I don't think haphazard mixmatch will be really popular either.
If Alpha packs don't have enough interest, same thing. We will just start fresh with one colorway across the board for all keys.

[bazemk1979]

if alpha fails and purple fails, then your best bet would be voting  for a new set.

If there is a voting for a new set, maeby instead of going single color we should have 4-5 options of retro style sets with mockups for full board and have people vote at them.

thing is you will have choose wisely the color combos to make them appealing but yet them NOT being related to Sherry sets.... I know its a tough one.

As much as I would love to vote for alpha sets and Nav sets I think voting might get confused.

Maeby you should come out with 4-5 choices sets something like:

-Yellow/Black
- then other retro mix with clear legends since there were people showing interest in them...

its a tough one setting up sets on your own though.

[CPTBadAss]

Those four colors are the most popular choices? I was expecting something that would match the purple mods more closely.

Agreed...I voted but I'd prefer to see other colors.

[IvanIvanovich]

Problem is we have 400 MOQ, and a LOT of different tastes. It's really tough. I tried to be kind of safe, but not overly boring. It's a fine line to get.

[CPTBadAss]

Yeah I know. I appreciate the effort! Really, I'm kicking myself for not getting the CMYK and Escape sets from the last round. And you turned this around so fast! I just hope we can do some fun colors later or have them lower the MOQ.

[bazemk1979]

Problem is we have 400 MOQ, and a LOT of different tastes. It's really tough. I tried to be kind of safe, but not overly boring. It's a fine line to get.

Lysol there is no way to hit 400 MOQ brother, will there be 400 MOQ for full sets or this is 400 MOQ for the alpha only?  I can see us making it 300 MOQ on a proper choice of retro full set, something appealing to the broader audience.

[calavera]

Yeah, looking at the super popular DSA retros barely reaching 300 for one set, I doubt we'll hit 400 ever. We'd be lucky if we hit half that. Unless GMK allows combined MOQ... like two or more alpha sets for a combined MOQ of 400 may be?

Can they only do white or black font colors? I still think we should have something that matches the purple more directly. White on light purple or something similar perhaps.

[xavierblak]

Purple on Cream or on White to go with the set:

I'm all for this. It seems like most people who grabbed the purple mods would go for this.

[Photekq]

I just don't think I'd be willing to buy an alpha set. I personally hate purple so I don't know whether I'd have a use for any of the suggested sets. If I were to buy one it'd be the grey one but I still don't think I'd get it.

[bazemk1979]

that would be nice calavera but if you don't have the rest of the NAV in purple it don't make sence to try and match the purple, only benefit would be for the G60 and poker/pure.

[Sai]

Purple on Cream or on White to go with the set:

Show Image

I'm all for this. It seems like most people two grabbed the purple mods would go for this.

you can count me in.

[___q]

Not too excited about that white-on-grey set (esp. considering that both new and vintage Dolch sets are reasonably available), but any of the colors look good to me.

[aesthetics1]

Honestly, I think all of the choices are pretty terrible. Unicorn vomit.

The next set should match well with the purple mods. Seems kind of ridiculous not to match it up. Those who are not into the alphas will be left with a half completed purple set with nothing to match it with.

You met the MOQ for purple, so bank on those people picking up the set that matches it. I feel like abandoning that colorway is a serious missed opportunity.

Thanks for doing this, but, different colors please.

[Photoelectric]

It seems like the issue is that there are as many color and theme preferences as there are voters, so many will be disappointed, many will be neutral, and a bunch will love the selection.  Looking at the Post Your Ideal Keycap Set thread (or something like that), you can already see just how different everyone's choices are.  Some like minimalistic, and others want bright mixed colors.  So perhaps for this GB, could do 2 sets of options: a bright colored background and a neutral (cream or some very pale color) background. 

[rowdy]

Unless this is round 1 of voting - either select the top half and everyone votes again until a small sustainable group of combinations is reached.

Or maybe give it a week, then drop the least popular.  Repeat until only a few are left.

