Now, I know what you’re thinking. We’re in for an onslaught of egg puns. 🙄 But we won’t be doing that today, because that’s eggsactly what you’d—no! I said no puns! Who let that slip through?? <the pun team has been kicked out and sent back to the product page to overpopulate it with silly quips and cracks or whatever else it is that they do all day> Anyway. If you’ve been keeping up with our designer interview series, you might already be familiar with Bees.Keys, the designer duo behind DCD Hundred Acres. What you might not know is that at least one of them is absolutely obsessed with eggs. Like, to an unhealthy degree (and not just because of the cholesterol). It’s kind of scary. We chat regularly and it’s hard to get a word in amidst all the egg chatter.  With that in mind, I thought it might help to give them an avenue to just get it all out there. He can put all his egg thoughts on paper, once and for all, and maybe we can finally talk about other things; finer...

First and foremost, I think that it should be said right out of the gate that you are entitled to do whatever you want to do on your own behalf and this article is not a provocation to fight with you about your decisions. However, in my pursuit of wanting to cover as many topics about switches as I possibly can, I realize I have not yet covered ‘switch harvesting’, one of the practices that I’m becoming less favorable towards as the years go on. Rather than trying to cover the history of this in a not so unbiased fashion, I figure I might as well try and convince you all as to why I feel this way about this process. After all, you’ve read my opinions more than once before on this website… In the earliest days of the custom mechanical keyboard hobby, years which start around 2008 and span to 2012, the vast majority of custom keyboards were built using switches had already had previous lives in other keyboards. Given that there were few if any switch manufacturers selling switches...

What DaVinci Resolve looks like usually when editing sound tests. TL;DR This article is geared towards beginning content creators or those interested in content creation. If you're a content creation veteran, this may not be useful for you. These are just my opinions. What may work for me may not work for you! This is NOT for someone who is focused solely on making money from being a keyboard content creator or to maximize views, likes, or subscriptions. There is no foolproof strategy for success. Create, create, create. Take the leap and put out content, even if it isn’t perfect. Networking is key! Take Breaks When Needed. Article Sections (CTRL + F To Jump To These Sections) Intro  Disclaimer What IS a Keyboard Content Creator? The Fear of Failure How 1: Create, Create, Create How 2: Find out what YOU enjoy How 3: Networking “Mistakes” How 1 (Create, Create, Create) “Mistakes” How 2 (Find out what YOU enjoy) “Mistakes” How 3 (Networking) “Mistakes” Not Taking...

Every now and then, one of the questions I’ll get from a reader of my articles circles around trying to figure out why I know seemingly way too much about mechanical keyboards. “Where did you learn all of this information, Goat?” While having been around as an active part of the community for several years now and talking with other people in various places has certainly helped me learn quite a bit, the simple answer that I usually toss to people who ask that question is that I read… a lot. Yes, that’s right, reading. Given that the modern mechanical keyboard scene started around 2007-2008, and with vintage enthusiasts having interests that stretch multiple decades backwards from there, a lot of the core, fundamental knowledge base of this keyboard community was carved into stone in the form of solo written articles, blog posts, and forum arguments. In fact, I’d go as far as to argue that a good majority of the history and foundational knowledge that makes up this hobby is in the...

Wouldn’t the proper phrasing for these be “artisanal” keycaps and not “artisan” keycaps? As I was looking through the ‘Mech Keys Guide List’ here on Drop a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see that there were effectively no articles detailing arguably one of the most unique and interesting niches of the mechanical keyboard community – artisan keycaps. In fact with each passing day I find myself sinking further and further into the depths of artisan keycaps and have gained an appreciation of them that far surpasses any expectations I could have ever had after getting my very first one. Despite artisan keycaps being fairly ubiquitous in this day and age, and with beginner friendly storefronts like Drop selling alongside prebuilt, accessible mechanical keyboard kits, I still find that those freshly diving into the keyboard hobby have a very skewed (mis)understanding of these kinds of keycaps, why they are priced the way they are, and all of the variety that exist out there...

