Klack – Satisfying sound with every keystroke

[SkyMarshal]

As someone who hates noisy keys, this is really cool. It lets people who like hearing audible click feedback to still hear it their headphones, while other folks around them don't hear it all. Nice job.

[bluescrn]

But when the clicks are lagged by a noticable fraction of a second due to bluetooth headphones, they're probably worse than no feedback at all...

[Zetobal]

It doesn't deactivate the sound of the keyboard.

[alberth]

Unsolicited feedback:

- noticeable delay (between depressing key and sound)

- doesn't sound correct (it sounds like a typewriter not a computer keyboard)

- can it be turned off when a specific app is open (e.g. if Zoom/Teams is open, I don't want people hearing me type)

[worthless-trash]

Also, are you using wireless headphones, they add latency.

[oniony]

Delay: did you set the setting it suggests?

[tristor]

This is a neat little piece of software, however I find the most satisfaction comes from building your own mechanical keyboard that makes amazing sounds when you type :). I recommend it as a good weekend project for pretty much any nerdy-type person.

[nvy]

A wise green alien once said: If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will.

If you like having money, don't get into mechanical keyboards.

[nine_k]

Am I the only one who find the whole thing a brilliant ironic stunt?

[hackernewds]

counterpoint: $$$$

[teddyh]

More clicky: <https://github.com/zevv/bucklespring>

[PaulDavisThe1st]

Thanks for that. Approximately 40 secs after installation, I uninstalled. Fun while it lasted though!

[floren]

Makes me think of old terminals with speakers in the keyboard, to generate an extra little "click" e.g. https://youtu.be/RuZUPpmXfT0?feature=shared&t=343

[i_am_jl]

Even older ones had full-on solenoids banging around inside the case of the keyboard. They were intended to simulate the sound of a typewriter.

[buescher]

As the Atari 800 and Atari 400 also had. The later models omitted the speaker and piped the click out with the sound chip audio.

[blowski]

How does it work - listen for keypresses? Is there any protection against this being a keylogger?

[gkbrk]

Not giving this network access seems like it should be enough.

[pbhjpbhj]

My first thought too.

There was something recently about hacks using actual sounds from a keyboard (which is an old thing) but someone commented that they had trained an AI in 30 minutes or so that had about 90% accuracy -- I think someone used this technique to hack a phone scam group too, just from listening to them typing over the phone as the scammer targeted them. Hot!

[GavinAnderegg]

I bought it through the App Store and it requires you to give the app Accessibility access. I hesitated about this, but it does make sense. The good news is that you can turn this setting on and off easily. So potentially you could only run the app with access to keyboard input when you're choosing to write something that's not sensitive.

[jzb]

I'm boggled by this - assuming it's not a joke of some kind. Would anybody actually pay to have a clacky key sound if their keyboard doesn't do it already?

I do the bulk of my typing on ancient Microsoft Natural Pro keyboards from the pre-/early 2000s era. (Though I'm trialing the Cloud Nine ergo split keyboards with some success...) Noise is inevitable. Not sure I'd pay for it if it didn't happen, er, naturally though.

[gwbas1c]

I suspect it's a passion project, or a learning project.

I wrote something similar a few years ago so I could go through the process of making it into the app store. I didn't expect a lot (or any) sales.

(But I probably should have put it up on Hacker News so I could get all kinds of comments like yours.)

[konart]

I work with headphones on and I really like the sound of my switches. I really want to hear them click while also hear music in my headphones.

No reason to use the app if you are not wearing headphones.

[alternatex]

The difference is you cannot make it inaudible for people around you whereas you can with using software like this.

[doublemint2202]

It's been said before but I'll say it 1000 times again: the over-saturation of subscription saas is annoying and wholly unnecessary.

new models of business should replace it, or even larger economic policy.

[grug_htmx_dev]

Seen a conference talk with someone that had quake weapon sounds set on every keypress. Now, that's what I'd like to get. :D

[junon]

Getting "m-m-m-monster kill" when I type real fast sounds neat.

[asadm]

that sounds hilarious, where do I get it? :D

[firaskafri]

Free with more options: https://github.com/nathan-fiscaletti/keyboardsounds

[jack_pp]

but it won't even work on Mac! This is built exclusively for Mac, that's the selling point!

