Driver

Glorious PC Gaming Race mentions that the GMMK does not need a software driver for its basic functions, but there is still one available for when you need to use it. There must have been updates to the hardware drivers over time since there are different software drivers available depending on the serial number of your specific unit. Newer ones from 2018, including this very review sample, use the GMMK Keyboard Editor v2.0, which can be found alongside all other versions, including separate ones for the TKL keyboards, on this page. It downloads as an archive with an installer that is ~5.5 MB in size, and the installation process is minimal at best. No options are provided for whether you want a shortcut on the desktop or start menu, and it is an extremely light driver catering to one specific version of the GMMK.


I have seen software drivers that look extremely similar, likely re-skinned versions of the same base driver. Unfortunately, all of them scale poorly with display resolution and scaling. The GMMK Keyboard Editor v2.0 is no different, making it hard to use on a 4K monitor. I had to scale things down to 1440p and increase display scaling to be able to clearly see all options, which put text for buttons outside of their boxes as well. The drop-down menu for lighting controls is a nice example of this, and it makes for a less than satisfactory user experience.

The software driver allows for different software profiles to be edited, with associated lighting for each. We can also change the USB polling rate set to 125 Hz by default for some reason, and there is a macro editor thrown in. This macro editor is especially reminiscent of other such software drivers I have used in the past and barely usable at high display resolutions.

Most people will likely use the driver to better customize the backlighting on the keyboard, and there are plenty of lighting options to choose from. These include a series of static and dynamic lighting effects, including reactive typing effects with sub-options for effects, including brightness, speed, and direction. There are also custom and zone lighting effects which make use of per-key RGB backlighting, of which we get a full 16.8 M colors to choose from, something you can't do via onboard controls. I would have liked to see finer steps of control for brightness in particular; however, there are critical user experience issues to resolve first.