Free Standard Shipping in the US on orders over $99

How to Configure your Drop Keyboard!

Aug 24, 2018316881 VIEWS

Hey everybody! Thank you for purchasing your Drop Mechanical Keyboard. We hope you’re enjoying it so far. If you’ve landed here, you probably want to take full advantage of the keyboard’s features so you’ve come to the right place. We’ll start with the basics, then we’ll move on to complete custom configuration.

THE BASICS

Default Hot Keys - All Drop V2 keyboards, SENSE75, and CSTM80 Hold FN + listed keys to activate LED Keys
Fn + W: LED Brightness Increase Fn + S: LED Brightness Decrease Fn + E: LED Animation Speed Increase Fn + D: LED Animation Speed Decrease Fn + R: LED Hue Increase Fn + F: LED Hue Decrease Fn + T: LED Saturation Increase Fn + G: LED Saturation Decrease Fn + Q: LED Toggle (All, Keys, Edge, Off) Fn + A: LED Next Pattern Fn + Z: LED Mono Color Mode Fn + X: LED Breathing Effect Fn + C: LED Rainbow Mode Fn + V: LED Rainbow Pinwheel Mode Keyboard Option Keys
Fn + N: Toggle keyboard 6KRO/NKRO (Default state 6KRO) Fn + LCtrl + O: Windows / Mac OS Swap (System / Alt location change) Fn + LCtrl + |\: LCtrl / Capslock Swap Fn + LCtrl + Backspace: Reset Keyboard Default Hot Keys - All Drop V1 Keyboards Hold FN + listed keys to activate LED Keys
Fn + A: LED Pattern - Select previous Fn + D: LED Pattern - Select next Fn + Q: LED Pattern - Decrease scrolling speed (for animating patterns) Fn + E: LED Pattern - Increase scrolling speed (for animating patterns) Fn + Caps Lock: LED Pattern - Change scrolling direction (left to right, right to left, bottom to top, top to bottom, radial center to edge, radial edge to center) Fn + W: LED - Increase brightness Fn + S: LED - Decrease brightness Fn + Tab: LED - Toggle breathing effect Fn + X: LED - Toggle all LEDs off/on Fn + Z: LED - Toggle mode (keys + edge, keys only, edge only, all off) Fn + R: LED - Increase brightness of edge LEDs only (up to brightness of keys LEDs) Fn + F: LED - Decrease brightness of edge LEDs only Fn + V: LED - Toggle every other edge LED off Media Keys
Fn + Page Up: Volume Up Fn + Page Down: Volume Down Fn + Print: Mute Fn + Insert: Play/Pause Fn + Home: Stop Fn + Delete: Previous Fn + End: Next Keyboard Option Keys
Fn + N: Toggle keyboard 6KRO/NKRO (Default state 6KRO) Flashing
Fn + B (hold for three seconds then release): Put keyboard into firmware flashing mode (also referred to as “resetting the keyboard”)

CONFIGURING YOUR KEYBOARD 1. Download the Drop Keyboard Configurator application.

If you use Windows, download here.
If you use a Mac, download here.

2. Launch the Drop Keyboard Configurator application. After the application launches, make sure your keyboard is identified and then click Configure Keyboard. If you are using a CTRL V2, ALT V2, or SHIFT V2 keyboard, your keyboard will be recognized right out of the box. If you are using a SENSE75, CTRL V1, ALT V1, or SHIFT V1, first go to the "FLASHING YOUR KEYBOARD" section below."

3. Press unlock and then press ESC on your keyboard to unlock configuration. Please remember to relock your keyboard after you are done making changes. Note: your keyboard will automatically re-lock 5 minutes after the configurator app is closed.

4. You can now make changes to your keyboard on the fly including changing key binds, LED settings and layers.

By default the keyboard will be set to Advanced mode with no safeguards. Remember with layers to always create ways to return to your home layer
Momentary mode is also available for those looking for some customization with guardrails.
Remember Boot Magic is always available to wipe your EEPROM and reset the keyboard back to factory settings.
You can access Boot Magic by holding down the ESC key while your keyboard is disconnected.
While holding down the ESC key, plug in your keyboard.

