Cherry MX vs BBC Micro

[Daniel Beardsmore]

(Sorry for the long post ... getting nervous ;-)

Anyone here still have a BBC Micro and can describe how a Cherry MX compares to the standard BBC Micro keyswitch? (I think I mistakenly gave away my rare BBC Micro keyboard that was much nicer to type on! D’oh. Felt sure that was still on my spare under the bed, but alas no.)

The BBC Micro keyswitches are constant force, non-clicky, non-tactile. As I understand it, Cherry MX black increases in resistance the further down you press the key, but these have absolutely no change of resistance at all.

The BBC Micro keyboard is one of the oddest keyboards I've ever used -- just never felt comfortable on it. Always felt stiff, slow, a lot of effort to type for some reason. (I was perfectly happy with the layout though, in the day, even the loony arrow keys! Then again, games split x and y axis movement between your two hands, a practice that for whatever reason has died out.)

I'm hoping that a Cherry MX blue and brown feel the same as my (real or fake) blue ALPS keyboard, very light and fluid, no wobble or rattle. Most of the sound from a BBC Micro or Dell rubber dome keyboard seems to come from the rattle of the key caps. (My work Dell rubber dome is an anomaly, replacing the usual mud feeling with light action and a lot of rattle.)

I'm just nervous about spending £110 on a FILCO having never experienced the feel of the keys, or the sound levels of blue and brown. I did a sound test of my blue ALPS -- it's capable of drowning out some music, which put me off Cherry blue; then again, some tunes will blot out the keyboard noise, so I think that, despite my love for clicky, the feel is all that will truly matter. No mush, no rattle, no wobble, just silky smooth vertical motion of quality keyswitches. (Like a blue ALPS ;-)

[ch_123]

I pulled a BBC Master out of a skip once. Keyboard wasn't good at all, and definitely nowhere near comparable to my Blue Cherry Filco.

very light and fluid, no wobble or rattle.

Present and correct. They're light and they bounce up well when released. The Cherrys are pretty smooth by my standards. Some will say that they're not quite smooth compared with some other types of mechanical switches, but it's really a preference thing.

Sound wise - the blue Cherrys don't put out as much noise as the Alps, but some would say that the sound is not as pleasant (it's kinda plasticky - a common analogy is that they're those cheap ballpoint pens you get for free that retract the nib when you press the top of it. Not as loud, but roughly that sort of noise)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Recordings vary enormously and are 99% unreliable, but I have sensed that the Cherry MX blue click isn't as deep sounding as my ALPS. (Which I recorded and posted, but that recording is rather too low on treble). Here, the Cherry blue sounds just like an old BBC Micro, very homely sound, very sharp, clear clicks, nice metallic undertone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XakIyvextO8

The sharpness of the clicks might drive co-workers to distraction though, but whether it's better or worse that a really rattly Dell, I don't know. I just can't gauge the exact volume level, nor be sure how compatible a clicky is with music.

Here it's more like crunching in the recent snow, deep, muffled, not even worth getting a clicky if it sounds this bad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzawBbhEUA8

The BBC Master ... I think the keyboard on that felt similar but the keyswitches sucked -- only ever had one Master with no dead switches! (One bad one did have all functional switches but the two enter^Wreturn keys would wedge if not pressed precisely vertically; no good for games!) Not sure why the quality dropped so greatly compared to the Model B with its indestructible keyboard! But it's reassuring to know that it's not just me who considers Acorn keyboards to be poor for typing.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I did, the other day, thanks, but they seemed to have an exceptionally high level of bass, and seemed to flood the sound with the noise of inner workings that you'd not normally hear. Very strange sounding. The click of a clicky was just drowned out by bass. By comparison, the first YouTube video above is all treble, and my blue ALPS recording is somewhere in the middle.

If I had oodles of money I'd just buy one of each and give away the ones I don't like :-)

Part of me still thinks I've lost my marbles even considering over £100 for a keyboard! (Even if I do recognise the need for a good one, same as I didn't switch from CRT to LCD until I was happy that I was getting something good -- a 20" LG S-IPS, funny how dreadful the 17" LG TN looks next to it)

One of the vides on YouTube showed a shop in Japan with rows and rows of keyboards on display, though!

[ch_123]

The sharpness of the clicks might drive co-workers to distraction though, but whether it's better or worse that a really rattly Dell, I don't know. I just can't gauge the exact volume level, nor be sure how compatible a clicky is with music.

No, there's very little rattle in the noise, but I definitely wouldn't use one in an office environment. It would drive them mad. Cherry Browns or Topres would be a better choice.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Which madness theory is that?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I passed out of teenage a while ago, and thus far have had nothing to do with Twitter. The only interesting thing on Twitter to date was seeing First Capital Connect (local rail company) put a seemingly non-existent train on their Twitter page. Nothing I recognise and certainly nothing that runs under FCC livery (it also lacks any form of electric pickup, has no exhaust pipes (even if FCC wasn't an all electric service), and has no couplers, so it's not really of any use, which is probably what most people think of their service anyway).

Sorry, very new to quality keyboards -- the theory that clickies would annoy coworkers is why Metadot stopped shipping keyboards with Cherry browns? They take sadistic pleasure in noise?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

That would buy a fair few FILCOs! Goodness.

Toy trains just don't sound the same. No screaming traction motors as they're travelling at speed.

James May's Lego house, on the other hand ...

[timw4mail]

No, there's very little rattle in the noise, but I definitely wouldn't use one in an office environment. It would drive them mad. Cherry Browns or Topres would be a better choice.

From what I understand, the Filco is worse than the Scorpius, sound wise. I use a Scorpius at work, and haven't really had any complaints.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Leaving work this evening, I passed a premises playing Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up. No screams, no sounds of people fractically closing a browser window. Don't normally hear music anywhere that loud coming from their yard -- wonder what shenanigans that was.

[tricky]

There were three different types of key switch for the BBC, with I think four different caps, they all feel very different.