Performance

The Glorious Modular Mechanical Keyboard supports N-key rollover USB out of the box, which tested successfully using Aqua's test. You can toggle between 6KRO and NKRO using Fn + PrtSc/Pause respectively. Switch Hitter confirmed no chatter with these keys.


When first connected, the keyboard lights up in a multicolor palette that is the "Normally Colorful" effect in the software driver, or whatever it is called since it was cut off on screen anyway. The onboard lighting effects are aplenty here, with what the company describes as their K-effect with no fade and random colors being what you see above. There are many such effects to choose from, including sub-options via the same key combination multiple times over. It is also easy to set the backlighting effect speed, direction, and specific color, although we have fewer options here relative to the software driver. For example, there are only eight colors to choose from for backlighting, although you can work with these options for per-key lighting as well. We can also do a factory reset should things get out of hand.

Setting all keys to white allows me to test for color fidelity, which was better than average for RGB backlit keyboards in terms of producing a truer-to-color white than most keyboards I have tested. Light bleed is present when using per-key backlighting, however, especially at the common edges to keys lit in different colors, owing to the floating keycap design employed here.
Here is a look at some available lighting effects, and the color transitions are fairly smooth. No perceivable issues with color switching and flickering here, although I would have liked to see more control over the brightness and speed of these effects.


Onboard controls extend past backlighting alone, with several pre-programmed functions for program shortcuts, volume control, and playback control. Customization is a strong point in both function and form. Let's not even forget the switch customization option, which makes it hard to talk about any particular switch used here even though the pre-built version only uses Gateron Brown switches. There are some limitations in switch compatibility, but the GMMK otherwise gives the end user not only the freedom to choose from among several switches by different switch manufacturers, but also customize on a per-key basis. You could, for example, have a linear switch where you use the keys a lot for gaming, and then tactile or clicky switches elsewhere. If you are so compelled, you could also swap out switches for specific applications, effectively making this a one size fits all keyboard.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the GMMK with Gateron Brown switches at ~105 WPM as it comes out of the box. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with tactile switches. I did bottom out, which is not hard to do because of the relatively light spring, but touch typing is definitely possible due to the more pronounced tactile feedback in comparison to other switches.