Retro is in, and MM Studio makes it feel new all over again. The company's last keyboard, the innovative Class80, earned a lot of attention. It was a TKL keyboard inspired by the Famicon (but would like right at home alongside an IBM or Apple II) that even featured a solenoid for loud, clacky typing. The Class65 launched one year earlier and had recently returned as a V2 version and is available in-stock, ready to ship as of this writing. It features everything you would hope for in a custom keyboard: excellent sound and feel, versatility, and oh-so-much character. If you’re a fan of retro aesthetics, this is a keyboard kit that definitely deserves a closer look.
Specifications
- Current Price: $320 - B-Stock, $370 A-Stock (MM Studio)
- Layout: Extended 65%
- Case Material: 6063 Aluminum Board, Brass Weight
- Case Colors: Black Powder-Coating with infused gold particles/White Powder-Coating
- Mounting Style: Leaf Spring Gasket Mount
- Keyboard size: 383.85mm x 146.20mm x 35.13mm (Length x Depth x Height)
- Weight: Within 4 kg
- Typing angle: 6.5°
- Material: 6063 Aluminum Board, Brass Weight
- Plate: Plateless or optional fixing plate for Hot-Swap users (POM plate)
- Connection Method: USB Type-C connection is centered
- Software: support QMK and .json import VIA
MM Studio Class65 - What Is It?
The Class65 V2 is a compact custom keyboard — at least kind of. It is compact and uses an extended 65% layout that seems tailor-made for gaming (macro keys on the left side, navigation and editing keys on the right) but it also embraces the big bezels of years gone by. As a result, its actual footprint is much closer to a TKL. It’s a chonky boi, but in the best possible way. It oozes retro.
And that’s exactly the point. Just like the Class80 before it, the Class65 V2 nis a keyboard designed to take you back in time. Taking inspiration from classic gaming consoles, it’s a conversation piece, something that will immediately grab attention on your desk. People will notice it if you use it at work. And if you let them hold it, they’ll be even more surprised.
Like many custom mechanical keyboards, the Class65 is built from top-shelf parts, and that includes a full, CNC-milled case made of 6063 aluminum (available in white or gold-fleck infused black). Inside is a hefty brass weight that brings its total weight to around five pounds fully. For a 65%, that's fairly hefty. Much more so than you would expect from looking at it above.
The design of the case is also very interesting. From the top down, it looks like a simple rectangle. From the side, you can see a line where the two halves come together that adds to its vintage look. The bottom of the case is cut inward which gives the impression that the keyboard is floating, which is quite neat and something we’re seeing on even newer keyboards like the Wind Studios Z75. Flipped over, the bottom of the case is traced with grille lines that are immediately reminiscent of the Atari 2600.
Don’t let all of its old-school flair fool you: inside, this keyboard offers all of the innovations and fresh typing feel you would expect from a modern custom keyboard. It even pushes the envelope in a few ways to really enhance the typing and gaming experience and give you options to really dial in its sound and feel.
The Class65 uses a gasket-mounted design. Unlike most pre-built keyboards which screw the PCB directly into the bottom case, the gasket mount structure rests the plate and PCB on soft foam strips, isolating it from the rest of the case. This makes typing feel and sound softer and provides movement with each keystroke.
MM Studio takes that a step further with its PCB design. Rather than use solid tabs, the PCB is ringed with leaf springs that you mount the gaskets onto. While the gaskets provide cushioning and sound tuning, the springs themselves offer more bounce and flex to the typing experience. There are also flex cuts across the PCB to provide more movement within each row of keys. The Class65 looks retro but it has a lively, energetic typing experience that is purely 2023.
Another exciting element of its design is that it can be used without a plate! The kits available as in-stock purchases include a flexy POM plate, but as the team described in their GeekHack post, the Class65 is designed to be used plateless, even with hot-swappable switches. This adds much more flex to the typing experience and significantly changes the sound profile. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so rest assured that it works just as well with the POM plate.
This design is interesting because usually manufacturers recommend against going plateless with hot-swappable switches. Since the plate keeps the switches locked in place, many builds can experience switch wobble when using hot-swap sockets. To alleviate that, MM Studio has included two sheets of plate foam in the box. A thin 1.5mm sheet is useful for builds that utilize the POM plate. For plateless builds, a thicker 3.5mm sheet is included that helps stabilize the switches while typing. It works surprisingly well and offers a substantially different typing experience for each type of build.
The keyboard also ships with other foams, filling out an extended foam kit. To add a bit of pop to the typing experience, you have a layer of 0.5mm PE plate foam. Beneath the PCB is a layer of 2mm foam. Beneath than is a final 3mm of case foam. All of these work to isolate the plate and PCB assembly, removing resonance and pinging from the case, dampening keystrokes, and tuning the sound. Every piece is optional and isn’t required to achieve a good sound.
As is usually the case, the kit does not come with switches, keycaps, or stabilizers. MM Studio offers switches and keycaps as an additional purchase, but you’ll need to supply these yourself otherwise.
You won’t find flashy RGB here, but if you’re a gamer looking for a unique set of keys, the Class65 is uniquely suited to the task. Its take on the 65% layout adds a column of macro buttons on the left-hand side. There are arrow keys and three additional buttons on the right. There are no physical function keys, however, so if you use those in your daily workflow, you might find that a bit limiting. Every missing key can be remapped and accessed on a secondary layer, however, so there is no missing functionality here. In fact, you might be surprised to find that the Class65 can actually offer significantly more functionality than most pre-built 65% keyboards you’ll find on Amazon today.
