Keyboard sound terms, A to Z
Updated
Keyboard people describe sound with a small set of words: thocky for deep, clacky for bright, marbly and poppy for round, short pops, creamy for smooth, and pingy, rattly and hollow for the faults. This glossary gives each one a definition from a keyboard maker and, where Teclo has one, a pack to hear it.
1-day free trial · $4.99 once · up to 3 Macs · macOS 13+
Secure checkout, payments byStripe· 14-day refund, no questions asked
Pick a pack, then press any key or tap the keys below. These are the same samples the app plays.
Sound profiles
Epomaker’s Sound Lab defines nine profiles and publishes a loudness for each, “measured under ESS-2026 protocol at the typist’s ear, average sustained typing at 60 WPM. Variance ±2 dB”. The loudness belongs to Epomaker’s own build of each profile, not to the word.
| Term | What it means | Loudness | Teclo pack to hear it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thocky | “The deep, low-frequency resonant sound of a well-built gasket-mount keyboard. Round, satisfying, drum-like.” | 55 dB | Boulder |
| Creamy | Epomaker’s tagline: “Smooth · Buttery” | 50 dB | Butter, closest in spirit |
| Silent, muted | “Silent switches dampen both the down- and up-stroke, so almost no acoustic energy escapes” | 35 dB | Muffle |
| Clicky | “Crisp · Tactile”; a click mechanism on top of a bump | 62 dB | Cricket, and Buckle, a buckling spring |
| Clacky | “The bright, high-frequency snap from minimal-foam ABS-capped builds with stiff plates. Vintage typewriter character.” | 60 dB | Knuckle |
| Marbly | “The bouncy, round pop from POM-housed switches in PC-plate builds with light foam.” | 56 dB | Ivory |
| Mahjong | “The percussive tile-on-hardwood snap from long-pole stems on aluminum plates with no case foam.” | 65 dB | None |
| Poppy | “Short, snappy, popcorn-like discrete pops from long-pole stems in compact cases. Sharper than marble, rounder than mahjong.” | 57 dB | None |
| Tactile, two-beat | “The double acoustic event unique to tactile switches: bump engagement up top, bottom-out below.” | 53 dB | Pebble |
Teclo has no mahjong or poppy pack: both depend on long-pole stems, and none of Teclo’s packs imitates that. For a closer look at thock, clack, marbly and creamy alone, see thock vs clack vs creamy.
Faults
| Term | What it means | Fix, by Epomaker | Teclo pack where you hear it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pingy | “An unwanted high-frequency metallic ring, usually from an unlubed spring. Sounds like a tiny bell after each keystroke.” | Spring lube | Knuckle has a faint spring ring at 4,350 Hz; Buckle’s ringing spring is part of its design |
| Rattly | “Loose, irregular noise from a poorly tuned stabilizer or a loose stem-to-housing fit.” | “stab lube and the band-aid mod” | Knuckle: press Space |
| Hollow | “Cheap, echoey character from an empty case interior with no foam on a non-tuned build.” | Foam; see foam mods | None |
| Tinny | RTINGS: “thinner ABS can sound tinny” | Thicker caps; see PBT vs ABS | None |
Parts of a press
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Bottom-out | “The moment a keystroke reaches full travel (~4mm). The dominant sonic event in linears.” |
| Top-out | “The sound of the switch returning to rest after release.” Teclo plays its own release sound for every key, quieter than the press. |
| Transient | “The initial sharp attack before the body of the sound develops. Sharp = clacky / mahjong / poppy; soft = creamy / silent.” |
| Decay | “How quickly a keystroke’s sound dies after impact. Short decay = articulate; long decay = full / thocky.” |
| Resonance | “Sustained vibration of the case after the strike. Controlled resonance = deep thock; uncontrolled = hollow ringing.” |
Quotes in the tables are Epomaker’s unless marked. Decay is the one you can read off Teclo’s measurements: Boulder takes 18.1 ms to deliver 90% of its energy and Muffle 8.3 ms. Each pack is synthesized and imitates the sound the word describes; none is a recording of the keyboards Epomaker measured.
The parts that make these sounds are on why mechanical keyboards sound different.
Questions
What is the difference between thocky and clacky?
Thocky is deep and round, clacky bright and snappy. Epomaker measured its thocky build at 55 dB and its clacky one at 60 dB; in Teclo's packs, the thocky Boulder has a brightness of 2,428 Hz and the clacky Knuckle 3,653 Hz.
What does marbly mean?
Epomaker: "The bouncy, round pop from POM-housed switches in PC-plate builds with light foam." Its recipe calls for the air gap a foamless case bottom leaves.
What is the loudest keyboard sound profile?
In Epomaker's measurements, mahjong at 65 dB, then clicky at 62 dB. Its silent profile measured 35 dB.
Sources
Other facts on this page come from these pages, read on or before the date above.