Chyron 4044 review (Key Tronic vintage foam and foil / "Butterfly" swi

Chyros · 15 Jul 2017, 18:50

I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH

Hope you guys enjoy the video

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MrDuul · 15 Jul 2017, 20:41

Those keycaps are epic.

Chyros · 15 Jul 2017, 21:24

MrDuul wrote: Those keycaps are epic.

Those old coloured keycaps are simply amazing. Screw most of these new custom keycap sets, but some of the old-inspired ones, like Dasher and Space Cadet, I'd love to get (which appears to be impossible now, though xD ). I think a Chyron-themed one with light and dark brown caps could work, too xD .

seebart · 15 Jul 2017, 21:46

Chyros wrote: I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH

Nice one Tom, these are your favorite keycaps to date then right?

wobbled · 15 Jul 2017, 21:50

The keycaps are so damn shiny, they look like they have a layer of wax over them. Beautiful!

seebart · 15 Jul 2017, 21:52

wobbled wrote: The keycaps are so damn shiny, they look like they have a layer of wax over them. Beautiful!

I'd say they look quite similair to the keycaps my old blue Key Tronic from 1980 but the colors are way nicer on these.

Chyros · 15 Jul 2017, 23:00

seebart wrote:
Chyros wrote: I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH

Nice one Tom, these are your favorite keycaps to date then right?

Of the ones I own? Possibly, it's hard to choose. They're definitely in the top three, I'd say.

snuci · 16 Jul 2017, 01:24

Nice review. I've had to rebuild a few computer keyboards based on Key Tronic foam and foil and coincidental, I was just talking about one of my Sol-20s (and keyboard) with Engicoder. Maybe I should post some pics of that one for the wiki. You really do need good foam to appreciate these keyboards (as I have said in the past).

Spoiler:

E3E · 16 Jul 2017, 10:55

Chyros wrote: I think a Chyron-themed one with light and dark brown caps could work, too xD .

Someone more or less did, haha.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=86143.0

seebart · 16 Jul 2017, 16:01

Chyros wrote: Of the ones I own? Possibly, it's hard to choose. They're definitely in the top three, I'd say.

Yes that's what I meant.

E3E wrote:
Chyros wrote: I think a Chyron-themed one with light and dark brown caps could work, too xD .
Someone more or less did, haha.

I saw that before but these sets are never as nice as the originals.

E3E · 20 Jul 2017, 16:22

seebart wrote:
Chyros wrote: Of the ones I own? Possibly, it's hard to choose. They're definitely in the top three, I'd say.
Yes that's what I meant.

E3E wrote:
Chyros wrote: I think a Chyron-themed one with light and dark brown caps could work, too xD .
Someone more or less did, haha.
I saw that before but these sets are never as nice as the originals.

Yeah, they really aren't. I love old vintage sets like these.

SA honestly looks and feels a little fakeish compared to something like this.

seebart · 20 Jul 2017, 16:56

E3E wrote:
Yeah, they really aren't. I love old vintage sets like these.

SA honestly looks and feels a little fakeish compared to something like this.

Right, and while Key Tronic vintage sphericals are real nice Micro Switch doubleshots are in another league altoghter even nicer than Beamspring keycaps.

E3E · 20 Jul 2017, 17:23

seebart wrote:
E3E wrote:
Yeah, they really aren't. I love old vintage sets like these.

SA honestly looks and feels a little fakeish compared to something like this.
Right, and while Key Tronic vintage sphericals are real nice Micro Switch doubleshots are in another league altoghter even nicer than Beamspring keycaps.

Oooh. Sounds nice. I wasn't too impressed with beamspring key caps (but don't lynch me, I've only tried one

).

snuci · 20 Jul 2017, 17:32

E3E wrote:
seebart wrote: Right, and while Key Tronic vintage sphericals are real nice Micro Switch doubleshots are in another league altoghter even nicer than Beamspring keycaps.
Oooh. Sounds nice. I wasn't too impressed with beamspring key caps (but don't lynch me, I've only tried one ).

