The Heavy-6 (now resurrected in polycarbonate)

Quick update: though I have been keen to avoid finish-option creep on this project, my good pal @choobies prevailed upon me to add a Black anodized option, so I just did that. He pointed out that the gray caps go really well with a black case but that not everybody can afford a Monolith—an exceedingly fair point. :slight_smile: I don’t have a photo of a prototype to show, but looking at the Monolith photos, not too much imagination is required. It’ll just be a pretty standard Type II black anodized finish, as is quite common on after-market keyboard housings.

The texture of the Monolith will be smoother than the bead-blasting on the anodized version. And the Monolith has a purple logo badge, whereas the “Tactical” (black anodized) color will have a grey badge. And of course the anodized version weighs a lot less (but is still nothing to sneeze at).

:man_shrugging:

Anybody who wants to switch to this color who already placed, an order, of course just shoot me an email (preferably by replying to your order confirmation).

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Yeah, that’s cool and everything, but I personally, think that contrasting is better. To that end, my son ordered a nice set of cream PBT alphas from KBDfans to offset the black Monolith case. To each their own, and choices are good. You are a good guy to do this. It’s all about esthetics and what-not. It’s all subordinate to the feels, which is what we’re in the game for, but glamour shots do matter when it comes to fake internet points.

There’s also much to be had with the front-legended stock caps on the stock set. Nothing is wrong, and there’s an excellent case for OG. Even if it’s kind of, you know, boring.

ohhh man… not having a cheaper black version was the main reason i didn’t buy this… now i’m seriously considering this option now.

Dangit!!

hehe. You’re welcome/sorry. :slight_smile:

Out of curiosity, why is the black anodized finish for the Heavy-6 a Type II whereas the black anodized finishes on the Norbatouch (and I think Norbaforce) are a hard Type III?

Because hard ano costs more and this is explicitly being added as a low-cost option.

My Heavy-6 Overview (I also talk about the bag)

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Nicely done.

@Manofinterests yes, I believe the rubber feet not sticking so well is largely due to the glossy clear coat, which won’t be on the production units. I’ve never had issues with the same feet staying on Norbaforces. On that particular case, a bit of sanding or otherwise roughing up the interior of the bumper pockets would probably have addressed the issue.

To address your aesthetic quibble on the bag, I actually completely agree with you and the production sliders will actually not be silver but will match the black(ish) zipper finish. Your bag was a pretty hastily thrown-together proto, which is why it also doesn’t have a proper zipper pull.

Thanks for the review. Watching that amusingly arty opening you did, as a fellow sometime cinematographer, I couldn’t help but think how much work it is to shoot something like that. Most people have no idea. :slight_smile:

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That made me happy. And thank you @norbauer and Huey for addressing the changes that will be in the production run. I’m pretty excited about the H6 and I’m glad that these cases are for Topre boards since I use them pretty much exclusively which keeps me away from most major keyboard GBs.

Nice review! Thanks for letting us see this beast, looking forward to my unit a ton. Regarding the sound test at the end, is everything stock on your FC660C? sounds drastically different from mine.

It is @norbauer’s FC660C that he lent me and it is completely stock. Amazing how the sound can change with the case and the mounting. 2 of the angles sounds a little bit different due to the change in microphone location.

Just ordered the tactical! I can’t wait <3 Thanks for all the effort and love you put in this project <3

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So tempted to add the Aperture to my existing Retro order and make up my mind once I see them (figure whichever doesn’t make the cut will be an easy flip)

Thanks for the great video @Manofinterests

What did you mean when you said “topknot” or “topnotch”?

Awesome to see the black ano finally added, honestly I think it’s be best color to be combined with the gray stock caps.

I see!

To be honest I’m not loving the sound, but I’m curious how much extra dampening will have an impact on it. We’ll find out! :slight_smile:

Haha. Yes, people seem to have an very unfortunate tendency to decide they want my cases only after a group buy has happened. For better or worse (mostly worse?), this tends to make for a rather vigorous after-market.

However, unlike the Norbatouch where I was eventually persuaded otherwise (a few times over), I can virtually guarantee that this is the only run of this product that I will ever make. I have a long list of reasons for that, which I won’t belabor here, but suffice it to say: I mean it this time. :wink: I will probably have some in-stock extras after the GB ships, perhaps at slightly higher prices, but that’s pretty much it. That that for whatever it’s worth. :blush:

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Whos buying 10 so future generations can enjoy this rarity???

I’m thinking 50 monoliths should be enough to put my kid through college if I trickle them out slowly enough :slight_smile:

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