Cherry MX Ergo Clear

[RBithrey]

https://www.cherrymx.de/en/cherry-mx/mx ... clear.html

Official Ergo Clears....

[Elrick]

https://www.cherrymx.de/en/cherry-mx/mx ... clear.html

Official Ergo Clears....

They need to be thoroughly tested when they become available.

Cherry hasn't stepped up to the Great Feeling switch game for some time, unless you include all those fanatics that lube and modify their switches over the years, looking for that certain type of finger-feel.

I was never one of those, just too complicated and beyond my capabilities, just easier to buy a BOX switch instead.

[stormcrash]

If it really is more tactile than brown but without being too heavy it could be a good compromise or standby switch. Something easy to get or build to give you adequate typing feel for something like an office keyboard, especially given it's tactile but not clicky.

I've never really been interested in MX boards after feeling their different switches in other people' keyboards, but this could make for a nice tactile workhorse if it pans out

[headphone_jack]

New cherry switch?

Anyone who's hyped about these hasn't been paying attention for, oh, about 40 years or so. Cherry has very consistently made mediocre to downright horrendous switches, and these are going to be no different than the MX retools that came before it. I guess it's slightly easier to have boring switches now though. Wake me up when they make a Nixies "reproduction" so I can laugh at that too.

[Findecanor]

Has it even been confirmed that production of MX Clears have got new tooling?
It was never a switch that Cherry seems to have sold that many of.

[Muirium]

So the old tooling was still fine then? Hadn’t been used enough to be knackered yet?

I’m sure the resurgence of keyboards in recent years has paid Cherry well. MX is universally the very first thing you hear about when you enter this world. It’s cute they’ve not done what their Chinese rivals have done: and flooded the whole rainbow with switch versions. Though, now that those rivals have taken the lead and make better more interesting switches, it’s also a sign of deep complacency.

Good thing Trademarks™ don’t expire like patents do, eh? They can likely ride on MX for a good while yet. But buzz is a fickle beast and one day those letters won’t mean much.

[zrrion]

My understanding is that cherry uses separate molds for every switch line even for parts that could be shared between switches. Which is why clears remained the same even though they could presumably have used the stems in housings that were retooled.
So it's possible this uses new tooling all around

[Elrick]

Has it even been confirmed that production of MX Clears have got new tooling?

Maybe spending their allotted budgets, but may never happen again any time soon, due to the current recession and ongoing failures.

It was never a switch that Cherry seems to have sold that many of.

It was mainly for Industry, in factories of the western persuasion. Not occurring anymore. Again, too late to the party, yet again.

Though, now that those rivals have taken the lead and make better more interesting switches, it’s also a sign of deep complacency.

Also don't forget how cheap the chinese switches are, that help further spread their reach into the mechanical keyboard world. Unless the US Regime decides to include a new Keyboard Tax using Chinese made switches, typical Bidenesque sickness.

Good thing Trademarks™ don’t expire like patents do, eh? They can likely ride on MX for a good while yet. But buzz is a fickle beast and one day those letters won’t mean much.

It's the FEEL of the switch, Cherry won't be attracting the old school here because we have learnt from our mistakes but the newly born and inept shall probably flock to Cherry due to some well paid PR.

That is the only way Cherry Corp(se) can reach these days. Do a Razer style of PR to delude the newcomers into accepting poor performance from a once decent company.

[kbdfr]

[Muirium deleted the spam post and banned the spammer even faster than I could react ]

[Muirium]

[And Findecanor flagged the post before I even logged in. ]

[guidemetothelight]

Wake me up when they make a Nixies "reproduction" so I can laugh at that too.

That aged like fine wine btw

lol.JPG (84.87 KiB) Viewed 16634 times

[Muirium]

I'd like to make my request to the whimsical gods that Cherry eventually clones complicated Alps.

[guidemetothelight]

I'd like to make my request to the whimsical gods that Cherry eventually clones complicated Alps.

I mean, could they ? Or does Alps still hold a patent ?
If so, why doesnt Alps themselves start manufacturing SKCM / SKCL again ?
Is our niche too small ? (probably)

[Muirium]

Of all switches, complicated Alps have "the it factor." The what? Well, even Alps has forgotten just what 'it' is!

Honestly, everything I've read about them suggests Alps didn't ultimately understand what they were doing, there was just some ineffable magic to them, which they exploited as best they could, until the simplified redesign when 'it' most definitely was gone. I'd be downright amazed if anyone could bring 'it' back.