Once connected you can let go of the ESC key and the keyboard should be reset.

FLASHING YOUR KEYBOARD 1. Launch the Drop Keyboard Configurator application. After the application launches, click “Flash Firmware”.

2. Follow the flashing instructions in the application. It will instruct you to select the desired firmware file followed by resetting your keyboard. 3. If you are using a SENSE75, CTRL V1, ALT V1, or SHIFT V1 keyboards. You must select and flash QMK XAP in order to configure your keyboard with the Drop Keyboard Configurator application.

For CTRL V1, ALT V1, SHIFT V1 users that would like to continue using the older web-based configurator, see instructions here.

Having any issues or generally need some help?

Let us know in the discussion and we’ll give you a hand.

(Edited by moderator YanboWu)

97% upvoted

131

316.8K

Sort by: Newest

Aug 5, 2022

Stickied

Hi all, we’ve made more firmware updates to the Modern version which we think will resolve all of the reported issues of the keyboard not turning on after PC start-up/restart. The Modern firmware version is also now available for SHIFT and Carina. Please recompile using our web configurator ( https://drop.com/mechanical-keyboards/configurator ) and flash your keyboard again. If you manually compile your own firmware, you can get the updated code here: https://github.com/Massdrop/qmk_firmware/tree/feature/riot_xap . As of August 2022, that branch has features and keyboard support that have not yet merged to the main QMK repository, specifically SAMD51 support using RIOT-OS and the QMK XAP API. For flashing your keyboard, we have released a new desktop application to streamline the process. See the new “Flashing Your Keyboard” above.

(Edited)

View 14 More Replies

frooddude

Oct 24, 2023

Well, that was dumb. Had a pending kernel update so whatever magic was supposed to happen didn't. Curious that there were no errors logged, but oh well. It's done and works.

Vote

iy_c

Nov 24, 2023

jxliuHello, and thank you for continuing to work on this. I only found this update just today, and previously I've making my own configuration for the Carina I own through the Massdrop QMK fork (https://github.com/Massdrop/qmk_firmware). I tried flashing the "VIA" firmware from the new Keyboard Configurator application, and while the flash does succeed with a functioning keyboard, it does not get recognized in VIA even after loading the .json design file. I then tried to flash the "XAP" firmware, which also works, and the configuration works. While it is not as UI-friendly as VIA, it does the job, and I look forward to it maturing to its full potential. I do have one feedback/simple feature request -- would it be possible to add a "Enter your own keycode" option for setting a key? I enjoy using QK_GESC (QK_GRAVE_ESCAPE) in my keymapping, but it has not been included in Drop's web-based configurator as well as this new application. It was a big reason why I had been building my own keymaps until now, and it would be really great if it gets added as a feature (VIA has this option). Thank you so much!

(Edited)

YanboWu

8552

Collaborations

Sep 30, 2024

Stickied

For those of you looking for info on how to assemble your CSTM80 keyboard. You can check out the build guide here.

Onederbread

Oct 18, 2024

I have the CSTM 80 and I've downloaded the software for windows but I can't get the software to open

Vote

lolskilled

Oct 9, 2024

My keyboard is locked to red LED and not recognizable in Drop Configurator App. Cannot even reset to stop QMK... Anyone knows what else to do?

(Edited)

YanboWu

8552

Collaborations

Oct 11, 2024

lolskilledYou can try boot-magic and wiping the memory.

Unplug your keyboard
Hold down the ESC key
Re-plug-in the keyboard
Let go of ESC

Let me know if this works for you!

