Tempest Tape Mod Explained

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[start] - [section title]
0:00 - Intro
0:26 - How to do the Tape Mod
0:47 - Why is it so popular?
1:06 - How does Tape Mod affect keyboard sound?
1:22 - Why does Tape Mod affect keyboard sound?
2:34 - Sound Tests (Tape Mod vs No Tape Mod)
3:35 - Thoughts
4:26 - Outro

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◖MUSIC◗
Outro: Don’t Fall For Me - Harris Heller

[song] - [artist] [link]

[nearLucid]

PLEASE EXPAND THIS COMMENT FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION

There’s a lot of great insight being shared in the comments, and I can only pin one, so I will compile it all here.


**Shaquille Tarek** believes that the tape absorbs the higher frequencies of sound made by the inner assembly, acting as a kind of filter, while still reflecting back some of the lower frequencies. This is agreed on by ai03, and Tempest himself, so I would say this is the actual proven theory up to now as to how the mod works. Regardless of what the mod scientifically does, the effects of the mod on boards is fairly predictable (but of course there will be outliers because of unique designs).

**Zach Shapiro** thinks the mod will work especially well for tray mount boards, and has personally tried it with his Tofu, yielding great results. He found it helps remove reverb and boosts the volume of the inner assembly.

The keyboards that I mentioned don’t have a PCB are **HAND WIRED**. This is when you essentially make the PCB on your own using through hole diodes and a QMK compatible microcontroller.

**Rob R** theorizes that tape adhesive should get stronger over time, as it bonds with the surface it is applied to. This would create problems if the board owner wanted to remove it in the future. The mod hasn’t been around long enough to prove this, but I’ll make an update on this in a future PE foam mod explained video.

A lot of people also seem to have inquiries about PE foam, a mod that also seems to drastically change acoustics. I’ll have some in soon to mess around with and I’ll try to answer all the questions (namely tape mod + foam) in the comments regarding it.

[orcblud]

I disagree with your explanation of why the mod works. I think what is happening is that the tape just absorbs the high-mid to high frequencies coming from the pcb and what's left is reflected back up resulting in a kind of low-pass filter sound. Sound is vibration. So usually the pcb is vibrating, causing the air to vibrate, but with the tape the upper frequencies being a shorter wavelength are dissipated and diffused through the tape, leaving only the longer wave length vibrations to pass into the air.

That's just my guess as someone with an audio degree.

[HipyoTech]

To tape, or not to tape, that is the question.

[anthonygaitan]

I’m just getting into this hobby, and as an audio engineer, I find it INCREDIBLY fascinating.

[SolaireFlair]

"99% of boards will have a PCB." Wait, what's the 1%

[_fatalruin]

The tape could in fact be scattering/diffracting higher frequencies while allowing lower frequencies to transmit through the material, reflecting off of the hard bottom case back towards your ear. This would account for the deeper sound signature that this mod typically produces. In this case the tape would be acting as a filter instead of a reflector.

[stylishrabbit]

Effects of tape mod on my portico with U4Ts (no silicone dampener: Overall made the board a lot more enjoyable. As you mentioned it makes the board louder, poppier, and much deeper. Since the Portico is an entry board, and admittedly sounds garbage stock, this was a massive quick and easy improvement to this cheap gasket mount board. Once PE foam was added between the PCB and plate, however, much of the effects were reverted or lessened. The foam does give the board a much poppier and enjoyable typing experience but it also heightens the pitch a little (not as high as stock) and also makes it a little less quieter compared to plain tape mod. I think that paired together the PE foam and tape mod can be a power duo in entry level boards

[kennondrum]

ello drummer here, i love how from my understanding, keyboards and drumskins have a lot in common with sound: specifically, the plate/pcb/switch assembly to a case is like a drum skin to its drum shell, and typing on a keyboard is like hitting the skin of the drum.

Gasket, top, and bottom mount boards have the closest similarities to a "drum, " where the plate assembly is held around the edges and is "free to vibrate" like a drum skin. Gasket mounting basically lessens vibrations to the case, so you hear more of the plate assembly sound compared to the case, while in a top/bottom mount case you would hear more case sound.

Drummers would know, sometimes drums have some ugly overtones, basically nasty high pitched ringing. Tape or moongel is often used to reduce these overtones.

So my theory is that the foam mod when implemented lightly, slightly mutes the sound overall and lessens some overtones and pinging, making boards seemingly "thockier".
Over-foamed boards just sound too muted and completely takes away any of the sound characteristics, much like completely muting a drum skin you wouldn't hear much.
The tape mod or pe foam mod is like putting moongel/tape onto a drum skin, where you would get the most natural sound, while eliminating higher pitched overtones making it seem deeper.

TLDR: my theory is that pe foam/tempest tape mod reduces overtones and sliiightly mutes the sound, making boards sound poppier and seemingly deeper, much like putting moon gel/tape on acoustic drums to reduce overtones and slightly mute them, making them sound slightly punchier and less ringy

i didnt expect this to be this long LMAO i geeked out too much ok bye

[shardik]

just a passing commenter's critique, when doing typing tests, type a little bit slower on purpose. It's awesome you can type that fast, but I could barely distinguish individual key presses which isn't super helpful when comparing one thing vs another (in this case, a mod vs no mod).

[BlueSaturnn]

Great video! B-roll is great and editing is super clean. Love the black screens with text and questions! The intro is very well done and show a great overview of what's to come. Keep it up!

[Oatneil]

Gaffers tape is not super sticky and that is why it was made is so it was easy to remove without much or any residue for cords/cables in stage sets. I have a roll of it next to me. Error is at 0:43.

Gaffers tape also works great for more of a dampening effect vs painters tape and if you are worried about any residues on the pcb just use painters tape as first layer and then any additional layers use gaffers.

[pixxel]

I think that this mod will be really good for tray mount board like the Tofu and GK61. This allows the assembly to shine more than the case and removes a lot of the reverb and instead raises the volume of the switches, plate, and pcb. I will definitely try this on my Tofu which already has some foam in the case. I think that foam combined with this mod will really allow cheaper boards to showcase the switch and plate choice much more :3

[KoZeroSM]

This does really work on my measly budget Tecware Phantom L. After applying several layers of masking tape to the bottom of the PCB and several snippets of it under the stabilizers, I've achieved the thocc and clean sound that I have wished for so long. The sound difference between before and after is like night and day.

[morigafter]

Definitely makes cheaper boards sound so much better

[lordhive]

2:49 Parry The Platipus is having a long speech here

[MSJChem]

This mod made my Q1 sound better in general but was most noticeable on the larger keys like the spacebar, backspace, enter, etc. They sounded a lot better after the tape mod. Much less hollow if that makes sense.

[sunraiii]

The quality of your videos is on point. Sound, b rolls and content structure are sublime!

[matthorndrums]

The tape is just controlling the tone. We use a similar method by putting tape on drums. It controls over tones and makes the sound more focused.

[Jess_k]

Howdy Hey. Here from Hipyo Tech! Dope vid bro

[privateuploads]

This is way clearer than Hipyo 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