[codeTired]

This reminds me of getting into the zone and programming away on a mechanical keyboard. The sound is really soothing for me and feels so good. Unfortunately, as I age it’s harder and harder to get into this perfect flow, where every key stroke touches my soul.

[paxys]

I don't know about this. For me 99% of the satisfaction of a mechanical keyboard comes from the tactile feedback rather than the sound. In fact the first thing I do on any new device with a touchscreen is turn off the annoying keyboard click sound.

[eviks]

Indeed, that's just extra noise many people got attached to

[MantisShrimp90]

Idk who this is for. Unless you really like mechanical keyboards but can't use them either due to other coworkers or a lack of funds, but something like this would make me kinda sad as someone who actually likes mechanical keyboards.

This seems like an app that people who don't like mechanical keyboards wish that people who do like keyboards would use. But that's a laughable sentiment because it fundamentally misunderstands why people use mechanical keyboards.

The apple keyboard is shit, and the lack of sound wasn't the problem. If people in your life use a loud keyboard ask them to get a mechanical keyboard with silent switches, you can make them sound quieter than a laptop.

[steve_adams_86]

Unfortunately has a significant delay over bluetooth; I was somewhat hopeful I could get the gratifying clacking sound along with quiet, tactile switches without annoying people, but being so out of sync makes it fairly awful to use.

It might be okay with wired headphones, but that's not what I've got.

[qingcharles]

Are there good BT headphones with near-zero lag?

[jonas21]

Is there a video (or even just audio) demo? I'd be very reluctant to install (and pay for) this without hearing what it sounds like first.

EDIT: Oh! I see you can click on the little play buttons in the hero image to hear a preview. That's pretty subtle.

[toomanydoubts]

There are some "demos" on the homepage, although I don't think they do a very good job of demonstrating the app.

Klack is an interesting concept, but a really wish there was like a 15 minute real demo or something to really get a feel for what's like. I'm also reluctant of paying for it just to try it out.

[jack_pp]

"Built exclusively for your Mac"

Like that's some sort of thing to be proud of. Look at me! I made an app just for us cool kids

[wiradikusuma]

Wouldn't it "conflict" with actual keystroke sound so we hear "double"?

[solardev]

No worries, by this time next week there'll be a subscription service selling deepfake keystroke sounds

[dtgriscom]

One of the first programs I tried on my old MacPlus was called "Selectric". You ran it, and it immediately exited, without anything happening. But, the next type you typed a character in any other program, you got a nice, satisfying "chunk"; the spacebar went "di-git", and the return key went "zzzzzzip." Very entertaining at the time.

[intrasight]

My daily driver is an IBM Model M made in 1984. Has a very satisfying sound on every keystroke - satisfying to me anyway ;)

[midoridensha]

>My daily driver is an IBM Model M made in 1984

Are you sure about that? IIRC, all Model M keyboards say "1984" on them, but that's a copyright date, not the manufacturing date. There should be another inscription somewhere with the actual manufacturing date (day/month/year, not just year).

In fact, according to Wikipedia, Model Ms did not start production until 1985: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard

[espe]

nice. 1995 ibm aptiva keyboard here. it’s still the same as on day 1.

[geuis]

Demo sounds don't play on iOS.

[bee_rider]

In iOS Safari, I had them playing under my music, barely noticed, they are quite faint.

Then when I switched away to pause Pandora and get a better listen, they seemed to go silent too. But, when I reloaded the Klack site, they seemed to work again. FWIW.

[hannibal529]

I think you need to turn your ringer on, otherwise it’s silenced.

[kn0where]

Need to turn the ringer switch on, then they work.

[kucing]

I tried it, wouldn't really recommend if you are using laptop speaker (like to be used in private space / at home). I'm not sure how well it will work cable earphones.

My main issue with it is the sound direction. I'm using MBP 16 and it feels like the sound is coming from in front of me (like coming out of the screen) rather than from below around the keyboard area. It's just not comfortable.

It also lack on the bass sounds so feel very high pitched. Or maybe the sound not matching the physical feeling. Maybe could work better if you already using (silent) mechanical keyboard.