Obviously, if Gateron etc. want to try it, they'll do so with MX stems. 'It' may not even be physically possible when you throw that into the mix.

[engr]

Matias or Tai-Hao could probably reproduce that magic - if they wanted to. After experimenting with top-modding different clicky Alps, I strongly suspect that the "pine" slits in the top housing (rather than the complicated switchplate) were the main ingredient that made early Alps feel and sound much less clunky than the later ones. I think the switchplate was less important in that regard; Matias' clicky switches actually feel better than "bamboo" white Alps to me.

[Delta Research]

I'd like to make my request to the whimsical gods that Cherry eventually clones complicated Alps.

I mean, could they ? Or does Alps still hold a patent ?
If so, why doesnt Alps themselves start manufacturing SKCM / SKCL again ?
Is our niche too small ? (probably)

There are several issues that are deterring reproductions of SKCM/SKCL, the biggest is probably the lack of demand compared to the MX switch type. The production cost would be much higher than MX, durability is very poor compared to MX (much more sensitive to dust and wear), and it's a completely different keycap mount which doesn't work in its favor. Alps likely just can't risk the amount of money that it would take restarting production of the SKCM/SKCL line of switches.

[zrrion]

Alps probably could bring it back, but the return on that investment, while likely positive, wouldn't be big enough for them to care. (datacomp still makes SKBM AFAIK, but getting them to make stuff for the enthusiast market instead of for corporate clients is likely a very tall order)

As for an "it" factor, you gotta stop audiophile-style mythologizing of things just because you can't figure out why something is as nice as it is. There's loads of folks working in industry with the skill sets needed to figure out what specific parts of the alps design make it an especially nice feeling/sounding switch, they would just need to be employed at a company that cares about that. And when a company can make a new MX switch in a fun colour and make decent money that way then the cost of porting the good parts of the alps design over to an MX form factor is simply not going to be appealing.

honestly though, if you take zeal's click leaf switch and make the housing with a nicer sounding plastic and put different leaves in there you'll be close enough to replicating the alps goodness that chasing it any further likely would only get you small improvements.

[guidemetothelight]

As for an "it" factor, you gotta stop audiophile-style mythologizing of things just because you can't figure out why something is as nice as it is.

This.
I come from an "audiophile" background and upbringing (my dad is a full blown hifi nut [not the esoterical type, fortunately]) and I see so many parallels between the two hobbies, its insane sometimes

[Muirium]

As for an "it" factor, you gotta stop audiophile-style mythologizing of things just because you can't figure out why something is as nice as it is.

Damn right I don't know what it is. As I said:

Honestly, everything I've read about them suggests Alps didn't ultimately understand what they were doing…

Where's the good video, the good description of how and why it actually works? It didn't exist the last time I ventured down the rabbit hole. All I found was conjecture and mythologising about stolen fire.

[engr]

As for an "it" factor, you gotta stop audiophile-style mythologizing of things

I wouldn't go quite that far but I see your point. Bob Tibbetts used to say there was no difference between white and blue Alps and people were just deluding themselves into thinking there was. Maybe he was right, although I personally think I can hear and feel the difference. Could be a placebo effect of course.

But at some point, the difference does becomes very subtle, and for 99% of people Matias clicky switches are probably good enough, and another 0.9% will be happy with NOS pine white alps, which cost about $1 a piece if you buy them in bulk, so it doesn't make much financial sense to try and recreate complicated Alps.

[Polecat]

I wouldn't go quite that far but I see your point. Bob Tibbetts used to say there was no difference between white and blue Alps and people were just deluding themselves into thinking there was. Maybe he was right, although I personally think I can hear and feel the difference. Could be a placebo effect of course.

I've made such a claim myself about my two Gen1 Northgates dated 3 weeks apart, one with blue Alps and one with white. And I would challenge anyone to tell the two apart without peeking under the caps. But it's meaningless to compare white and blue Alps without specifying exactly which ones. There's a great deal more to it than complicated vs. simplified or pine vs. bamboo. There were multiple changes in springs, housings, sliders, click leaves, switchplates, and lube or lack thereof. Maybe more. Anyone trying to recreate the sound and feel of early Alps switches would need to decide exactly which version to copy, and to do some serious study of what makes that version sound and feel the way it does. I just don't see it happening.

[engr]

I just don't see it happening.

Who knows, I can see Ellipse doing something like this.