Looking For A Mechanical Keyboard With Flat Keys.

[dj_ripcord]

Hi folks.

 

Background Story:    I do a little bit of theatrical lighting design on the side, and I use a software made by ETC called NOMAD. Nomad is a software package they deploy on their large scale consoles, but they make it available for MAC and PC use - which is dope! So I have Nomad, but I don't have a console with all the fancy knobs and buttons. Conveniently, all those knobs and buttons are mapped to a standard QWERTY keyboard. ie. "Q" is the "CUE" button, and "R" is the "Record" button etc.

 

So I want to find a mechanical keyboard (because I love the feeling) that preferably has keycaps that are flat and not convex like traditional caps. My reasoning is that I can get vinyl decals made for the keyboard that fit best on flat surfaces. So that way I can have a full-fledged keyboard with all the traditional commands RIGHT on the keys!

 

Anyone familiar with this kind of keyboard that is less than $50?

[Damascus]

This was me:

Yup

Yup 

Totally doable

Sounds great

2 minutes ago, dj_ripcord said:

Anyone familiar with this kind of keyboard that is less than $50?

NOPE you can get a basic cheap mech for 50 bucks or if you already have a mech keyboard get a flat key cap set.

[dj_ripcord]

Just now, Damascus said:

get a flat key cap set.

Where can I find flat keycaps?

[dantayy]

Just now, dj_ripcord said:

Where can I find flat keycaps?

WASD Keyboards has some I think

[Damascus]

3 minutes ago, dj_ripcord said:

Where can I find flat keycaps?

2 bucks a pop, $50 will get you 25 - pretty much the entire alphabet.

 

https://pimpmykeyboard.com/flat-keys/

[dj_ripcord]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

2 bucks a pop, $50 will get you 25 - pretty much the entire alphabet.

 

https://pimpmykeyboard.com/flat-keys/

Damnit i'm a dumbass. I LITERALLY used pimp my keyboard to find a .psd template for my vinyl decals. Thanks.

[Himommies]

33 minutes ago, dj_ripcord said:

I do a little bit of theatrical lighting design on the side

Just curious,is this profitable in any way without a full time job in said hobby

[dj_ripcord]

32 minutes ago, Himommies said:

Just curious,is this profitable in any way without a full time job in said hobby

Sure is! You just have to keep REALLY busy, throw away your weekends, and sleep less than 6 Hrs a Night!/s

 

No but seriously, It's a lot of work, but a friend of mine that has been working in the industry for 25+ years has his own company, but just recently got a job at a larger company that hires multiple hands for one job. It's most beneficial to work for a larger company because that way you pretty much guarantee that you always have work. Smaller businesses often go weeks without a job. At least, that was his main issue. Not to mention the cost of equipment because hooo wee that stuff's expensive.

[TheKDub]

1 hour ago, dj_ripcord said:

Hi folks.

 

Background Story:    I do a little bit of theatrical lighting design on the side, and I use a software made by ETC called NOMAD. Nomad is a software package they deploy on their large scale consoles, but they make it available for MAC and PC use - which is dope! So I have Nomad, but I don't have a console with all the fancy knobs and buttons. Conveniently, all those knobs and buttons are mapped to a standard QWERTY keyboard. ie. "Q" is the "CUE" button, and "R" is the "Record" button etc.

 

So I want to find a mechanical keyboard (because I love the feeling) that preferably has keycaps that are flat and not convex like traditional caps. My reasoning is that I can get vinyl decals made for the keyboard that fit best on flat surfaces. So that way I can have a full-fledged keyboard with all the traditional commands RIGHT on the keys!

 

Anyone familiar with this kind of keyboard that is less than $50?

 

You could just get a mech keyboard then a keycap set for it.

 

I'm assuming you want them to have the same regular keyboard shape, just a completely flat top, not completely flat like a chiclet key.

 

Also, nice to see another lighting guy. I spent the last two years in high school on an ETC Element 60/250 in a pretty nice theatre.

[TheKDub]

47 minutes ago, Himommies said:

Just curious,is this profitable in any way without a full time job in said hobby

It's difficult to make good money on it unless you're quite skilled and have your name out there. The most I've done with theatrical lighting was a few years in high school, though I did consider it as a career path, so I did a bit of research into it.

 

And as dj_ripcord said, equipment is incredibly expensive. A decent lighting console will run you upwards of $8,000, and plenty more than that if you want a really good console. Then lighting fixtures are even worse depending on what you want. Typical incandescent fixtures are usually $200-700 each depending on the type, but once you jump over to the world of LED fixtures, they add up pretty quickly. You could easily drop over $6,000 on a single moving head, and thousands on fixed position LED fixtures as well.

[dj_ripcord]

1 minute ago, TheKDub said:

Also, nice to see another lighting guy.

Pleasure to meet another Thespian! - I'm sorry for what I said during tech week.

 

But I'm sure you can grasp what i'm going for. I want mechanical because all of their consoles are mechanical. But I want flat keycaps so I can make sturdy decals for em. Now, Ernest_L mentioned WASD, who make custom keycaps. But they're $7 a piece! It would cost me $200 to make a keyboard with all the functions!

 

I'm also currently looking into this bad boy. They even offer the ETC Student discount, so i'm just waiting on them to send me a quote at the moment...

 

[TheKDub]

3 minutes ago, dj_ripcord said:

Pleasure to meet another Thespian! - I'm sorry for what I said during tech week.

 

But I'm sure you can grasp what i'm going for. I want mechanical because all of their consoles are mechanical. But I want flat keycaps so I can make sturdy decals for em. Now, Ernest_L mentioned WASD, who make custom keycaps. But they're $7 a piece! It would cost me $200 to make a keyboard with all the functions!

 

I'm also currently looking into this bad boy. They even offer the ETC Student discount, so i'm just waiting on them to send me a quote at the moment...

 

That's pretty neat, I'd expect that it'll still cost at least $150 after the discount.

Another other option is 3d printing, or these https://pimpmykeyboard.com/flat-keys/ certainly not cheap, but cheaper than what WASD would charge you.

[dj_ripcord]

Just now, TheKDub said:

That's pretty neat, I'd expect that it'll still cost at least $150 after the discount.

That's what i'm hoping for. It's really a badass piece of kit.

 

Just now, TheKDub said:

Another other option is 3d printing, or these https://pimpmykeyboard.com/flat-keys/

Damascus Mentioned these earlier. Might just work.

[TheKDub]

2 minutes ago, dj_ripcord said:

That's what i'm hoping for. It's really a badass piece of kit.

 

Damascus Mentioned these earlier. Might just work.

The other option is wait for who knows how much longer for Tesoro to release this: 

Not sure how much it'll end up costing, but I'm excited for it.

 

[dj_ripcord]

3 minutes ago, TheKDub said:

The other option is wait for who knows how much longer for Tesoro to release this: 

Not sure how much it'll end up costing, but I'm excited for it.

 

Hnnnngh that looks nice. I really want one. Bet it will go for $99. But I would buy for $69 no questions asked.

[TheKDub]

1 minute ago, dj_ripcord said:

Hnnnngh that looks nice. I really want one. Bet it will go for $99. But I would buy for $69 no questions asked.

I'd buy it even at $99. Chiclet + mechanical + slim is definitely worth it, not to mention I'll need to replace my dying K70 RGB in the next few months if it continues to get worse.

Now it's just a question of if Tesoro is going to even release the keyboard or not... I haven't found any information on it since when they showed it off at CES back in January.