DCL keycaps launched nearly a year ago, shortly after the release of the CSTM80 introduced them to the market. There has always been an interest in high-quality, south-facing shine through keycaps that also look nice (both with and without LEDs). We think that DCL has nailed the brief. Not only is the quality there, but the kitting holds no punches and allows for compatibility with nearly any not-totally-obscure layout. That is, as long as it’s an ANSI layout keyboard.  We’ve heard from many of our non-American friends out there that they’d like to pick up a set of DCL keycaps—if only we offered an international kit compatible with their language or physical layout. Well, the time has come.  DCL International Kits are here.  DCL Shadow and DCL Snow will be available in a range of international layouts, beginning with support for UK, German, French, Katakana, and Hangul layouts. Each of the five full kits will be available on their respective color (Shadow or Snow)...

Top Left: CustomNeko (Bakeneko With Through-Weight) With KKB BoW And Accents, Top Right: Cannonkeys Bakeneko60 With GMK Norse, Bottom Left: Ciel60 With KKB Abyss, Bottom Right: Jixte60 With GMK Analog Dreams “Simplicity is boring, but I still love it.” - Sukant Ratnakar. When I first got into the hobby back in 2017, there was no way that I would’ve thought that I’d enjoy a 60% layout keyboard. Sure, maybe a 75% (I didn’t use the nav cluster for non-work situations, and when I was at work, I needed a numpad) in order to retain the function row, or, at the very least, a 65% where I had dedicated arrows, but a 60%? Absolutely no way! I need dedicated arrows! I need a function row! It’s funny how preferences change, huh? For the next installment in my “Why I Love” series (the first was the “Why I Love Prototype Runs And Helping Keyboard Designers” article I wrote a few weeks back), please allow me a bit of your time to explain to you not only why I love 60% layout keyboards...

Thanks to StoryboardTech’s fantastic article, you finally learned how to solder! Or at least, you’re committed to learning. So, what’s next? Well, if you’re brave enough, why not learn how to desolder as well? And when you feel confident with that, how about Mill-Max? You don’t necessarily have to know or learn how to solder before learning how to desolder or Mill-max, but in my opinion, getting comfortable with soldering is a great step towards learning how to do the other two, and if you know how to solder, you can practice desoldering and mill-maxing to your heart’s content since you’ll already have the tools from learning how to solder! Well, at least most of the tools. Let’s start off with the good ol’ disclaimer section first, however. Disclaimer These are my own opinions and my own thoughts, and if I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that we all do things in slightly different ways. Whether it be deadlifting, desoldering, Mill-Maxing or even baking...

Figure 1: Nope, not a single one of these is necessarily better than the rest... For no particular reason, I’ve been spending more and more time over the past few months in and around various mechanical keyboard help forums and servers. Despite having never really relied on their services back in my day when I first joined the hobby, I can kind of understand the appeal of them to new and curious enthusiasts as they generally seem like go-to places to connect with people who know a thing or two about keyboards. What I cannot wrap my mind around, however, is the sheer number of times that the exact same comments, questions, or concerns that get raised by the newer hobbyists get repeated. Even with FAQ or pinned set of questions, people seemingly only seem to think about and/or be concerned about the exact same set of things when it comes to their first keyboards. One of these types of questions that I find particularly concerning are those that are directly or indirectly...

A gimmicky hype word, or purposeful implementation, gasket mounting has definitely changed the keyboard landscape. When looking for a new mechanical keyboard, one of the hot terms that come to mind is “gasket mounted”. It’s heavily advertised in the keyboard hobby, but what does it exactly mean? Why is it a buzz term, what are it’s benefits, and does it have any drawbacks? Today we do a deep dive in the world of gasket mount keyboards and what the buzz is all about.  Many have seen the keyboard mounting style infographic arranged by Thomas Baart. It’s a great resource, but isn’t quite reflective of the current market. If I had better technical drawing skills, I might attempt a new one.  As you can see in the image for the gasket mount, there are red gaskets identified. What isn’t accurate is that the screws for the case travel through the plate or that the plate is sandwiched between the top and bottom case. This would nullify any benefits that gasket mount provides. ...

