NovaTouch TKL Community Tour

[Bramster]

End of the line doesn't sound bad as long as it's only the europe list :3

I see ur located in Spain is that correct? Let me check what I can do with the forum admins and last person on the list ..

[Scottex]

End of the line doesn't sound bad as long as it's only the europe list :3

I see ur located in Spain is that correct? Let me check what I can do with the forum admins and last person on the list ..

Yep, ok thanks

[Hypersphere]

Today I finally got a response to my Novatouch rebate application for a purchase made through Newegg in the US. It was denied because I had done something incorrect about submitting the various bits of documentation. I do wish that CM would just drop the price and not do complicated rebate schemes.

[andrewjoy]

I think thats the point .

[Muirium]

It is indeed. Never trust a rebate.

[andrewjoy]

It always is, they calculate the rebate by the average number of people that will bother with it and price it accordingly ( this is not CM directly this is just how rebates work) .

But if it was possible to buy a cheaper bearbones novatouch directly from CM or amazon UK that would go a long way for another wingnut i think .

[hellmean]

is not too late to jump onto this bandwagon in Europe? I see that current last person is in Germany. I myself is in the Netherlands, it should be cheap and fast with dhl between these two countries. Thanks in advance!

[chzel]

The Novatouch arrived today! First impressions are VERY good, the build quality is very nice and the caps are very very crap!
Going from memory right now, but I'm pretty sure I like it's uniform weighting more than the variable on the Realforce tour board. I'll get them both out and compare tomorrow!
And tomorrow will also be SA-Retro-on-the-NT day! And then some Cherry DS love...

[Bramster]

Good to hear chzel! Look forward to reading the full impressions

[Spikebolt]

Good to know it already arrived, my post office is going nuts lately.

[grav3serker]

I'd LOVE to try and get in on this! Incline Village, NV, USA checking in! I've been wanting to try out a Topre board for some time now! Currently using Matias Quiet Clicks on my V60, but I definitely would love to get on that Topre train! Cheers!

[Hypersphere]

I'd LOVE to try and get in on this! Incline Village, NV, USA checking in! I've been wanting to try out a Topre board for some time now! Currently using Matias Quiet Clicks on my V60, but I definitely would love to get on that Topre train! Cheers!

My understanding is that the NT tour is only for for the UK and Europe, but CM Bram could enlighten us on this.

Glad to see another fan of the V60MTS-C. I put some dye-sub PBT alpha caps on mine (harvested from an IBM 5140) along with black blank mods from Matias. I use ATNsoft Key Manager remapping software to remap the board to the HHKB layout. With these revisions, the V60MTS-C is one of my favorite keyboards. However, after trying some vintage white Alps and Monterey blues, the Matias switchs feel and sound rather rough. One of my future projects is to harvest some good Alps switches to install in a custom board (preferably a 60%).

There are some good deals on the NT from time to time, although I would not trust the ones that use a rebate scheme. I just picked up another NT (a barebones) from Massdrop. If I can find some time over the long weekend, I hope to install my Silencing Rings in it along with some PBT OEM profile keycaps. The NT is a different Topre experience from others, such as the HHKB Pro 2 or RF87U, but with the Silencing Rings and good keycaps, the NT holds its own.

[grav3serker]

I'd LOVE to try and get in on this! Incline Village, NV, USA checking in! I've been wanting to try out a Topre board for some time now! Currently using Matias Quiet Clicks on my V60, but I definitely would love to get on that Topre train! Cheers!

My understanding is that the NT tour is only for for the UK and Europe, but CM Bram could enlighten us on this.

Glad to see another fan of the V60MTS-C. I put some dye-sub PBT alpha caps on mine (harvested from an IBM 5140) along with black blank mods from Matias. I use ATNsoft Key Manager remapping software to remap the board to the HHKB layout. With these revisions, the V60MTS-C is one of my favorite keyboards. However, after trying some vintage white Alps and Monterey blues, the Matias switchs feel and sound rather rough. One of my future projects is to harvest some good Alps switches to install in a custom board (preferably a 60%).

