Cooler Master MK850 keyboard review - Analog keys

The eight analog QWERASDF keys

We really do not have to explain Cherry MX switches anymore. Up to this day and age, they are considered to be the holy grail of switches, or at the very least marketed as such. Thing is though, they are binary, 0 versus 1, on and off. Pressing the key half way will not alter your steering angle gradually. And that's where, as stated, the analog functionality comes in. 

Infrared light?

To divert and move away from that on/off binary input, how can you make something analog? Well you need to measure the distance between base and keycap. Aimpad and some technologies like it make use of small infrared lights, these can be used to measure the depth that a switch has been pressed. So the reality here is that the switches for the eight analog keys are still Cherry MX, however, an added sensor is placed under the switches so you can measure the distance as to how much a key is being pressed and use that to produce a controller like function. 

How Does It Work?

Aimpad offers a list of compatible games on its website that they have tested and verified. Any game with proper controller support should be compatible, as long as you configure it. You have probably noticed a row of M (mode) keys to the left of the keyboard? You need to use these five mode buttons to choose how the analog part of the keyboard will function. 

• In the standard 'M1' mode, the analog input is completely off. 
• In the 'M2' to M4 'modes, the keys work with Aimpad. M2-M4 engage FPS Mode, Driving Mode, and Advanced Flight Mode, with different combinations of the Aimpad keys being enabled to reflect the intended use. Mind you, the digital WASD key press functionality is then gone, so you cannot 'type' letters. 
• 'M5' mode is intended for MOBA games and, in this position, the Aimpad input works with digital input.

In the software application, you can configure a limited set of properties of the analog part. The options are fairly scarce though. For example, you can only determine what the keys manage for the M2, M3 and M4 modes. The analog keys of the MK850 can, for the time being, only be used to emulate the functions of an analog joystick controller, so basically a left trigger or right trigger of a controller for, say, steering. 

How Does It Feel?

Weird but very nice, actually. The analog input works a little weird at first, games respond differently of course, much more like a joystick button on a game console. In game, I tried Grand Theft Auto V, the single-player mode allowed me to test the analog input really well. Before you start playing, you will first need to calibrate the analog keys. Cooler Master recommends that you do this every time you turn on the analog input after the keyboard has been turned on for five minutes, which kind of blows. Why a few minutes delay you wonder? The infrared lights heat up slowly which can have an effect on precision. Calibration is really simple and fast though.

You press and hold the Fn + the "-" keys for five seconds. The UIOPJKL; keys will light up with the keys in either green or red. Those eight keys correspond to the eight analog keys (QWERASDF). If any of the UIOPJKL; keys are red, press and hold the corresponding QWERASDF key for a few seconds until you see the light switch from red to green. You need to perform this calibration for every key in each of the M2, M3, M4, and M5 rows. Aimpad works quite well really, especially driving and steering a car works well with analog input on the WASD keys. That said, games will likely need per game sensitivity adjustments, and luckily here we land at the top right buttons.

These you can customize relative as to how far you need to press the key before the analog feedback kicks in, in order to bypass programmed dead zones, there are eight levels. Dirt Rally 2 is also a title I tried, here you can set how sensitive the analog input should respond from the menu. Sensitivity is trivial and you can alter this via the keyboard both by the software or via the buttons above the numpad. Analog steering in the game is far more precise though, as you can adjust how much you want to steer with the pressure you apply. This functionality will work great for racing games, flight sims, FPS (walk/run) and so on.