Thock, clack and creamy, explained by ear
Updated
Thock is deep and round, clack is bright and sharp, and creamy has no agreed meaning. The fastest way to learn the words is to hear them, so this page has a keyboard you can play in four of Teclo's packs.
Pick a pack, then press any key or tap the keys below. These are the same samples the app plays.
The words
| Word | What a keyboard maker’s glossary says | Teclo pack to hear it |
|---|---|---|
| Thock | “deep, low-frequency resonant sound of a well-built gasket-mount keyboard. Round, satisfying, drum-like” | Boulder |
| Clack | “bright, high-frequency snap from minimal-foam ABS-capped builds with stiff plates” | Knuckle |
| Marbly | “bouncy, round pop from POM-housed switches in PC-plate builds” | Ivory |
| Creamy | Not defined; used loosely for muted, smooth sounds | Butter comes closest in spirit |
The glossary is Epomaker’s. No source we found gives measured frequencies for these words, so the numbers below are our own packs’, not a definition.
How the four packs measure
| Pack | Brightness (Hz) | Press (ms) | 90% of energy in (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boulder | 2,428 | 90 | 18.1 |
| Butter | 2,479 | 80 | 13.1 |
| Ivory | 2,909 | 84 | 9.4 |
| Knuckle | 3,653 | 90 | 11.3 |
Brightness is the energy-weighted mean frequency of a key press. Boulder and Butter sit close in brightness; what makes Boulder the thock is its ring, which takes about 40% longer to die away. Knuckle is the brightest keyboard pack Teclo has.
Why people want thock
“Can it go thock?” was the top comment when Klack launched on r/apple, and deeper sounds come up again and again when people ask keyboard sound apps for more. If thock is what you are after, start with Boulder, then try Pebble and Cushion, the two keyboard packs with the most low end.
For how switch types change the sound, see linear, tactile and clicky.
Questions
What does thocky mean?
A deep, low, round keyboard sound. One keyboard maker's glossary defines thock as the "deep, low-frequency resonant sound of a well-built gasket-mount keyboard. Round, satisfying, drum-like".
What is the difference between thock and clack?
Thock is low and round; clack is a "bright, high-frequency snap". In Teclo's packs, Boulder, the thocky one, has a centroid of 2,428 Hz, and Knuckle, the clacky one, 3,653 Hz.
What does creamy mean for a keyboard?
There is no agreed definition. Sellers use it for sounds they call muted, smooth or mid-range. It is a taste word more than a measurement.
Sources
Other facts on this page come from these pages, read on or before the date above.