Software

There are software drivers for the Redragon K596 keyboard, and it is unfortunately not unified at all. Indeed, every single Redragon product with software support has its own skinned software, most of which appear to just change the lighting effects. As with every other version, the K596 version can be downloaded from this page. The download is a zip archive folder with the installer just 9 MB, and opening it reveals a fairly fancy page which then sadly goes to the more cookie-cutter installation process. The installation is also missing some basic options, including the ability to select the install director, any EULA you may inadvertently agree to, as well as whether or not to have a desktop shortcut and start menu folder. The installed driver takes up 34.5 MB on your storage drive. System utilization is minimal, so there is nothing to worry about on that end if you have a decent processor from either camp.


The layout of the software drivers has a lot in common with others for Redragon keyboards we have seen so far, although I am happy to say that it is generally better to use. Not only does this version scale nicely on a 4K display in contrast to my previous Redragon experience, but there is no random button or poorly translated English on the home page. Things are laid out in a manner that at least makes sense and is easy to understand, which really is the lowest of the bars to clear as far as I am concerned.

Okay, I take that back to an extent as there is a help button that does nothing. Sigh.. regardless, it's a definite improvement over last time. There are three primary tabs, with the rest of the homepage dedicated to the basic UI and saving configurations, resetting the keyboard, and going to the default configuration in case you messed up. The default tab is Performance, which allows you to change from the default NKRO to 16-key rollover for whatever reason. You can also change the keystroke repeat delay rate and speed, and test the effects of said changes. The second tab is all about lighting and the virtual keyboard now also lights up to preview the set effect, which is a nice touch and better than a lot of contemporary solutions from the region.

A drop-down menu provides more preset options for lighting, again in questionable English due to poor translation, and associated sub-functions including speed and brightness. There are some preset colors to choose from, as well as a multicolor option, but no way to actually select the specific color out of the 16.8 M on offer. The customize option alongside enables per-key lighting among these few colors, and there is a third drop-down menu for the side lighting with even fewer options. The good thing is the colors at least seem to match the backlighting for the two dynamic effects when synced up. The final menu is key assignment, and this was a disappointment since I expected the entire keyboard to be re-mappable, not just the 10 G1-G10 macro keys. This is similar to an i-Rocks keyboard seen recently here, and we again just have drop-down menus for each of the assignable keys with options to choose from as seen above, including macro recording and assignment, of course.