Trees are starting to blossom, the birds are chirping, and we just released a few new keyboards: it's time for our Spring 2025 update - let's dive right in! 😄
New keyboards
We've been keeping busy, and while the planets last aligned in February this year, it's on April 14th that four new Halcyon keyboard releases align. Among them, three have support for Kailh Choc low profile switches, which is a first for the series.
You can use our helpful new Composer to be guided through all of the choices for your new keyboard. It'll ensure you get a compatible kit, every time.
It's worth repeating since the series is new:
The Halcyon Series is a series of keyboards that combine what we've learned about split keyboards since 2019 into a unified preassembled premium range. That means that you can depend on great quality, complete documentation and shared features such as hot-swappable switches, per-key RGB and RGB underglow, USB C interconnect, and much more.
Unique to the Halcyon Series are its modules, which enable you to add functionality to your keyboard without having to solder. You can choose from a color LCD TFT display, rotary encoder or even a Cirque trackpad! All keyboards in the series use the same standard, so modules can be reused across them, and more modules will be released as we expand the series, which will be backwards compatible.
The Halcyon keyboards come with wired controllers based on the RP2040 chip, which support QMK and Vial firmware. They are cold-swappable so they can be reused, replaced or upgraded in the future. You can read all the specifications further down this page.
You'll only need a screwdriver to assemble these keyboards! Okay, sure, a switch puller can be helpful too, but no soldering skills are needed. What's more, if you use the precompiled Vial firmware, there's no need to do any compilation and you can just flash a file we've compiled for you, after which you can use the Vial application to remap your keys - no programming or compiling needed, either. Easy!
Ah, and before you mash that buy button: if you bought an Elora rev1 in the past and have been eyeing a Halcyon keyboard, use the discount code ELORAREV1 in your cart for €60 off any Halcyon kit. I'd like to thank you for your early support, as it has made it possible to develop the Halcyon Series. Like we said in the Winter 2024 update, we learned a lot from the Elora rev1, and managed to apply every lesson to the Halcyon Series, making it that much better. Thank you!
Halcyon Lily58 MX
The Halcyon Lily58 is now available and is compatible with MX switches. It's the Lily58 layout you're used to, but as you might've guessed, it now comes with Halcyon features!
Like the Aurora Lily58, it is compatible with open-source cases, but with the addition of the USB C jack for the interconnect cable, you will want to check whether your case allows for a USB C cable on the side of it.
If you do like to solder and would like to use an encoder instead of a switch, you can: a few predetermined switch locations can be swapped out with an encoder. You can use up to one encoder per half this way, which doesn't include the rotary encoder module, making for up to two encoders total per half.
Halcyon Kyria Choc
The Halcyon Kyria was already available for MX switches, but is now also available for Kailh Low Profile Choc switches!
Because our selection of both Choc switches and keycaps is rather large, you're now able to choose from a pretty big variety in both look and feel. Nice!
Halcyon Corne Choc
It might be new to the Halcyon Series, but it was among the first split keyboard layouts to become popular: the Halcyon Corne!
Being able to use your Corne with a sweet high-resolution colour display or a Cirque trackpad is now as easy as plugging in a cable and flashing new firmware to it - which itself is just a matter of dragging and dropping a file. Convenient for sure, and I can only be hyped about that, because now even someone like myself (who is quick to start projects, but, well, you can guess the rest...) can get the build over and done with in an evening, and then enjoy my new keyboard - fancy modules included. Phew!
Like the Lily58, the Corne also has a few predetermined locations which allow you to solder an encoder instead of using a switch.
Halcyon Ferris Choc
Last but certainly not least, the Halcyon Ferris is the smallest entry in the Halcyon Series so far. If you like your layout efficient and small, this is the keyboard for you.
But wait... Ferris? It looks an awful lot like the Aurora Sweep 🤔 Time for some keyboard lore: when Pierre Chevalier made the layout, it was called the Ferris, and it came preassembled with an on-board microcontroller. It was pretty popular, but a bit hard to get by, and so David Barr forked his project and made the Sweep: a version of the Ferris that could be assembled with a Pro Micro-compatible controller (like our Liatris!) instead of requiring an on-board controller.