When the BMR1 Nearfield Monitors launched last year, one of the most consistent praises that it received was the quality of sound. BMR1 packed a punch well above their weight, and looked good doing so. BMR1 is still one of the best options for filling a room with such a small footprint of speakers.  Immediately after launching BMR1 we went straight to work to make it even better. The team has been working behind the scenes to address all of the quality of life improvements that customers have been asking for, and we are ready to unveil the fruits of their labor.  Introducing BMR1 V2—same sound, new user experience.  BMR1 V2 retains the sound signature and aesthetics that users loved from the original revision. There are a handful of noteworthy improvements with V2 as compared to the original release.  Notable Refinements of BMR1 V2:  ▪️ Operating Temperature reduced - There were reports of BMR1 running hot while operating; adjustments have been made to reduce the...

It's that time of year again. We're cozying up for winter (at least here in the northern hemisphere); American Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And that means deals galore. We are kicking off our festivities a little early this year—Black Friday deals will run from November 21st through the 2nd of December. There's bound to be something here for everyone, so be sure to check them out! Black Friday Bash Details: ▪️ Bonus Rewards - Spend $250, get $20 in bonus rewards; spend $500, get $50; spend $750, get $100** (total spend throughout the event, does not need to be a single purchase) ▪️ Giveaway - We will be hosting a giveaway this year—sign up on the main Bash landing page. ▪️ Main Bash landing page Black Friday Coupon Breakdown: In addition to reduced prices, we've also cooked up some coupons for added savings this year! Nov 21st - 22nd ▪️ DCX20 - Save an extra $20 on any DCX Base Kit ▪️ DESKBTGO - Buy two desk mats, get a third one free Nov 23rd - 24th ▪️...

Launched earlier this year in a limited-edition run, the OAE1 Signature is our first pair of over-ear headphones made by the legendary Axel Grell.   Now, we’re bringing the OAE to a broader audience—with a few small but important changes. The most noticeable change is the subdued black finish. Complementing that finish, there are now large Left and Right indicators on the dust covers inside the earcups to help with orientation and placement. Beyond the aesthetics, the clamping force of the headband has been reduced from 3.5 N to 3 N (Newton Meters) for a slightly more relaxed fit. Finally, the OAE1 will include a single sided 6.3 mm TRS cable with an indicator stripe to help reduce cable insertion errors. Most important, however, is what’s staying the same: the sound. The tuning is identical with the original OAE1 signature.  The Drop + Grell OAE1 Headphones launch on November 13th, 2024. The initial quantity will be limited as we work to ramp up production. Hit "Request" to be...

Figure 1: Oh yeah, I meant it when I said obscure... There’s no doubt that mechanical keyboard switches have gotten increasingly better in their stock forms over the past half decade of releases. Despite switches now having tighter manufacturing tolerances, smoother factory lubing, and overall higher quality per dollar spent, aftermarket modifications of switches is still one of the most discussed topics by people freshly joining the hobby today. This hyper fixation on switch modding is due in no small part to the glut of keyboard content creators that produced videos, shorts, and all manner of content during the peak of COVID talking about the art and science behind lubing and filming for switches. For a while there, it almost seemed as if you had to have some content about lubing, filming, and/or ‘frankenswitching’ switches if you wanted to cut it as being a true keyboard content creator in the space. However, as people like this have flooded the internet with...

That would be a cool shop to go to in a mall. In some of my past posts and reviews I’ve written there have been requests to walk through my own process for building a keyboard for myself. I’m fortunate in that I get to build many keyboards. I haven’t logged every single keyboard that I’ve built, that would have been great, but hindsight is 20/20. The vast majority of the builds that I do are for other hobbyists. I built a small name for myself doing commissions and build services specializing in leveraging my extensive knowledge of the hobby to help acquire unique boards, make recommendations in build materials, and providing a truly personalized board for those who might not have known much about mechanical keyboards before reaching out to me. I started doing this service back in 2018, and now, being a dad, husband and full time IT specialist, I tend to only accept a couple commissions at a time. I’ve got my own backlog of boards, my collection seems to continually grow, and I...