There are some good deals on the NT from time to time, although I would not trust the ones that use a rebate scheme. I just picked up another NT (a barebones) from Massdrop. If I can find some time over the long weekend, I hope to install my Silencing Rings in it along with some PBT OEM profile keycaps. The NT is a different Topre experience from others, such as the HHKB Pro 2 or RF87U, but with the Silencing Rings and good keycaps, the NT holds its own.

Yeah I think they're taking sign-ups for NA according to the first page, and it looks about half full now, so I'm hoping it happens!

Yeah I love it! I also put some dye-subbed PBTs harvested from an Apple Standard. The board has Alps SKCM Orange switches, which I want to put into either a custom 60% or another V60. So hopefully one of those two options happen for me!

Yeah I've heard the NT is a different breed, but it'd still be awesome to try out!

[Bramster]

My understanding is that the NT tour is only for for the UK and Europe, but CM Bram could enlighten us on this.

Exactly.. We tried to set up also the USA tour but we didnt have enough signups to kick that one off too.. So for now (sorry) the tour is limited to Europe...





@ALL please if the last person on the list can contact me via PM I will provide the address where to ship the NovaTouch TKL back too. And then will go in contact with the admins and pick the lucky winner of a brand new NovaTouch TKL for the one with the nicest review!

[Hypersphere]

@CM Bram: Today I started using my 3rd Novatouch, and it seems noticeably quieter, smoother, and more even than the first two. I also noticed that the first two were Model Number SGK-5000-GKCT1-US, whereas this latest one has Model Number SGK-5000-GKCT2-US. Do you know the significance of the model numbers? Have improvements been incorporated into boards with the later model number? It also happens that my latest NT is a Barebones version that I bought through Massdrop. Does CM assign a different model number to the Barebones keyboards? Thanks.

[Bramster]

@CM Bram: Today I started using my 3rd Novatouch, and it seems noticeably quieter, smoother, and more even than the first two. I also noticed that the first two were Model Number SGK-5000-GKCT1-US, whereas this latest one has Model Number SGK-5000-GKCT2-US. Do you know the significance of the model numbers? Have improvements been incorporated into boards with the later model number? It also happens that my latest NT is a Barebones version that I bought through Massdrop. Does CM assign a different model number to the Barebones keyboards? Thanks.

Hi Hypersphere,

Correct. This is our internal productnumber indeed. This is to differentiate the barebones (without keycap and brownbox packaging) from our normal version (with keycaps and the black full retail box). The product itself isnt any different, so I am actually quite surprised you note some change?

[Hypersphere]

@CM Bram: Thank you for your response and clearing up the mystery of the changing model number. There was definitely one objective revision that occurred after my first NT. The first one had the micro-USB connector upside down relative to the later two. In addition, this latest one just seems "tighter" with no noticeable differences in the fit of the stems within the switch housings across the board or the fit of the keycaps to the stems.

BTW, I hope that CM might come out with a 60% board with Topre switches and mx stems.

[cookie]

BTW, I hope that CM might come out with a 60% board with Topre switches and mx stems.

Dear god...

[cookie]

I recieved the keyboard and will test it during the christmas time!
Unfortunately I wasn't allow to use it in the office because my boss is afraight it could be rigged with a keylogger and/or other malicious stuff

[andrewjoy]

Tell your boss from me that he is a fucking idiot !

Its people like him that can cause a disturbance in the force

[cookie]

He thinks that I got it from a random guy in the internet, I told him it was actually send from the manufacturer but well... Man it is way too debilitating to argue with him, in the end he won't allow me to use my HHKB at work :/
That would actually throw me off totally.

That Kishaver mass destructian was an absolute disaster

[Hypersphere]

Although my newly silenced Novatouch is asymptotically approaching perfection, it is now so quiet that I have noticed a distinct "ping" in the Enter key. It's actually more of a "twang" than a "ping". I've tried all the keys, and the sound is present only in the Enter key and to some extent in the Left Shift, which I almost never use. The sound occurs on the return stroke rather than the down stroke. Has anyone else noticed something like this?