MM Studio Class65 - Programming
That’s because it supports QMK and VIA programming. QMK is an open-source firmware that allows you to rewrite the default keymaps on a keyboard. VIA is a web and desktop app that allows you to make these changes, including macros, online and have those changes take place automatically, without the need to flash the keyboard. You will need to load a JSON file available on the company’s Discord, but from there it’s as simple as clicking the key you would like to replace and choosing what you would like there instead.
What really makes this interesting is when you start working with layers. For example, you can remap any physical key but also apply another function that can be accessed by holding or tapping a Fn key. Fn+1 can equal F1 for example. What makes this better than traditional gaming keyboards is that you can change literally every key and alter exactly how you can access each layer.
For example, I have my keyboard set to send Caps Lock when I tap that key and to access my main function layer when I hold it. By doing so, I can use my pinky to completely change the layout of my keyboard, putting arrows under IJKL for my right hand, for example, or media keys along the right column, and then revert back to the main layer as soon as I let go. It doubles your keys, which is perfect for mapping lots of different skills to the keys you’re already using.
Any key can be programmed to act this way, carrying two functions. Or, you can set it to tap into another layer and leave it active until you tap again. Or have a dedicated Fn key that only manages layer access. You can place it wherever is convenient. To map lots of skills to the left macro bar, for example, you may want to place a Fn key on the right side of the keyboard. The utility here extends well beyond gaming.
What’s more, since these changes apply at the firmware level, they will function the same on any computer, regardless of OS or IT security policy. Want your macros to work wherever you may go? VIA/QMK remapping is the way to do it.
MM Studio Class65 - Assembly
Assembling the Class65 is fairly straightforward if you’ve ever built a custom keyboard before, though I wish MM Studio had a build guide for new builders. I watched the video below to get an idea of the appropriate way to go about it and it confirmed that more experience builders can essentially intuit their way through. Everyone else should give it a watch and read on.
As always, the first step to building a custom keyboard is to prepare your switches and stabilizers. If you’re lubing switches, do it ahead of time. Lubing 71 switches can take 2+ hours depending on how you do it, and lubing/holee modding stabs (as I always do) adds another 30-45 minutes. I usually do this step the day ahead of the actual build.
With that done, your first step is to apply the PE foam to the PCB if you’re using it. Then, screw your stabilizers into place. If you’re using plate foam (you should if you’re going plateless), lay that down, as well as the POM plate if you’re using it. Screw the plate in if you choose. Then, add your switches.
At this point, you need to add the rubber feet to the bottom of the case and install the gaskets. You can install these into the case or onto the leaf springs directly (top and bottom). Use tweezers to get these as straight as possible. From there, add the case foam and bottom PCB foam (with the hot-swap socket cutouts if you want them) to the bottom of the case and plug in the PCB to the USB daughterboard.
With that done, all you need to do is position the PCB assembly into the cutout slots in the case and screw everything back together. Add keycaps and the build is done.
MM Studio Class65 - Performance and Typing Demo
For this build, I used Durock Lavender switches and built the keyboard twice, once without the plate and once with. Both builds provide different enough typing experiences where it’s hard to say one is better than the other. As is the case with most things custom keyboards: it’s all about subjective preference. There is no right or wrong, even if a keyboard is designed to be used one way or another. Build it and have fun with it.
When built without a plate, the typing experience is very soft and very bouncy. You’ll definitely want to use a case foam to prevent the PCB from bottoming out and potentially shorting, but the thin foam is enough to prevent that and doesn’t impact the flex or typing experience in a noticeable way. Like the best custom keyboards, the Class65 V2 has been designed to sound good even without case foam (there’s no ping or resonance), so adding the thinnest foam is really about protection than tuning its sound or feel.
The thicker plate foam does a good job of keeping switches in place. When typing normally, they don’t wobble or go off-kilter like some other keyboards I’ve built. If you happen to press the keys off-center when moving it or reaching for something across your desk (so with more force than normal typing), it’s still possible to tilt them out of place. It’s easy to notice and even easier to fix (just press it back down) but the plateless hotswap option takes a bit more care.
Building plateless also changes the sound profile compared to using the included POM plate. It’s a bit clackier and gives you more of a “pure” switch sound since there’s no intermediary layer.
Adding the POM plate adds stability to the switches but at the expense of some flex. POM plastic is naturally very soft, however, so the keyboard is still very flexy and noticeably bouncy even with the plate. It also deepens the sound some, especially with the modifier keys. For some reason, adding the POM plate made the Caps Lock key sound much more full while the others were a gentler modification.
As of this writing, I’ve used the Class65 for more than a week straight as my daily driver and I have been really impressed with it. Using the PE foam, plate foam, PCB foam, and thin case foam, there is still a surprising amount of flex. What I really like (apart from its retro aesthetic) is that feeling of subtle bounce under your fingers, even with all of the foams. On most keyboards, use PCB and case foam really impacts flex and bounce, but here it’s remains lively and fun to use.
Have a look and hear how it sounds for yourself in the video below.
Final Thoughts
Like the Class80 before it and the new Class60, which is in group buy now, the Class65 is a unique keyboard that’s absolutely brimming with character. I love that this kit gives you the option to build without a plate, and the novel leaf spring tabs lend a lot of flex to the typing experience. Its design isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you love the retro aesthetic and need a set of macro keys for work and gaming, it’s an excellent choice.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes
