teclo

Typewriter, with a bell on Enter

Updated

A typebar slap, with a bell on Enter.

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

Category
Retro
Brightness (centroid)
944 Hz
Key press length
100 ms

What it imitates

Typewriter plays the slap of a typebar hitting the platen for every key, and a small carriage bell when you press Return. The bell is built from inharmonic partials of struck metal, the way a real bell rings.

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 Typewriter next to Terminal and Buckle, 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
Typewriter Retro 944 100 15.7 +6.7 15%
Terminal Retro 1,786 45 5.1 -13.2 85%
Buckle Mechanical 2,966 90 14.1 -12.9 53%

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

Writers who miss a manual typewriter, and anyone who wants Return to feel like the end of a line (a suggestion).

Use it in Teclo

  1. Click the keycap icon in the menu bar to open Teclo’s window.
  2. Pick Typewriter in the list of packs, under Retro.
  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

Does Teclo's typewriter ring a bell on Return?

Yes. The Typewriter pack plays a carriage bell on Return; the other keys play the typebar slap.