Things that make us go... hmmm šŸ¤”

As someone who has plenty of keyboards with fancy looking weights on the bottom…

:joy:

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What the heck even is this? Is he just buying a bunch of already designed and produced boards from a Chinese manufacturer and marking them up?

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I’ll be controversial here, but hear me out.

I cannot understand the entire concept of artisans. They make the keys they are on awkward to use, almost always manage to look ugly (with few exceptions) and are just a bunch of overpriced resin that gets sold for triple their original price aftermarket.

The ones that are usually sold alongside groupbuys (the metal ones) are almost always very nice and good looking, but the resin ones are just a waste of money imo. They go for hundreds (if not thousands) for A SINGLE KEYCAP that you almost never look at.

The only artisan keycap I’ve genuinely liked is the Series 00 from ESClab. Simple yet cool looking.

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I don’t get artisans either. Having one key (or more) that stands out and doesn’t match the rest of the set in terms of look, feel, material, or height seems like it would irritate me more than anything else.

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I don’t think that’s a controversial take. The artisan community has always been a rather small outspoken group. I can remember years ago people complaining on Geekhack, asking for mods to create a separate classifieds thread for artisans so they didn’t have to wade through them.

Some people think it’s crazy to own multiple keycap sets. Some people think it’s crazy to own more than one keyboard. We are a diverse group :slight_smile:

I own hundreds of keycap set and keyboards, but I own only 4 artisans. I think a lot of them look cheap, but some of them really are impressively sculpted. Even the ones that are impressive usually aren’t my taste.

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They are the equivalent of PokƩmon cards for adults with too much money.

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Where i’m from mechanical keyboards don’t have a category or name so every enthusiast/custom keyboard is called a gaming keyboard

But there’s some really cool ones like the one with the dice, I can’t remember the vendor/maker but that one was cool. I wouldn’t put it on my keyboard but it’d be cool for a macro pad or stand/frame

I would get that just for convenience

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Thats why i want a whole f row of them

That’s fair. I think they’re pretty cool, but don’t own a single one mostly since they’re a bit pricey and I never could find one I just had to have.

I always like to ask peeps who don’t like something for valid reasons, what would make it worth you picking up? Like, in your opinion what would make a must have artisan? If nothing, that’s cool too.

Row 3(cherry-profile) is one thing.
Matching GMK set is another.

The kolkraba for GMK Copper is kind of the only artisan I get exited about :ok_hand:

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I want to buy gmk bread now that it is in-stock. I like the render a lot but the color in the actual kit seems off - alphas are way too yellow.

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Yes, they should definitely rename it GMK Banana Bread.

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I love seeing new materials / combinations in switches for the sake of experimentation and finding better alternatives. At the same time, I’d like to see more discussion from the folks setting them up about why they made the choices they did when it comes to what makes their switch unique.

I do get that curiosity sells - I’m probably the poster-person for that - but still. In lieu of a detailed GB page, I figured a short yammer about materials was in order.

So; while I know nothing about HDPE or if it’s even in the same universe as HPE, I am familiar with what a PBT housing is like. To my knowledge, it’s the hardest material that switches are made of, and also the most expensive. If you like a hard bottom-out and sharp clacks, though, PBT might be for you. If HDPE is anything like HPE, then it too will encourage a sharp, high-pitched clack.

That being the case, ā€œVillainy Bigwigā€ seems thematically appropriate for a switch with a sound signature likely to be somewhere between cracking pool-balls and Babe Ruth hitting a home run.

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I do like clack, but these might be too much of a good thing. I found a sound test for Keebfont’s Doom switch that also has a HDPE top. Even with nylon bottoms, these are super clacky. I can imagine the PBT ones are going to sound like fancy tap shoes. I’m in of course. Lol.

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on another note, i’m totally unfamiliar with ā€œJer’s Cold Topre HHKB controllerā€ and tried to look it up to with no success. Is there information on it elsewhere?

Did we really need another keyboard called an ā€œOrionā€ that is also a TKL?

It is actually really nice looking, except for the badge. I am not opposed to badges, but this one looks cheap.

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I’m not sure all those designers even know there was a mechanical keyboard scene before 2020, let alone duck0113’s designs.

With that set aside, this keyboard is just boring. Yet another TKL with a weight and a badge. How exciting :neutral_face:

I miss when new keyboard designs were actually innovative and different. Nowadays it’s just the same design over and over again, with very few designers trying something new.

Oh, I think the side profile of it is striking and it has a nice low front height. It also has Bluetooth and QMK, which is fairly uncommon.