Vote

ruffed

Sep 24, 2024

Drop Keyboard Configurator APP just doesn't start. (win10 x64. two different machines, hardware and OS versions, with/without keyboard connected) [event log] Faulting application name: Drop Keyboard Configurator.exe, version: 24.9.6.0, time stamp: 0x6526cc91 Faulting module name: Drop Keyboard Configurator.exe, version: 24.9.6.0, time stamp: 0x6526cc91 Exception code: 0x80000003 Fault offset: 0x00000000019139c1 Faulting process id: 0x4d1c Faulting application start time: 0x01db0e5c48d7c308 Faulting application path: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Programs\drop-keyboard-configurator\Drop Keyboard Configurator.exe Faulting module path: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Programs\drop-keyboard-configurator\Drop Keyboard Configurator.exe Report Id: dde00e51-7c25-424c-86c7-bec032b2c177 Faulting package full name: Faulting package-relative application ID:

(Edited)

Onederbread

Oct 18, 2024

ruffedHave you been able to solve this? I'm having the same issue

Vote

ruffed

Oct 21, 2024

OnederbreadNope ;) I know many cases when manufacturers stopped supporting\updating their software. But this is the first time I see a manufacturer releasing a completely non-working software and doesn't even care about that.

Vote

The_True_Mop

Sep 17, 2024

So great this is awesome, BUT AND A MAJOR BUT HOW THE HELL DO I CHANGE LED COLORS NOW

kitcat25777

Jul 16, 2024

I can't figure out how to turn off the LED for the DROP SIGNATURE SERIES EMERALD GARDEN KEYBOARD. I pressed fn + Q and it doesn't work. The other shortcuts don't work either.

isr18858

Aug 28, 2024

kitcat25777I'm having this exact same issue.

Vote

YanboWu

8552

Collaborations

Oct 11, 2024

isr18858Hey @kitcat25777 @isr18858 sorry I saw your question pretty late here. Try using the key two to the right of the space bar (says super) + Q and see if that does the trick?

Vote

djspacewhale

Jul 2, 2024

I just got a CSTM65 today and would like to tinker with the configurator to change RGB, keymaps (if anyone has a favorite layout for US-INTL input I'd love to see!), etc, but on downloading it fails to run at all and has been stuck "not responding" for hours now. The keyboard itself works fine and I quite like the feel of the whole thing, but don't know where troubleshooting for the app can be found...?

bruncky

Jun 24, 2024

Hello, everyone! I'm here to provide you with a more recent comment on a current issue (the last comment mentioning it was sometime last year). If you're getting an error similar to `C:\Users\<your_first_name> is not recognized as a command` it's most likely because you have spaces in your username, so the configurator can't handle the path to the executable it's trying to run. @jxliu mentioned somewhere that this was fixed, but I can confirm that, as of 24.06.2024, it wasn't. I'm not hating on anyone, I'm just stating that it wasn't fixed yet. Instead, do it the old way: Head to Drop's repo on GitHub and use the `mdloader` to flash your keyboard. Cheers

Vote

kjh2kj3h

Dec 17, 2024

brunckyWere you able to flat the CTRL v2 with mdloader? Did you have to do anything special to get it to work? Reports on Github suggest that mdloader doesn't work with the CTRL v2. https://github.com/Massdrop/mdloader/issues/85

Vote

bakanafish

May 28, 2024

I recently acquired DROP ALT V1 from the massdrop era. After installing QMK XAP firmware and changing the keymap, the keyboard flashes and then stops working properly.

So I switched to the "original" version, selected that firmware from "Choose file..." and flashed it, and the problem was resolved.

However, even after I turn off my PC, the keyboard LED remains lit.

After repeating Fn+x many times, the light finally goes out. Is there a way to turn off the LED at the same time as turning off the PC?

Vote

Showing 32 of 403

Newest

403 OF 403 POSTS

Oldest

PRODUCTS YOU MAY LIKE

Drop + MiTo GMK Laser Custom Keycap Set

$49

Drop + Matt3o MT3 Susuwatari Custom Keycap Set

$130

Drop + biip MT3 Extended 2048 Custom Keycap Set

$52

Drop Holy Panda X Mechanical Switches

$19

Drop Skylight Series Keycap Set

$35

Drop + Oblotzky SA Oblivion V2 Custom Keycap Set

$20

Drop + RedSuns GMK Red Samurai Keycap Set

$65

Drop GMK White-on-Black Custom Keycap Set

$110

Drop + The Lord of the Rings™ MT3 Elven Keycap Set

$99

Drop + MiTo SA Godspeed Custom Keycap Set

$39