all right today we have a custom split mechanical keyboard build from RGB KB
and this is their new soul - and the group is just about to end so yep this
is a prototype so I don't have the final package and product
okay so first thing you should do is flash the PCB and test it but being me I
didn't do that because I just wanted to get straight to building it comes with
four PCBs so it's two for each side we have the
main pieces that the switches and everything else is mounted to and then
there's what's basically a board of LEDs
here's the super-thick four point eight millimeter aluminum plate which should
make for a nicer feeling and potentially sounding experience and it is also
available in a bunch of colors the case is made from polycarbonate which is what
high-end custom plastic Macs tend to be made of rather than acrylic again this
isn't the final product so the finish isn't perfect and it's more like a top
housing rather than a complete case as you'll see later now let's actually
build it first thing is to deal with the gasket burning which is done by just
having phone rings going on either side of the plate you don't want to over
tighten the screws you just want to screw them so that the bottom of the
head is flush with the plate just like in the diagram and this just helps
isolate the plate and the piece of beer from the case where it should be able to
improve acoustics the salt 2 does support up to 6 rotary
encoders and also 2 or LED panels but these are not included and are just
optional pieces they should be installed before you put the plate on therefore
before he sold it in the key switches there's actually four spots on each PCB
for the rotary encoders but because I'm using OLED panels as well that removes
the green spots and also the blue spots so I'll just use one encoder on each
side because I don't want one over here and just ignore that I put two encoders
because I didn't know at the time
next up we have the earlier panels
these guys have to be as close as possible to the PCB because there's
little clearance from the plate so you've got to get rid of the black
handers and I put electrical tape on the underside just in case so that nothing
shorts with anything
next up are the key switches since this is the brightest keyboard out there you
really should get our to be compatible key switches to get the full experience
so that switches with clear housings or once with big holes on the bottom for
the light to shine through but without really thinking I ordered a bunch of
Gator on clears which have clear top housings but the traditional black
bottoms and ya know no one likes to get on clears but I want something different
there is support for two-year keys for the thumb clusters but I've gone with
just one your keys there
and yeah I got sent the wrong size key caps they're supposed to be 1.5 you but
I received 1.25 year and to add to that I only ordered eight because for some
reason I thought it was just the ergonomics layout but there's actually
one more 1.5 you key on each side so yeah next issue I said before these
aren't RGB compatible key switches and have the solid black housings and I
thought I should do something about it and I definitely do not recommend or
condone doing this as you risk messing up bad but since there are these large
holes in the piece of beads who allow that lighting to shine through I went
for it I took my drill and carefully drilled
majority of the key switch bottoms and to add to that it does throw a bit of
dust around and I actually went through the effort of looping these switches but
the main stuff in the switch is in a different compartment so it's not too
bad
and not long after I fully regretted my decision as when I plugged it in it
didn't work anymore but after a while and touching stuff on the PSB it
magically came back to life but yet definitely definitely do not recommend
drilling switches when they are already soldered into the PCB
as you can see the polycarbonate case is more just like a top housing and the
bottom is just the LED p-speed therefore you don't actually need the PC
case and there is that cheaper kit available without it cone feet are an
additional option but it will come with rubber feet which I did not get but I
put on my own with the rotary encoders you got to check on some caps I did
order silver ones as well but they still haven't arrived from China so I have
these super bright copper ones which are like the look of anyway since the spots
for the OLED panels do fit key switches there is a very large opening so it
looks pretty odd and janky with all the space around it they have developed
separate business for this though but I had to do something myself so I cut some
four point five millimeter clear acrylic and use a tiny bit of double-sided tape
to keep it down
actually it did this purple version first but I just did a life look of it
the paint finish wasn't the best anyway as it was pretty cold outside and I just
much preferred the cleaner look on the rear of each piece there's four USB
type-c ports I provided my own cables so for the middle joining cable you do need
a USB see two USB see there are a couple of options available so there's the
cheapest solar core kit that comes with the PCBs 1.6 millimeter aluminium plate
and mounting hardware and then everything else is just an addition so I
have the 4.6 millimeter aloo plate but there is also brass and then the
polycarb case and there's also a full hand Polycarp case with the wrist rest
and stuff but yeah the cool thing is that you can go for the cheap option go
mid or go all-out it's all up to you it's definitely one of the more unique
keyboards in my collection and that I've done overall and it's one of the more
premium split ergo boards out there period it was my first time using rotary
encoders I could have made an acrylic piece to kind of go around it to clean
up look but I do love how they look but more importantly they're awesome to have
on a keyboard because you can't really emulate that rotary action with standard
mechanical key switches it does support up to 6 but I did want to have the OLED
panels unfortunately I did damage the right one but that just duplicates the
left one and yeah it's more of a novelty slash aesthetic thing for me personally
rather than functional but it does give relative information which is still
useful now a huge feature and part of their identity of the Psalter is of
course the RGB lighting and being the brightest mechanical keyboard in the
world and it for sure is super bright there's perky RGB lighting which are
rated to 60 milliamps and there's 128 of them which can go up
to as much as 180 with additional LEDs and the wrist rests the issue though is
power draws so the default hex file doesn't run the lighting at full power
to ensure device compatibility there's a bunch of effects and patterns that are
readily available and the two halves can work together so that's pretty cool now
to the actual usage of the keyboards so this is pretty close to the good old
organ ox however it has a completely author lenient design plus the thumb
clusters so it's just a grid basically whereas the ergo Docs does have a
columnar stager it does use the powerful qmk firmware so you can customize
whatever key to be whatever you want the advantage of having a physically split
keyboard is that we can angle and place the pieces to your liking so with the
normal keyboard we have to kind of cram our arms and hands towards the center
which is unnatural with a split we can keep them wider apart and also angle
them if we want to additionally I do have the cone feed on mine which
slightly tends it meaning the inside is higher than the outside again creating a
more natural wrist position this stuff does take time to get used to though
admittedly I don't have a proper typing technique so I only use three fingers
and on my left and two on my right and I feel that to fully utilize the ergonomic
benefits of an author layout you need that technique I don't really have the
time to fully delve into it and I really would need a few weeks to get a better
feel but it's a split author and there's a bunch of them out there which people
do seem to love but I still can feel the ergonomic benefits of the better
shoulder and wrist positioning I know the Gator on Claire's aren't the most
popular key switch but I have load these up and typically lublin ears with gasket
mount should feel decent and they are but they are super light which kind of
doesn't bring out the best of it but I still love it
so overall it was a really fun building experience because there was a lot new
to me about it first of all it's an Ergo split their separate LED piece B's the
OLED panels rotary encoders and just working through all of that was awesome
the build is fantastic with a four point eight millimeter aluminium plate and
with oring mounting it makes for a sweet typing and sound experience
unfortunately Auto linear is not for me but much of that is to do with time
constraints I do like the polycarbonate shell and the LEDs glows super bright
throughout the whole thing and it really is the brightest mechanical keyboard in
the world