[E3E]

Although my newly silenced Novatouch is asymptotically approaching perfection, it is now so quiet that I have noticed a distinct "ping" in the Enter key. It's actually more of a "twang" than a "ping". I've tried all the keys, and the sound is present only in the Enter key and to some extent in the Left Shift, which I almost never use. The sound occurs on the return stroke rather than the down stroke. Has anyone else noticed something like this?

Let me first say that I have no experience with Topre, but could it possibly be a capacitive spring or a stabilizer? It has to be something metallic, I'd imagine.

[Hypersphere]

The ping is there only on a couple of stabilized keys. Therefore, I am inclined to think that it originates in the stabilizer rather than the conical capacitance-sensing spring that is present in all of the switches.

BTY, I just received the SA Carbon set and tried them out on the NT with the ping. The high-profile Return key amplifies the ping, so I put the new keycap set on another NT that does not have a ping in the Return/Enter key. I am typing on this now for the first time, and I must say that I really like it, despite the fact that it is ABS rather than PBT. This set is so exquisite, I think I will do a separate post with pics.

[cookie]

Topre keys tend to have a light buzz which comes from the springs inside the domes, you cann feel it when you slightly tip on the cap and let your finger rest.

I had a couple of keybords which had a noticable ping and all of them had a metal backplate!
I guess that a backplate often causes this ping noise.


Ohh hyper, I have totally forgotten about the dampering rings :O I am such a unreliable morron, sorry mate I will send them to you asap!
I will include you some landing pads which can be glued on to the long stabs, maybe this will help with the ping!

[Hypersphere]

Hmm, I get a light buzz when I type on my Topre. I didn't realize it originated in those conical springs!

[cookie]

Don't worry, as long as they don't rattle it is all fine! You should notice less rattle due to your dapering rings (which I still haven't tried yet, shame on me). I've thought of ways to reduce this by gluing the springs to the pcb, but I don't have the time to try this out yet.

The novatouch is quite nice so far but in it's stock version it rattels to much for my taste... Compared to my smooth and silent HHKB, the Nova feels unfinished. The Ctrl position throws me off the most, backspace is hard too but I actually like the board! I was a total fan of the Quickfire Rapid back in the days when the only cherry tkl was the one made by filco and CM totally killed it (price wise). I am glad that CM make such good and affordable hardware. Full review will come asap.

[Hypersphere]

@Cookie: You owe it to yourself to try the Silencing Rings on your Novatouch. It really does make a world of difference. In addition, you could use keyboard remapping software to emulate the HHKB layout on the NT or just about any other keyboard. For the Mac, I use Karabiner. For Windows, I use ATNsoft Key Manager. These programs work beautifully.

[cookie]

I don't think that bram would like it if I open up the Novatouch and install the dampering rings

If I get my hands on a Novatouch or someone wan'ts me to modify his, I will install both rings to compare (I am looking forward to install your and mine into my HHKB pro1).

I do not own a novatouch but that can change quicky, I unfortunately have problems to go back to a TKL layout, I am too used to an HHKB and I don't see this change any soon. I'd love to have a HHKB with a solid steel backplate though, but I don't think that will ever happen in the future.

I am the kind of guy who don't like the use of 3rd partie programms to enable certain mappings (love to have it all hardware based), but for the sake of capslock (which has a ridiculously prominent position despite its function) I will install the software you've recommendet.

Not having ctrl on the capslock key, disturbs my typing very frequently

Thank you for the recommendations!

Hey CM Bram, don't you concider some state switches like realforces/HHKBs/Pokers has? *blink blink*

[Bramster]

Hi Cookie, well.......... I am not sure in what state to expect it back ! So since you are the last feel free to play arround and install the dampering rings as long as I still receive it back in a working state !