Hello, my name is Naveen Szymkowiak, and for the second semester of RCL, I will be continuing my passion blog series about custom keyboards.  Some technical language regarding the hobby will definitely be used, so checking out the first post or two from semester one here would probably be helpful.  Of course, this is not necessary, and I’ll try to provide brief explanations of certain terms/topics as often as possible.  With that out of the way, lets introduce our topic for the day, a keyboard known as the Odin.

The Odin is currently being produced in a group buy on popular keyboard website KBDFans, and I was fortunate enough to order one during the short buy phase.  To date, this is my most expensive build as I finally feel comfortable and confident in my abilities.  The Odin is a compact, full-size keyboard inspired by Norse mythology, featuring a decorative acrylic badge that programmable LED’s are able to shine through.  The barebones kit for the Odin is priced at $319 USD and you can order a brass weight, as well as a brass version of the badge for an extra fee.  The board is a full CNC aluminum construction, except for the plate, which is offered in brass and polycarbonate; this was a little odd to me, as aluminum tends to be the standard material for the plate, but polycarbonate is fairly common as well.  The board makes use of a gasket mounted design, and the kit includes case foam – both of which help to enhance the acoustics of the board, and provide a deeper, more muted tone.  We’ll actually get back to that in just a second.  Below I have included a picture of the blue version of the keyboard, which I was lucky enough to purchase, as well as an image of the optional brass badge.  The kit comes in a variety of colors besides blue as well, including black, white, purple and red, so it would be fairly easy to match this board to any desktop setup.

As I mentioned previously, I had purchased the barebones version of the keyboard so that I could build it myself.  Therefore, the kit will not include any switches, keycaps, or cable – and while it does include stabilizers, it is almost always better to buy third party products rather than use stock stabs.  I have two goals for the build, one of which is to create the best sounding keyboard I possibly can, and the other of which is to use the board as my permanent keyboard for my home desk setup.  At home, I have a much bigger desk than at school; having no concerns about efficiently using my desk space is why I opted for a full size board – I figured it’d be more useful to have all the keys available rather than having to access them through different programmable layers.  Still, though, the compact form allows for some space to be saved.  In terms of the second goal, there are a whole host of different ways to enhance the acoustics of a keyboard, which have already been covered in previous posts.  As I already mentioned, the gasket mounted design as well as the case foam will help significantly with reducing any additional noise or reverberation through the aluminum case.  I also opted to purchase Durock V2 stabilizers, which are regarded as the most dependable, and best-sounding stabilizers on the market, which is important, considering that stabilizer rattle is a great way to completely kill the sound of a keyboard.  (Not that stabilizer rattle can’t be fixed, its just much harder and more common with cheaper stabilizers.  If this is either confusing, or you’d like to read more about stabilizers, visit this post from semester 1.  Information about keyboard components in general can be found in my first two posts, which serve as an introduction to the series.)

With these issues out of mind, we can actually begin thinking about tailoring the specific sound of the keyboard, rather than just eliminating unwanted noise.  This factor usually comes down to three things: the type of switch that you install into a keyboard; the brand of keycaps that you decide to use; as well as the material of your plate.  The plate material is pretty straightforward, brass is the most high pitched and is very rigid, polycarbonate is deeper and is very flexible, and aluminum rests somewhere in the middle of the two.  Certain combinations of these components can produce very different results; some boards will sound high pitched, almost having a ‘ping’ at the bottom of each keystroke, while others will be very rounded and deeper-pitched.  That’s what we’re after for this board.  This phenomenon actually has a name within the keyboard space, and it’s referred to as “thock”.  The thockier the keyboard, the better, barring a few people with frankly weird preferences.  Luckily enough for me, others on the internet have already done loads of research on which brands/components produce the best results, and for this build I have settled on Gazzew Boba U4T switches, which are tactile, as well as the Idobao Blue Cat PBT Keycaps, (PBT of course referring to the type of plastic used in the construction of these caps).  These two specific items are revered for producing among the best sounding keyboards possible.  So that’s pretty much it.  I have yet to receive my package as its currently sitting in a processing center in Tennessee, but after about four months of waiting, I’m definitely pretty excited for it to arrive.  I’ll also attach an image of the Blue Cat Keycaps, since the also serve a decorative purpose for the board, as well as a video of what a “thocky” keyboard sounds like if you’d be interested to check it out. https://youtu.be/klgVhRJqBKQ