Sounds like someone needs to do a little "head-to-head" comparison of both.

Chyros · 20 Jul 2017, 17:34

E3E wrote:
seebart wrote:
E3E wrote:
Yeah, they really aren't. I love old vintage sets like these.

SA honestly looks and feels a little fakeish compared to something like this.
Right, and while Key Tronic vintage sphericals are real nice Micro Switch doubleshots are in another league altoghter even nicer than Beamspring keycaps.
Oooh. Sounds nice. I wasn't too impressed with beamspring key caps (but don't lynch me, I've only tried one ).

Many Micro Switch keyboards were pretty colourful; beam spring keyboards tend to be based mostly on black, grey and white. The thickness of the caps is also different. They're both amazing caps, though.

seebart · 20 Jul 2017, 17:36

Chyros wrote: Many Micro Switch keyboards were pretty colourful; beam spring keyboards tend to be based mostly on black, grey and white. The thickness of the caps is also different. They're both amazing caps, though.

Agreed. I still say the Micro Switch SW series glossy thick sphericals are nicer.

E3E · 20 Jul 2017, 17:38

The spherical era was a good one.

I suppose I was just more accustomed to the caps I use on my Alps builds, the vintage sphericals for SKCL/SKCMs feel great to me. The beamspring caps reminded me of the caps on the Pingmaster (though much better with contour), in that the key tops were very "pin point" and small. The sphericals I'm used to with Alps SKCM/SKCL have wider keytops. Do note that I didn't like the pingmaster profile very much either.

It seems that the Key Tronic caps have wider tops, though I can't say when it comes to the Microswitch caps.

seebart · 20 Jul 2017, 17:48

E3E wrote: The spherical era was a good one. I suppose I was just more accustomed to the caps I use on my Alps builds, the vintage sphericals for SKCL/SKCMs feel great to me. The beamspring caps reminded me of the caps on the Pingmaster (though much better with contour), in that the key tops were very "pin point" and small. The sphericals I'm used to with Alps SKCM/SKCL have wider keytops. Do note that I didn't like the pingmaster profile very much either.

It seems that the Key Tronic caps have wider tops, though I can't say when it comes to the Microswitch caps.

I guess I could a comparison sometime, these are the ones I mean:

: IMG_20160626_145648.jpg (920.42 KiB) Viewed 6969 times

: IMGP1946.JPG (962.29 KiB) Viewed 6969 times

This is the same type of keycap on one of Slom's Micro Switch boards:

: DSC01561.JPG (568.26 KiB) Viewed 6969 times

E3E · 20 Jul 2017, 17:52

Goodness, it's getting hot in here. Those key caps are undeniably beautiful. I don't mean to say that beamspring caps AREN'T nice, they are, but just less suited to my tastes. Just a preference.

These microswitch ones though, are they uniform profile? It seems that way. The tops seem like they might be narrow, but it's hard to tell. They look wonderful though.

MrDuul · 20 Jul 2017, 17:54

Well we need xwhatsit converters for Micro Switch PCB so we can start using these beautiful boards.

Why can't Micro Switch PCBS be converted? Why no love?

seebart · 20 Jul 2017, 17:55

Yes uniform. Exact same keycap in both. Even on the latter Micro Switch SD series the keycaps are still this nice.

MrDuul · 20 Jul 2017, 17:57

seebart wrote: Yes uniform. Exact same keycap in both. Even on the latter Micro Switch SD series the keycaps are still this nice.

How dare you Seebart with your keycaps.

Always about the kneecaps. Unbelieveable.

Why oh why can't we convert these microswitch boards? no one has an answer?

(I just had a espresso shot)

seebart · 20 Jul 2017, 17:58

MrDuul wrote: (I just had a espresso shot)

Right, it shows.

E3E · 20 Jul 2017, 18:01

The era where things weren't afraid to be colorful and the tops were round. Good times for keyboards.

seebart · 20 Jul 2017, 18:32

E3E wrote: The era where things weren't afraid to be colorful and the tops were round. Good times for keyboards.

1970's.