[calavera]

btw, I cannot view the results. restricted access.

[damorgue]

btw, I cannot view the results. restricted access.

My suggestion, as to not reveal too much to outside sources who will take advantage of it.

My suggestion is that everyone gets to suggest colourways in a thread where no one is allowed to mention if they like one or comment on them. Then it is all put to a vote, either reducing them in stages or everyone gets several votes. The results are kept hidden and only known by one or a few trustworthy members. Then the order can be placed with too little time for outside sources to take advantage of it.

[LechnerDE]

I voted for

1. grey
2. blue
3. other (yellow on black)

I will order a set no matter which color wins for the sake of establishing our relationship with GMK, but to be honest I don't see this GB work

Can you explain please how the language packs will work? Are we supposed to hit 400 for each option?

I'd estimate there are max. 75 people interested in the DE/DK/NO/SF set and like 30 people ES/IT/PT and it will be very hard to even reach 300 for US/GB/JA.

[Halvar]

Voted for grey.

I see what you're trying to do by splitting the modifiers/navkeys from the alphas groupbuy wise, but to be honest, it doesn't really work too well for me. As long as I don't know what the modifiers will look like in the next round I have a hard time committing with confidence to alphas that don't fit modifiers I already have. Grey is the only color in the poll that does this for me.

Question: any idea yet about what will happen to the moogle kit interest check? ( http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42598.30 ). Do you still plan to offer a Cherry classic white-on-black modifier kit in this round?

[Jmneuv]

You guys realize that since it's original cherry caps you can match your alphas up 'at home'?

I'd much appreaciate a new thread? Folks are going to miss/get confused by two generations of discussion.

[Halvar]

What do you mean by "match your alphas up 'at home'"?

In a new thread I'm afraid we would get a new round of people making up new color combos...

[badcop]

Purple on Cream or on White to go with the set:

Show Image

I'm all for this. It seems like most people who grabbed the purple mods would go for this.

i'd be in for this!! cream cheese and eggplant!!

voted green, red then blue

[Jmneuv]

What do you mean by "match your alphas up 'at home'"?

I was hinting at the tons of options to match the alphas up with cherry vintage or imsto or even sp sets, especially since most follow the two tone scheme.

[IvanIvanovich]

By making sections of keys available separately if one wishes is my whole point. In the future you can buy all components for a full matching set or pieces of that colorway for mix and match as desired. I think it's an ideal approach because if you want a complete set you are good, if you only want a specific section to mix match with something you already have you are good. It keep from having to buy whole expensive sets and get a lot of things that are not wanted. On the other hand I can see that it can be a recipe for disaster as well if certain components don't reach MOQ we can end up with some rather strange assortment of incomplete things.

I really don't see an issue with only an alpha pack. It is going to be a complete set unlike the mods from last time that were focus on 60%. Regardless of what keyboard you have it will have every alphanumeric key. If you didn't buy purple it dosen't matter as you can put the alphas on with your white/black, Dolch, or whatever you have.

I may do white/black adapter pack with this round too. But I have not decide if it will be a full pack or just the harder to find 1.25, 1.5 mods and fulltouch caps lock. There almost always seem to be used 7000 available for cheap so I don't really see a huge need for much more. May do the other than US layout specific keys too in one big pack white/black.
I will put that question for second wave of voting.

[bazemk1979]

problem with alpha packs as you said earlier is the 400 MOQ...

- What was the MOQ on the NAV pack?
- black/white adapter pack 400 MOQ for sure right?

Is it just me thinking that if we don't go full set that we will fail?

[damorgue]

What do you mean by "match your alphas up 'at home'"?

I was hinting at the tons of options to match the alphas up with cherry vintage or imsto or even sp sets, especially since most follow the two tone scheme.

If you didn't buy purple it dosen't matter as you can put the alphas on with your white/black, Dolch, or whatever you have.

Of course, this is only possible for ansi users. The rest of us have to combine them some very different sets to create a frankenstein set of lasered and doubleshots, as we have always been required to do to reach a full set.

