Software

Software support for the AQIRYS Libertas keyboard can be found on the downloads section of the product page—this is specific to the keyboard and not a universal program. It downloads as a 25 MB compressed archive that contains the installer file alone. There wasn't a version number mentioned anywhere and running the file undergoes the installation process seen above where you have next to no options to choose from. Let alone terms & conditions, AQIRYS has decided for you to have a desktop shortcut and start menu item, among other things. I am not a fan of this at all and unfortunately this is also not the first time AQIRYS has done this. The final install size is ~25.5 MB and the program is light on system resources.


Be sure to have the keyboard connected to your PC before opening the program or else all you will get is an error message. Once done, the software drivers immediately recognize the Libertas—no surprise given they are specifically made for this keyboard—and open the home page we see here. There is no maximize window option which would have been nice given this scales quite poorly with your display resolution and Windows scaling level. This is also where it is apparent it is a re-skin of a common OEM software solution, since the other AQIRYS keyboard software programs behaved differently and have a vastly different user experience. The interface here could be better laid out, although we do have helpful cues if you hover the mouse cursor over the various menu items. I also did not experience any bugs in use, so this goes in the mediocre category of peripheral software programs I've used to date, not the terrible one.

The video above goes through the general functionality of the Libertas software drivers, including the ability to create, edit, delete, and assign software profiles. The default tab pertains to lighting wherein there are several pre-programmed effects to choose from in the drop-down menu. Effect-specific options are in the middle, including with discrete steps for overall brightness and speed, and the exact color(s) are seen at the right where you have 16.8 M colors to choose from. You can even choose to have the LEDs on the keyboard be synchronized with any music being played on the device which in turn means you are passing on some extra data to the software. The Button Settings tab helps with key assignments and there's also a fully-featured macro editor and recorder too. Finally, there are some general settings to configure including having NKRO or not, the keyboard polling rate, having Win lock, and swapping out WASD for arrow keys. The general settings menu is woefully lacking though in that you can't even see the software version, let alone check for any software or keyboard firmware updates. There is a reset button at least, but AQIRYS really needs to improve on its software experience going forward.