Measured/eyeballed from the datasheet and did the “print the pcb layout” thing to compare when I got the leds in (as in the picture I liked above). Then I did a couple test pcbs - which work ok. Revised it slightly to clean up silkscreen and notch the GND pad to match the component. Not bad for the 2nd or 3rd part I’ve tried to design from scratch. :grin:

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Update: first half all soldered up and working! The LEDs are mesmerizing…
Now to configure a MIDI layer on it :slight_smile:

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As an aside; I have recently been using a great musical device with Kaihl switches and I LOVE the way they feel. I think that was a great choice for this project of yours and I’m super excited about the idea of trying it out one day.

Ooh, that thing made big waves the other week :wink:
Are those Kailh Choc blue (clicky) keys? How would you feel about those for a more performative device?

Right now I’m using linear switches with a very low actuation force (20g), but of course these can be swapped out based on preference easily.

A little update also: I got MIDI to work in QMK and put together a Wicki-Hayden isomorphic MIDI layer:

Here I’m playing the https://midi.city soft synth with WebMIDI (plug and play).

I’m honestly blown away by how well this layout works! I know very little about music theory and can’t play any instrument; whenever I touched friends’ synthesizers with regular keyboards its usually really uncomfortable and I feel like I just hit all the worst combinations of keys all the time. This somehow feels much more approachable, you can just try around with some shapes and scrap the ones that sound bad :smiley:

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This thing looks so cool and exactly like something I’d love to play!!!

As for the keys in the M8, they are super satisfying in their clickiness. I adore them. They are both easy to press, but are so easy to tell when fully compressed. In a way, for something like this, they’re great because the click keys you know exactly when the action has taken place. I’ve used the M8 already in a way that would be preformatvie and it’s just such a damn blast!

I’m going to be keeping an eye on your project for sure. My main keyboard is an Ergo Dox, so you can tell I really have a thing for split boards.

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Following with great interest. This is a beautiful project!

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Looks gorgeous. Suggestion for a name - Mellifera Midi-44.
(after the honey bee)

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This project is absolutely amazing! I love everything about it
Looking forward to how this evolves, and I hope you choose to keep it open hardware :slight_smile:

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since you will have two hex keypads, one for each hand, you might try the very nice Dualo layout: http://dualo.org/en/dualo-principle/

That’s the plan :slight_smile:

Oh wow, it hadn’t occurred to me at all that there might be split musical layouts! That’s a big blind spot to explore now :slight_smile: This exact layout seems to require a lot more keys per hand than I currently have though, I think? Or would it also work having just a part of an octave on each?

There’s been lots of progress with this project, which has sort of split into two at this point. For one, I’ve machined the second half and assembled it all, although I am still missing some keycaps. I also changed the keycap process to CNC machining them directly out of the same material as thee case (POM), which is a much more streamlined workflow and allowed me to finally get the fit on the keyswitches perfectly right. They also break up the light in a much nicer way, as you can see in this picture:

The firmware still needs some work, I haven’t gotten the inter-board communication to work yet, and i also want to be able to highlight a specific musical scale which is not possible yet.

The second part is that I am collaborating with FK Keycaps to make hexagonal keycaps on a larger scale using injection molding. Since the fixed costs for a new injection molded design are quite high, we decided to launch these keycaps together with a more mainstream 12-key macropad design called 0xC.pad:

render by Ilja Burzev

like the big prototype, the macropad has full RGB backlighting and uses Kailh Choc switches, but the case consists of two machined aluminum plates and the macropad uses a USB-C connector.

There’s currently two manually produced prototype units built, and we are now collecting feedback in order to fine-tune some of the choices we need to make for the group-buy, so if anyone would be interested in getting one of these, it would help us out if you were to fill out that form:

It will also be possible to buy individual keycaps if we get enough interest to get this off the ground. The dimensions and layout information will be available for anyone to design their own boards, and I’ll definitely take a shot at making a musical keyboard with them available at that point as well :slight_smile:

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I finally got all the remaining keys done, here before cleanup:

…and all together:

The software is also 90% done, allowing to pick a scale + root note to highlight and displaying that on the oled screen. There are some bugs to work out, but I’ll try to update this again very soon with the completed firmware and a demonstration video :slight_smile:

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Looks great! I thought I was following this thread but totally missed the macropad announcement a few weeks ago. Anyway, threw my hat in the ring for that… and definitely TRACKING this topic now!

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Cool project! If you are thinking about producing these to sell, may I recommend adding hot swap sockets for the switches? Like THESE. This will make a longer lasting product as bad or failed/broken switches can just be popped out and replaced without soldering.

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What does it feel like to type on? Somewhere between staggered and ortholinear?

Strange, by which i mean lovely. Good job!!

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I’m definitely going to consider that when/if this “big” version becomes a real project. On the macropad I didn’t go for them since there are “only” 12 keys and the solder helps keep it together structurally as well, but for a full keyboard it would make sense.

The biggest problem with this project in general is the lack of velocity sensing. It seems many people didn’t mind that with the grids, but according to the feedback I got showing this project to musicians it would make this a lot more interesting to many people. The problem is that there are no off-the-shelf velocity / 2channel switches on the market as far as I can tell, and designing and producing my own is far away from what I am capable of. There are some experiments like measuring the inductance of the spring in the switch, which increases when it is compressed, but that also sounds really complicated.

I’m not sure if you’ve seen the picture in the OP, in the typing configuration it essentially becomes a column-staggered keyboard like e.g. the Atreus. IMHO standard row-stagger and ortholinear are both rather unsuited to human hands.


I took a couple pictures and some video today to throw together the documentation video for the FabAcademy presentation on monday, here is one that shows off the scale preview: all the lime-green keys are part of the major scale starting on the root note highlighted in turquoise.

While the orange key on the very bottom right is held pressed, the scale can be selected: press any noteto choose it as the root note, and cycle through scale types using the other two orange keys (forward/backward). When the orange key is released, the two other keys are for moving up/down octaves.

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just finished this 1-minute summary video for the FabAcademy:

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i am interested in the Keycaps - also for building a midi-note-keyboard… 128 pieces for the first prototype. midibox based…

In terms of keyboard layout possibilities, an intervalic/relativistic layout such as that on the “samchillian tip tip tip cheeepeeeee” typing/musical keyboard might be of interest to you if you aren’t aware of it already