teclo

Knuckle, a sharp, bright clack

Updated

Tactile, unlubed, steel plate: a sharp, bright clack.

Press any key, or tap the keys below, to hear Knuckle. These are the same samples the app plays.

Category
Mechanical
Brightness (centroid)
3,653 Hz
Key press length
90 ms

What it imitates

Knuckle models a tactile switch with no lube, mounted on a steel plate. Steel plates and dry switches are what make an office-style board sound sharp. Knuckle is the brightest of Teclo’s keyboard packs.

Teclo’s sounds are synthesized, not recorded. Its sound engine builds each pack from a model of the parts that make the sound, then plays the same files in the app that you hear on this page.

How it measures

Every pack is measured when it is rendered. The table puts Knuckle next to Cricket and Ivory, the packs closest to it in feel.

Pack Category Brightness (Hz) Press (ms) 90% of energy in (ms) Low/high (dB) 1–3 kHz share
Knuckle Mechanical 3,653 90 11.3 -14.7 55%
Cricket Mechanical 3,148 70 7.1 -12.8 46%
Ivory Mechanical 2,909 84 9.4 -15.8 65%

Brightness is the energy-weighted mean frequency of a key press, so a higher number sounds brighter. Low/high is the energy below 1 kHz against the energy above it: the higher, the deeper. Nobody has tuned these packs by ear yet; the figures are what the files measure.

Who it suits

Anyone who wants to hear the keys clearly over music or background noise (a suggestion).

Use it in Teclo

  1. Click the keycap icon in the menu bar to open Teclo’s window.
  2. Pick Knuckle in the list of packs, under Mechanical.
  3. Type anywhere. Teclo plays a different sound for a key going down and coming up, and separate sounds for Space, Return and Delete.

Every pack also has its own pair of mouse click sounds, made from the same model. Try the other packs on the sound packs page.

Questions

Which Teclo pack is the brightest?

Of the keyboard packs, Knuckle, with a spectral centroid of 3,653 Hz. Cricket is next at 3,148 Hz.