Looking forward to when we are out of the testing stage and the real GB can happen. I was going to spread the news of this GB on the a large forum in my country, but I recon very few will be interested in an incomplete alpha-only set unfortunately and I will wait for the next one again.

May do the other than US layout specific keys too in one big pack white/black.

Although I like the idea a lot personally, doing a GB of a small addon set to convert black on white, and white on black, dolch etc has the disadvantage that people outside of these forums won't be very interested without the base set. I belive that they are pretty much required if we want to reach MOQ.

[Lu_e]

SP has never been a match to Cherry molds... why is it now? SP does not have square edges being my main point.

Ive been looking forward to this but... this thread is kinda a mess.

I really don't see an issue with only an alpha pack. It is going to be a complete set unlike the mods from last time that were focus on 60%. Regardless of what keyboard you have it will have every alphanumeric key. If you didn't buy purple it dosen't matter as you can put the alphas on with your white/black, Dolch, or whatever you have.

My bad I thought the thread was called 'GMK full sets'

[LechnerDE]

Can you explain please how the language packs will work? Are we supposed to hit 400 for each option?

I'd estimate there are max. 75 people interested in the DE/DK/NO/SF set and like 30 people ES/IT/PT and it will be very hard to even reach 300 for US/GB/JA.

Can you please clarify this?

[Halvar]

Looking forward to when we are out of the testing stage and the real GB can happen. I was going to spread the news of this GB on the a large forum in my country, but I recon very few will be interested in an incomplete alpha-only set unfortunately and I will wait for the next one again.

I agree. I do like the modular system with the language packs and the separate modifier+nav kits, but I think splitting the buy of a full set into always at least two GB rounds is asking new buyers for too much trust. Especially asking them to buy alphas without even knowing how the modifiers of the next round will look.

Also given that most vintage cherry DS sets are either winkeyless or 1800, and all have a stepped caps lock, the need for Cherry compatible modifier sets is probably actually higher than the need for alpha sets. So I'd say if possible try and add a full modifier+nav ("secondcolorkeys") set to this round that makes a nice full set together with the alphas for new full set buyers.

If we can find a colorset that can also be used to nicely replace and moogle the beige keys on classic mainstream Cherry white/beige sets, like the purple did for 60%s and black kits so far, that would make it even more versatile and lower the barrier to join.

We'd also have a higher volume overall that might help to convince GMK to loosen up on their MOQs for certain sets.

[IvanIvanovich]

I will have to check with GMK. Some things seem to be OK with 300 MOQ, others need 400... I keep try to negotiate for 200 explaining that we would probably be able to place more orders more frequently, but they don't seem to want to budge from their policy.
Depending on interest we may need to roll up all the languages into the base set and it will just have to be more expensive set. Maybe pare down some of the near duplicate keys like ones that have a third legend but are otherwise the same as another for example <> vs <>| to keep the cost from going too high.

[LechnerDE]

we may need to roll up all the languages into the base set and it will just have to be more expensive set

Yeah, I think that is the only viable option.

[IvanIvanovich]

Well not necessarily, we will have to see. But, to many surprise the DE/DK/NO/SF option is only a couple percent behind US/GB/JA right now.

[LechnerDE]

Well not necessarily, we will have to see. But, to many surprise the DE/DK/NO/SF option is only a couple percent behind US/GB/JA right now.

Really? Is this due to relatively low numbers?

I can imagine you ANSI guys are just too lazy to vote 'cause you are so spoiled with all the sets to choose from

[CPTBadAss]

I voted for the DE layout to help out

[LechnerDE]

I voted for the DE layout to help out

Give this guy a medal!

 

[IvanIvanovich]

There is a relatively small voting so far, only 55 response, I would like to get a bigger pool of votes closer to 300 or so to have a best picture... but still! I can't say I am surprised with the way the color choice is going though. If the trend continues we will certainly need to run a tiebreaker vote. Until that time I will keep the results top secret to help prevent another sabotage. 

[bbl]

Whatever the decision on colour-scheme, will you consider adding an optional set for ergodox default layout?