Since the Aurora Sweep used a Pro Micro-compatible controller, we called it the Sweep. And, to finally honour the original project properly, since the Halcyon Ferris comes preassembled, it's now again called the Ferris! The more you know 😉
New products
Next to these four new keyboards, we also managed to get a few new products in, all of which are keycaps or related to them. More choice, more better!
MBK Legend 40s Blue on Black
The MBK Legend 40s set is a neat starter kit for Choc low profile switches that has just about all the keycaps you'll ever need for most split keyboards. It was already available in grey and white, but now also in a rather dashing blue on black!
MBK Glow Dots
If you're a blank keycap enjoyer, but are also a per-key RGB backlight enjoyer, then rejoice: the MBK Glow Dots are sure to tickle your fancy! These ABS keycaps suited for Choc low profile switches are black, and have a little translucent dot that allows your RGB backlight to shine through. No more will your precious light be kept to the gaps between your keys, but now just a bit more of their power will be unleashed through... the dot! 🧑🔬
SLK PBT Ergo Blanks
Made from nice hefty PBT material, are these new SLK PBT Ergo Blank keycaps, which fit onto MX-compatible switches. A most welcome addition, considering we don't offer many MX-compatible keycaps just yet. One keycap set at a time!
These keycaps are white, and have a unique round profile to them. They look absolutely stunning, and make your keyboard into a piece of art, while also being comfortable to use (not unimportant, I'll admit).
Choc keycap spacers
And for the last product to introduce to you in this blog post, I didn't know I needed this, but now I do: Choc keycap spacers. Now that I know, though, I kind of feel like I shouldn't need them, so let's explain that by quoting the product page:
Kailh Choc switches have been around for a while, and lately, innovation has been taking place. The introduction of silent switches in the form of Ambients, such as the Nocturnal and Twilight switches, brought forth some noises that weren't discernable in Choc switches before: apparently, some keycap profiles bumped into the switch housing when fully pressed, causing a slight but noticeable bump and sound.
While improvements to keycap moulds are being worked on, there is a solution in the meantime. These keycaps stickers were designed by FKcaps to add 0.5mm in height, and they can be applied to either the keycap or the switch stem. The added height prevents the bump, eliminating its sound as well as its impact on the feel of the switch.
Alright, so it's not ideal, but a fix is in the works. In the meantime though, these stickers do solve the noise and the feel, which make me happy to have them with the Ambient switches in my new Kyria which I've been happily using since we had the Halcyon Kyria Choc prototypes in our office 😉
The future
The future, what does it hold? 🔮 I can't be for sure, but we're working on some projects, so I can at least guess!
Wireless Halcyon
This is a big one! It's still in development, and it's a complicated one to tackle. From power supply to regulations, from backwards compatibility to future-proofing... there is a lot to it. And then people might still want to use modules, but those modules may also require a lot of power, so...
For now I can say that we're working on it, but I can't make any functional promises just yet. We're considering as much as we can, and we're of course trying to think of a solution that will make everyone as happy as possible. If it can be a drop-in replacement for the current wired controllers that would of course be amazing! But until it's officially released, I'll ask that you please consider the current Halcyon keyboards to be wired only, just to avoid potential disappointment.
More Halcyon keyboards
Designing a Halcyon keyboard takes effort! Alright, we've standardised the development process, so it's not as much effort as it used to take, but it does still take effort. We don't have new releases in the pipeline right this moment, but once we're done with the wireless controller, we'll be sure to get right back to making more keyboards for the series.
More Halcyon modules
Also on the list: more modules! The encoder, display and Cirque trackpad are nice for sure. There are a great number of other modules that are on my wishlist, from inputs like simply an extra button or two, to outputs like a seven-segment display or a speaker. My list is a lot longer than that, but we have to start somewhere 😉
Modules we'll release in the future will be backwards-compatible with all Halcyon keyboards, and any module available today will be compatible with any Halcyon keyboard released in the future. We now have six different Halcyon keyboards to prove that it works! I'm very happy with the series so far, seeing it all come together working just like we've envisioned... it's truly a great feeling! 🥳
Closing words
If you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask them on our Discord server, or send an email to support@splitkb.com. We're always happy to help!
Thank you for reading all this, and see you at the next update! ❤️