Want a keyboard that sounds like a typewriter?
A keyboard that sounds like a typewriter does not have to be a new purchase. This app listens to the keys you press and answers each one with a typewriter strike through your speakers or headphones, whichever program has focus. Laptop keyboards, low-profile office boards and membrane keyboards all get the same audible feedback.
It reads which key went down, and nothing more. That is enough to choose the right sound: an ordinary strike for letters, a slightly lower one for Space, and a lower, heavier hit for Enter that stands in for the carriage return.
Closing the window does not stop it. The app keeps working from the notification area, so the clicks carry on while you write and the window stays out of your way.
Typewriter sound effects that keep up with fast typing
A recorded click replayed on every key quickly starts to sound like a machine gun. Here each press is mixed as its own voice, so a burst of fast keystrokes layers up naturally instead of cutting the previous strike off.
With Vary each strike on, every hit moves a few percent in pitch and level, so no two consecutive keys sound exactly alike. Switch it off if you prefer a perfectly uniform click. Deeper Enter is a separate switch for anyone who wants the return key to sound like every other key.
Classic, Mechanical or Smooth: pick a typewriter
The three bundled machines cover the range from bright to quiet. Classic Typewriter has a sharp strike with a ring behind it. Mechanical Typewriter is heavier and more metallic. Smooth Typewriter is damped and soft, the one to choose in a shared office or late at night.
The three keys at the top of the window are the selector. Press one to audition that machine and make it the active sound; the change applies straight away, with no restart.
How to stop keyboard sounds when typing gets serious
Sometimes you want silence, for a meeting, a recording or a colleague on the next desk. There are three ways to get it without quitting:
- Press Ctrl+Alt+K, or whatever you record under Turn on or off with in Settings. It works while another program is in front.
- Use the notification area icon, which also switches between the three typewriters.
- Turn on Letters, numbers and Space only. Arrows, function keys, punctuation and Enter then go quiet, while normal words still click. The top-row digits and the number pad count as numbers.
Setting the volume and start-up behavior
The Volume slider in Settings runs from 0 to 100 and starts at 80. It scales the clicks only, so you can tuck them under music or a podcast without touching the Windows mixer.
Start with Windows launches the app straight into the notification area at sign-in. Start in the notification area keeps the window hidden on a manual launch too, and Theme offers Match Windows, Light or Dark.
