Wooting are the pioneers of of analog keyboards—keyboards where a keystroke isn't a 0 or 1; but rather quantifiable based on the key travel. The keyboard can measure the travel of a key in increments of 0.1 mm. Besides the numerous applications of such a technology in gaming and creative work, the keyboard also allows you to configure the exact actuation point of each key—something a regular "digital" mechanical keyboard can't. The new Wooting 80HE is an 80% version of the original Wooting One, and has all the keys you'd expect in a TKL (tenkeyless) layout. Every key is individually RGB illuminated. The keyboard's electronics support 8000 Hz USB polling rate, for a 0.125 ms response time. The Wooting booth had an instrument set up, which could let you see the actual analog motion of the keystroke.

Razer has been quietly updating its peripheral lineup, including its Huntsman series of keyboards that used to be exclusively mechanical and using Razer-branded linear, tactile, or clicky switches. Then came optical switch versions that theoretically promise zero debounce and smoother travel owing to no mechanical components for the stem to physically move into, and this time it was either a linear Razer switch or a clicky one. It would be no surprise then that the natural progression of this was via analog switch versions of its popular keyboards. The full-size Huntsman V2 Analog was the first of these to launch a few months ago, with the use of "Razer Analog Optical Switches" to complete the set. These analog switches rely on optical sensors to detect the travel of the stem downward, akin to what the likes of Wooting have been doing for a while now, and aim to finally be the one peripheral to address the strengths of keyboards and game controllers collectively.

Perhaps the 100% form factor was too large for consumers, especially given analog switches have rarely found an established use case outside of gaming even today, so a smaller keyboard size may be what you are looking for. Razer certainly thinks as much, as today it introduced the Huntsman Mini Analog—a 60% form factor keyboard now employing the same Razer analog switches. With customization over the analog actuation in Razer Synapse between 1.5 and 3.6 mm, and plenty of games already good to go on Windows, the Huntsman Mini Analog might be also a dedicated game/macro pad in the making. It costs $149.99 in the US, which is a $20-30 hike over the equivalent Huntsman Mini keyboards with optical switches, and is a reasonable price increase with said context. Hit the link in the source to learn more, and perhaps purchase one if this is to your liking.

Wooting is a brand that is near and dear to me in that it brought about the most innovating keyboard feature in ages with its analog control Flaretech switches a few years ago. It's debut product—the Wooting One—is a tenkeyless (TKL) form factor keyboard, which was then supported by the full-size Wooting Two. New switches and an updated software suite came about earlier this year with the Wooting Two HE, whose review is in the works as we speak, but that did not stop the company from seeing everyone else come out with a 60% form factor keyboard this past year too. Enter then the Wooting 60HE, and it's already a commercial success!

Wooting went the crowdfunding route with the 60HE, but hosted the campaign on its own website rather than going the Kickstarter or Indiegogo route and giving a cut to the platform. It was a risk that paid off big time clearly, with the campaign meeting its goal within 12 hours and now stretch goals in the consideration, with the first one being a differently color USB cable. If you fancy being a founder, hit up the link below and see some other cool features available, including founder's only swag and even an Easter egg on the PCB itself. The Wooting 60HE can be backed starting from €154.99 (inc. VAT), which in itself is a 10% discount over the eventual MSRP of €169.99, and delivery is slated for Q2 of 2022.

Readers of our website may be familiar with the Wooting brand for their then, and now, excellent Wooting One analog keyboard that we examined in late 2017. It impressed us enough to be the top keyboard for the year as well, and still remains one of the few keyboards to offer analog control at all, let alone on every single switch it is on. The company has since come out with a full-size Wooting Two, along with another switch option using a heavier spring. Their switches to date are linear optical switches manufactured by Flaretech to Wooting's design, and the company admitted there was not much more they could do with the current design. This brought us to Computex 2019, wherein they demonstrated their next generation switches for analog control, gave us some samples to take apart, and also showed off a neat prototype technology for the future- if it pans out, anyway.

The Hall effect has been used for keyboard switches in the past, as much as nearly four decades ago, no matter what some people may tell you when describing Steelseries' new switch from Computex also based off the Hall effect. Indeed, it had a small resurgence a couple of years ago in the enthusiast keyboard arena when "Ace Pad" and "XMIT" worked together for a Massdrop-exclusive keyboard, but 2019 does seem to be the year they come back in the public eye. Wooting's take is called the Lekker switch, a word in Dutch that can stand for different things depending on the context but generally stands for something impressive. Read past the break for more on the Lekker switch, as well as other things that might interest you.

[Editor's Note: Our own review of the Wooting One keyboard can be found here for those interested.]

Sea Sonic, a world leader in PC and industrial power supply design and manufacturing, announces exclusive sales and distribution cooperation with Wooting, the company behind the world's first and most advanced analogue mechanical keyboard for the PC gaming market.

Sea Sonic's global presence and strength in the American and European retail channels provide a strong platform to give consumers better access to Wooting products. Calder Limmen, Co-founder and CEO explains in great detail what the collaboration means for Wooting in his latest blog post article.

The partnership between Wooting and Sea Sonic is a perfect fit. Both companies are the front-runners in their respective domains where their collaboration is strengthened by their core beliefs: innovation, performance and quality.

Wooting Two is one of the rare few analog keyboards shown off at Computex. Every keyboard, membrane or mechanical, is a "digital" keyboard, in that no matter how hard you mash a key, each keystroke registers as 1 input of the character or function the key is intended to serve. Holding down keys only repeats the action at a software-determined rate. An analog keyboard is like a grand piano, in that not only is the keystroke recorded, but also its intensity. While we can think of very few practical applications of the intensity dimension in productivity software, it has many in gaming. Console gaming already leverages analog control in the rudders and thumb-sticks.

The Wooting Two features a clean 107-key layout, all of the magic happens in the software side, where the included software registers intensity by emulating analog game controllers on the keyboard. Games that support analog input devices (such as Xbox controllers), should be able to take advantage of it. Genres such as flight simulators particularly benefit from intensity, as the intensity with which you hold down your WASD keys will decide how hard you're turning your plane's stick, for more accurate flying. Something like this required you to buy a proper joystick, or Xbox controller. Serious flight-sim users have specialized hardware.