Ok, I know most of the people here are very into the strong keys that make the loud clicking noise when pressed... But I'm just not one of them. I like soft keys that fall easily under your fingers and don't make so much as a whisper when pressed.

I don't think any amount of modification I could do will get me exactly what I want. But I'd like to get closer if possible.


I haven't taken appart the Deck Legend (toxic), but I'm not afraid toying with it's innards either. There are two general issues I'm seeing with this...

1. The keys require too much pressure for each keystroke (my opinion... and in this case that's what matters).

2. There's a loud click when the key is finally pressed.

As to one, I guess there has to be some way to reduce the amount of pressure required to get the spring to go down. This is kind of crude, but I was thinking of just taking the screws out and then wearing them out a bit until they just got a little looser. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Two seems to be a combination of having to press down so hard to begin with... thus training your fingers to strike like little hammer blows on the keys... followed with the surface behind the keys being in itself hard and resonate. I was thinking perhaps a bit of rubber back there or perhaps a thin piece of felt.


Any ideas? I love the look of the keyboard... it's just way way way too loud. If deck sold an alternate set of springs... or whatever the recoil mechanism employed in the keyboard... I would pay extra to get them. I honestly don't care if they have a shorter lifespan then the current deck springs (if they wore out every few years you'd just order another bag of springs and replace them...).


I know a lot of you are saying "the last keyboard you'll ever own"... but... I think it's unrealistic to assume that even USB or PS2 will be in use for the next 15 years let alone the rest of my life... things are changing too quickly... now... if you sold me the last pair of socks I'd ever need... that would be something... I expect to have these feet for the rest of my life... I'd take a dozen and be happy... but technology changes.


I just need something that doesn't over power the music I'm listening to while typing.

Karma,
What this requires is totally new switches. I definitely would not take the switches that are in place, apart. They are strong when together but the individual pieces that make up the switch are delicate and there is a certain way to put them together. We uses a Cherry MX switch, which is the highest quality switch in the industry.

This would require unsoldering and soldering, since each LED would need to be taken out and then replaced in the new switch. You would need to consider polarity in this, too, because there is a positive and negative lead/leg to each LED.

It's all fairly simple, if you can solder. It's just time consuming. I know that Digi-Key is a distributor for Cherry switches. I can't give you any recommendations as far as a new switch because we do not do any sound tests on them. Maybe a distributor can help with this.
....Deck Girl Amy

I don't understand why "quality" also equals "stiffness"... Could not a "switch" be both high quality and offer less resistence?


As to some kind of padding below the keys, is that possible? Does it even make any sense? There is a sound when the key is fully depressed. If there were some kind of a softer surface it would make much less noise.

Karma,
You could try to put something soft under the keycap, like a sticky rubber bumper, but I honestly don't think it will work. I don't think there is enough room under the sides of each keycap to do this. As for putting something under the switch, like I mentioned above, I don't recommend messing with the switches unless you are taking the whole thing out.

I'm basically going to explain our switch choice like this: we've been in business building keyboards for 20 years now. Obviously we know switches. This is the highest quality switch that is built. I don't know if it comes in any other kind of "feel." Like I mentioned above, you can check with Digi-Key, a distributor of switches.

We have no plans to change the keyboard at this time.

Deck Girl Amy

I found this post after my new post a few minutes ago. I have no problem with the switches, just the noise. I'm going to see what I can do to deaden the sound. If there is not enough room I will try grinding down the keycap edges. If I end up destroying the keyboard then so be it. I can't live with this noise.

"quality" also equals "stiffness" That is right when you talk to my wife. Personally I found the Deck too soft

I’m a keyboard freak. There is two technologies up there for the best keyboard switches ever made. The two are using mechanical switches.

- The linear ones in your Deck made by a German company called Cherry.
- The buckling spring ones still found in Unicomp (http://www.pckeyboard.com/) Invented by IBM in the early 80’s.

In both cases, quality came at a price that has nothing to do with your invoice.
They are LOUD. Buckling spring’s switches are louder then Cherry’s.
Back then people were still using typewriters much louder then keyboards so nobody noticed the extra noise.

When the noise became an issue IBM came up later with the rubber dome solution.

Did you ever found a decent way to make your Deck quieter?