Alps Blues aren’t made anymore? That’s a bummer. I thought I saw they made Clears and that those were close to Blues.
My RSI is unrelated to the keys. I’ve used dozens of keyboards over the past decades, including several ergonomic keyboards with really squishy keys. What helped most was a combination of switching to Dvorak - a decade before Colemak was even a gleam in Shai’s eye; switching to a split keyboard, the Microsoft ergonomic split was the first one, and I used versions of it for years before Microsoft utterly ruined the perfectly good design they’d acquired; and most recently switching to column stagger, which took care of the last persistent pinky pain. I’ve used Kinesis Freestyles at work and home - exceedingly squishy, utterly no tactile, and super inaccurate for my typing style. I had an ErgoDox for years, which I thought was also low on the tactile even if it was noisy. I only recently got a truly mechanical keyboard - custom built by Beekeeb because I’m a hazard with a soldering iron, and I chose the most tactile Chocs available, and they’re not even a tactile as the ErgoDox.
Thinking back, I can say I guarantee my RSI isn’t related to tactile switches because I don’t think I’ve ever owned anything I’d consider tactile, since the Model M. Clicky, yes; tactile? Barely.
My issue is that I can’t justify buying a bunch of different keyboards with different switches to try to find the right switch; and I honestly am really bad at soldering. Like, disastrously, expensively bad. Maybe I could buy a variety bag of switches and find one based on a 1-finger test, but I know from experience that that’s no substitute for time on a full keyboard, and can indeed be very misleading.
The MX plug & play route might work, if I can find a keyboard with the right layout. My hands are large, and I can span a full octave on the piano, and I’ve found a split with aggressive column stagger is the most natural resting position for my hands. I’m hobbled by how specific the particulars are.
The Piantor Pro I currently have is the right layout. If I can find something like it with MX, I could try some other switches.
I didn’t think Alps made any switches directly anymore but I might be wrong. Its a risk with any retooled or continuation line such as with the Matias that they aren’t as good. Even with a long running line like actual Cherry switches they quality went off as the molds got older, hence the (unwarranted) obsession from some quarters for vintage blacks.
Clickly switches are almost always tactile, especially the buckling spring. The feel that you describe as desirable is a (very nice) tactile bump, it just happens to be wrapped up in the click event as with most clicky switches. You have to get a good linear to completely avoid that bump, or dial it out with something softer. Buckling is known for being aggressive/strong, its what makes them feel like they do. MX you can turn up the tactile simply by changing the spring for a stiffer spring most of the time.
I hear you with Alps, they are painful to get hold of good ones. MX at least you can turn almost any board into hotswap by soldering mill-max hotswap sockets into the pins (as long as it is not too low profile), I have done it a few times and its pretty easy, easier than SMD by far. I know you wouldn’t want to solder yourself, but it would be cheap enough to find someone to do it for to online.
That Piantor Pro looks similar to the Corne, not sure if thats close enough to do what you need for testing. They are pretty cheap with a 3D printed base plate and can come ready soldered with kalih hotswap sockets already on them for you.
It is; the stagger is a more aggressive, especially on the weak side of the hand, and of course it has that additional column, but you can see the inspiration.
A Corne would work for testing switches, for sure. IIRC I could have ordered the Piantor with swappable, but I was seduced - seduced, I say! - by those beautiful Chocs. It’s my first non-mass-produced keyboard, and I didn’t know any better. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Alps Blues aren’t made anymore? That’s a bummer. I thought I saw they made Clears and that those were close to Blues.
My RSI is unrelated to the keys. I’ve used dozens of keyboards over the past decades, including several ergonomic keyboards with really squishy keys. What helped most was a combination of switching to Dvorak - a decade before Colemak was even a gleam in Shai’s eye; switching to a split keyboard, the Microsoft ergonomic split was the first one, and I used versions of it for years before Microsoft utterly ruined the perfectly good design they’d acquired; and most recently switching to column stagger, which took care of the last persistent pinky pain. I’ve used Kinesis Freestyles at work and home - exceedingly squishy, utterly no tactile, and super inaccurate for my typing style. I had an ErgoDox for years, which I thought was also low on the tactile even if it was noisy. I only recently got a truly mechanical keyboard - custom built by Beekeeb because I’m a hazard with a soldering iron, and I chose the most tactile Chocs available, and they’re not even a tactile as the ErgoDox.
Thinking back, I can say I guarantee my RSI isn’t related to tactile switches because I don’t think I’ve ever owned anything I’d consider tactile, since the Model M. Clicky, yes; tactile? Barely.
My issue is that I can’t justify buying a bunch of different keyboards with different switches to try to find the right switch; and I honestly am really bad at soldering. Like, disastrously, expensively bad. Maybe I could buy a variety bag of switches and find one based on a 1-finger test, but I know from experience that that’s no substitute for time on a full keyboard, and can indeed be very misleading.
The MX plug & play route might work, if I can find a keyboard with the right layout. My hands are large, and I can span a full octave on the piano, and I’ve found a split with aggressive column stagger is the most natural resting position for my hands. I’m hobbled by how specific the particulars are.
The Piantor Pro I currently have is the right layout. If I can find something like it with MX, I could try some other switches.
I didn’t think Alps made any switches directly anymore but I might be wrong. Its a risk with any retooled or continuation line such as with the Matias that they aren’t as good. Even with a long running line like actual Cherry switches they quality went off as the molds got older, hence the (unwarranted) obsession from some quarters for vintage blacks.
Clickly switches are almost always tactile, especially the buckling spring. The feel that you describe as desirable is a (very nice) tactile bump, it just happens to be wrapped up in the click event as with most clicky switches. You have to get a good linear to completely avoid that bump, or dial it out with something softer. Buckling is known for being aggressive/strong, its what makes them feel like they do. MX you can turn up the tactile simply by changing the spring for a stiffer spring most of the time.
I hear you with Alps, they are painful to get hold of good ones. MX at least you can turn almost any board into hotswap by soldering mill-max hotswap sockets into the pins (as long as it is not too low profile), I have done it a few times and its pretty easy, easier than SMD by far. I know you wouldn’t want to solder yourself, but it would be cheap enough to find someone to do it for to online.
That Piantor Pro looks similar to the Corne, not sure if thats close enough to do what you need for testing. They are pretty cheap with a 3D printed base plate and can come ready soldered with kalih hotswap sockets already on them for you.
It is; the stagger is a more aggressive, especially on the weak side of the hand, and of course it has that additional column, but you can see the inspiration.
A Corne would work for testing switches, for sure. IIRC I could have ordered the Piantor with swappable, but I was seduced - seduced, I say! - by those beautiful Chocs. It’s my first non-mass-produced keyboard, and I didn’t know any better. ¯\(ツ)/¯