The keyboard is a limiting medium.
There are only so many ways one can be designed.
Yet, designers continue to expand the boundaries with striking silhouettes, elaborate machining,
and beautiful finishes.
Today, we have a board that further pushes the envelope of advanced keyboard design.
This is the tetra.
A meticulously crafted 60% by Flykeebs.
The keyboard content creator hive mind is all sharing one prototype, so this doesn’t
reflect the retail packaging.
First off we’ve got the best switch of all time, MX Browns.
You already know I’ll be using these.
Inside this geon carrying case is our aluminum plate,
H60 Hotswap PCB, Geon tadpoles,
And someone’s leftover stabs.
And here is the board itself.
Inside here is our O-ring, which the camera hates.
Onto some specs.
Tetra is a winkeyless only 60%.
We’ve got an H60 hotswap PCB with a daughterboard.
This is locked to a 7U spacebar, of course because Tetra is winkeyless, and can swap
to stepped caps, split right shift, and split backspace.
You have the option between tadpole leaf spring or gummy o ring sandwich mounts.
For plates, both POM and aluminum will be included, and for colors, we have silver,
plum, and lavender.
Finally, Tetra will run you $400.
This is my first experience with a tadpole mounted board, so we’ll try it first.
In here are TX stabs lubed with 205g0 and BDZ.
I’m going to add on our aluminum plate, And in here go MX browns lubed with 3204,
filmed with deskeys, and spring swapped.
I’m going to add in our tadpoles.
For the first config, I’ll try OXX as this should mirror some higher end keyboards which
only mount on the far left and right ends of the plate.
With that, the inner assembly is done.
I’m going to open up the case, with these screws hidden under the bottom feet,
and we can connect the tadpoles with the top case.
Of course I forgot it’s winkeyless.
Finally, I can connect the daughterboard, Insert the inner assembly,
Close the case, And install 21KB Desko 1905.
So no foams are included.
And although I would have brushed that off due to the very versatile mounting styles,
the case can sometimes be hollow sounding, so I would like to have seen at least case
foam.
Tadpole mounting alone has 4 possible configurations, so alongside also having O ring mounting,
and two included plates, there are still endless possibilities for fine tuning sound.
Although this board definitely works better for high pitched sound profiles, like the
last sound test with DDs and GMK.
I prefer and am more used to O-ring mounting, and it was harder getting tadpole mounting
to sound less dull.
but personally, while I would go for O-ring, tadpole could undoubtedly sound great as well
with just a little bit more experimentation.
Neither of the mounting configs have a very forgiving feel, so if that’s your thing,
I would recommend using the POM plate.
With aluminum and the OXX tadpole config, there’s almost no give in the middle, and
just a little bit on the sides.
And because of the stiffness of the included tadpoles, tadpole mounting Tetra in general
basically feels top mounted.
With neither the aluminum plate nor the PCB having any cuts, O-ring mount has only a little
bit more bounce all around.
So combined with the generally higher sound profile, this board is definitely geared towards
a more classy build.
The design is where Tetra comes alive.
Flykeebs utilizes the notion of parallel lines and nonparallel lines.
These embedded lines show up prominently in the design.
From a top down perspective, they seem to run parallel, but once they are viewed in
all dimensions, this is broken.
And then there’s the overall shape of the board.
The sides have very large chamfering, and the board slightly slants inward as it gets
closer to the bottom.
The bottom case being entirely covered by the top case gives the illusion that the entire
case is a singular piece, excluding the weight.
The weight slightly sticks out at the sides, and does not share the same line pattern as
the rest of the case.
Instead, it has a sort of terrace that raises up towards the center.
There are no logos or engravings across the entire unit, allowing full focus on the shapes
and contours of the machining.
Overall, Tetra manages to maintain a minimal silhouette while adding intricate details
and complications that combine to make the board very unique.
And while some would ultimately call the design simple, citing more complex boards, I believe
that if you are willing to see the attention to detail and purpose in how Tetra was designed,
you will be able to truly recognize it as something very special.