We’re beyond excited to announce our first collaboration with the boutique IEM brand Campfire Audio. It’s a partnership several years in the making—and now, the Drop + Campfire Audio IEMs are just weeks away from launch. This collaboration has been several years in the making. Drop/Massdrop has worked with a number of IEM companies over the years bringing a variety of IEM collaborations to our Audiophile community. Campfire Audio has been in the IEM game for many years now, often setting high marks for their flashy designs and great sounding line of IEMs. Although both teams had been interested in working together for a long time it was only recently that the stars aligned to where we were able to make something happen. The idea for our first product came from Campfire Audio founder Ken Ball, who proposed taking the brand’s limited-run Black Star IEM and revamping it with their never-before-seen bio-film membrane bass driver into a newly tuned, competitively priced IEM...

Figure 1: Zeal's own photo of the first production bags of Zealios switches... I’m guessing that a good number of you reading this article right now clicked on with some sincere degree of confusion from the title. There can’t possibly be any way that ThereminGoat – the guy who has personally tried over 3,000 different switches – is claiming that there won’t ever be another switch like the Zealios, of all things. (I’m sure a few of you are further listing off at least a dozen other medium-heavy tactiles that you can think of that are close enough to Zealios on top of this, too.) While you would be right in calling me out for saying something of the sort about Zealios, the switches, what I’m talking about here is something bigger and more impactful – Project Zealio, a.k.a. the initial groupbuy announcement and ‘Round 1’ release of Zealios switches. I’m here to argue that not only did Project Zealio fundamentally changed the way that the mechanical keyboard community thought...

Making your keyboard work for you! When shopping for a new keyboard you may have heard that you want to have a keyboard that is compatible with QMK, VIA, or VIAL. These are three different programs that allow you to modify the assigned keys on a keyboard. This is one of the major advantages of using a custom mechanical keyboard and one that I feel is criminally underused. Making small adjustments to your layers can allow you to tune your keyboard to your exact specifications. For example, I always swap the position of left control and caps lock. I’ve always felt that caps lock was a waste of such a valuable space. For those of you that read some of my earlier articles, you’ll know that my first mechanical keyboard was a Happy Hacking Keyboard. As you’ll see later on, my personal layouts are heavily inspired by this keyboard, even going so far as to mapping my backspace to the pipe key on nearly every single physical layout, yes including tenkeyless. Today, I hope you can take away...

We're here today to share an interview with our latest collaboration designer, Captain Sterling. You've probably seen him around the community before, having designed a few sets over the years as well as being one of the more prominent social media creators in the space (and, frankly, taking some of the most stunning keyboard photos you'll come across). With that in mind, we are beyond excited to be able to feature an interview with Captain Sterling—thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions and share so much about your own life with us all! We’d love to hear a little bit about yourself and your history - relevant to mech keys or not. Where are you from, what is your “day job”, what are your other hobbies and interests aside from keyboards? I was born and raised in Texas. I’m married and have a lovely, supporting family. I am a full time Product and Wedding Photographer who pursues Content Creation on the side. I also love to play video games, most...

I don’t think this is an article. I’m pretty sure it’s the beginning of a book. The "technology" section of every thrift store is a potential treasure trove. Swap meets, estate sales... they're the same. I honestly enjoy sifting through stacks of typewriters, radios, turntables and dusty old keyboards... hunting for treasure. That's what has led me to ask my friends in the hobby a pair of simple but nuanced questions… what’s your dream thrift store find and what’s your holy grail? It turns out, that for many, that’s the same question. For a lot of people in this hobby, finding the perfect board for you happens at some point, and rather than staring at your collection of boards on the wall, or continuing to buy keyboards until your room looks like Wall-E’s trailer… Instead, mature keyboard hobbyists tend to do a number of things: Sell/trade artisan keycaps Purchase keycap sets Sell or trade rare/nice (and sometimes new) keyboards to keep things fresh Most of us haven’t...