Personally, I prefer the  Dolch's colour-scheme of medium and dark grey, and white legends.

[bazemk1979]

Whatever the decision on colour-scheme, will you consider adding an optional set for ergodox default layout?

Personally, I prefer the  Dolch's colour-scheme of medium and dark grey, and white legends.

U can buy the dolch from originative, no need to run special GB for something thats available in other store in any given time

[IvanIvanovich]

If ergodox user are interest in GMK key, someone can IC that specifically, once everything is finalized with what keys and colors, and you have 300 set orders for ergodox specific modifer I will help from then.

[asura]

And for those of us who don't like any of the proposed colour-ways (sorry) but would like a purple nav-pack...

[Poom]

Coffee and cream! Also with mac modifiers!,

[IvanIvanovich]

Good point asura. I will fix it so those can enter their interest for nav pack without having to choose a color for alpha pack so the voting does not get artificially skewed any more than it may already be.

[bazemk1979]

coffee cream is good, mac modifiers? do mac uses special sizes for their modifiers? does GMK has molds for them? I have never seen apple keyboard with cherry switches.....

I would see the point where we need modifiers for different bottom layouts, then we need ISO and extra language packs. But if we keep adding things that will only bring only few people to the GB such as apple modifier users Ergodox, then we are looking at a full set of $150+.......... Pffffffffffff aint worth it no matter what color scheme comes out at the end....

[cgbuen]

I haven't been able to see anything on this over the past few pages, but is a complete set of white on purple out of the question?

[Poom]

coffee cream is good, mac modifiers? do mac uses special sizes for their modifiers? does GMK has molds for them? I have never seen apple keyboard with cherry switches.....

I would see the point where we need modifiers for different bottom layouts, then we need ISO and extra language packs. But if we keep adding things that will only bring only few people to the GB such as apple modifier users Ergodox, then we are looking at a full set of $150+.......... Pffffffffffff aint worth it no matter what color scheme comes out at the end....

oh maybe i called them wrong? sorry. no panic. i meant the command and alt keys. like the rain drop GB, they include the command key which is nice.

[bazemk1979]

coffee cream is good, mac modifiers? do mac uses special sizes for their modifiers? does GMK has molds for them? I have never seen apple keyboard with cherry switches.....

I would see the point where we need modifiers for different bottom layouts, then we need ISO and extra language packs. But if we keep adding things that will only bring only few people to the GB such as apple modifier users Ergodox, then we are looking at a full set of $150+.......... Pffffffffffff aint worth it no matter what color scheme comes out at the end....

oh maybe i called them wrong? sorry. no panic. i meant the command and alt keys. like the rain drop GB, they include the command key which is nice.

ok so you are speaking of the legends right? GMK makes all needed modifiers and Lysol makes sure they are available in x1, x1.25, x1.50 for the bottom modifiers which I think you are speaking of. But they don't make the custom legends like SP does, even if they would most likely will cost a lot of money. even SP charges extra dinero for custom legends, but GMK just don't make them.

[Poom]

coffee cream is good, mac modifiers? do mac uses special sizes for their modifiers? does GMK has molds for them? I have never seen apple keyboard with cherry switches.....

I would see the point where we need modifiers for different bottom layouts, then we need ISO and extra language packs. But if we keep adding things that will only bring only few people to the GB such as apple modifier users Ergodox, then we are looking at a full set of $150+.......... Pffffffffffff aint worth it no matter what color scheme comes out at the end....

oh maybe i called them wrong? sorry. no panic. i meant the command and alt keys. like the rain drop GB, they include the command key which is nice.

ok so you are speaking of the legends right? GMK makes all needed modifiers and Lysol makes sure they are available in x1, x1.25, x1.50 for the bottom modifiers which I think you are speaking of. But they don't make the custom legends like SP does, even if they would most likely will cost a lot of money. even SP charges extra dinero for custom legends, but GMK just don't make them.

Ah yeah I meant the legends, sorry my noob mistake.