Mechanical keyboard sound, on every keypress.
meckey plays realistic mechanical-keyboard sounds as you type — 12 boards measured for texture, per-press variation, on-screen keystrokes, a live WPM graph. macOS 14+, one binary, no network, no account.
Single binary. No installer account, no network calls, no telemetry.
How it works
It hears the key code, nothing else
A platform hook reports which key moved. meckey maps that code to a sound and plays it — the character you typed is never read, stored or transmitted.
The audio callback never waits
No allocation, no lock, no decode on the hot path. Samples are decoded once at load; the callback only copies frames into the output buffer.
Every press sounds a little different
Per-press variation, a short tail so keys don't smear together, a low-end lift for fuller thump, and a Grounded control that dials how much low end you want.
12 boards, grouped by what they measure like
Each pack's attack, decay, sustain, release and spectral centroid are measured from its own audio, then filed into one of five texture groups — so the menu answers "not that woody, more grounded" before you read a single name.
Measured, not claimed
≤ 10 ms
p99 internal, key to sample
≤ 30 ms
p99 wired end-to-end
0.8–1.0%
idle CPU, one core
8–9%
animated menu-bar glyph while typing, three displays — off by default
Every number above comes from meckey bench, a command anyone can run, not a marketing claim. An optional 128-frame buffer pin trades a little CPU for lower latency on machines that can spare it.
Your keystrokes stay on your machine
Input Monitoring, only when you ask
macOS's permission is requested from a menu item — never at launch. Preflight is silent.
No network, no account
meckey makes no network calls. There is nothing to sign in to and nothing phoning home.
Only the key code, never the content
What you typed never leaves the machine or gets logged — only the key code, to pick which sound plays.
One price. No subscription.
Free
The whole engine, two boards.
$0forever
forever — 2 boards, full sound engine, no account
- Cherry MX Blue ABS and Cherry MX Brown ABS
- Every sound control: per-press variation, short tail, low-end lift, Grounded thump
- Volume, mute, output device, 128-frame low-latency pin
- p99 latency 10 ms internal, 30 ms wired end to end — measured, not claimed
- No account, no network, no telemetry. Key codes never leave the machine
Pro
Every board, and everything drawn on top of typing.
$12one-time
one-time — every board, on-screen keystrokes, WPM graph, pack import · 3 machines
- All 12 boards, grouped by measured texture — and every board added later
- On-screen keystrokes: any display, nine positions, your size
- Live words-per-minute graph
- Import your own Mechvibes packs
- 3 machines on one licence
- Every sound control: per-press variation, short tail, low-end lift, Grounded thump
- Volume, mute, output device, 128-frame low-latency pin
- p99 latency 10 ms internal, 30 ms wired end to end — measured, not claimed
- No account, no network, no telemetry. Key codes never leave the machine
Studio
Pro, across the bench.
$29one-time
one-time — everything in Pro · 10 machines
- Everything in Pro
- 10 machines on one licence
- Priority on new board requests
Type. Hear it.
macOS 14 or later. One binary, no installer account. Two boards free, forever.
Download meckey for macOSFrequently asked
What sound format do the boards use?
Mechvibes-format packs — the same config.json + audio-sprite layout the Mechvibes community already uses. You can import your own Mechvibes pack directory on Pro and Studio.
Are the bundled boards properly licensed?
Every pack directory ships with its own LICENSE naming CC0, CC-BY or MIT, or is our own recording — that's a release gate, not a promise. No pack ships without one.
How are boards grouped in the menu?
By measured sound texture — attack, decay, sustain, release and spectral centroid run on the actual audio, then bucketed into five groups (Thump, Thocky, Creamy, Clacky, Crisp). Not by marketing copy or feel.
Does the on-screen keystroke overlay work with multiple monitors?
Yes — any display, nine anchor positions per display, with configurable key size and margin. It draws above full-screen content, including a video wallpaper running underneath.
What does the menu-bar glyph cost if I turn on animation?
It's off by default because it isn't free: animating the glyph with your typing measured at 8-9% of one core on a three-display Mac. Idle CPU with it off is 0.8-1.0% of one core.
Is there a subscription?
No. Free is free forever. Pro and Studio are one-time purchases with no recurring charge.