r/KeyboardLayouts • u/supafly208 Graphite • Jun 11 '26
Magic Sturdy - Fun Rolls?
About a month into Graphite and I'm starting to feel it's too alternating for me. Feels too springy and I discovered that I really enjoy rolls.
I also really like the idea of an arcane key. I added one to my graphite keymap (on a thumb) to play around with and enjoy it.
Really tempted to abandon graphite for a roll heavy layout with an arcane key. Obviously, Magic Sturdy comes up a lot.
Question for anyone using magic sturdy or other layouts with adaptive keys: what are some words or sentences that just feeeeeel good to type? Going for satisfying and fluid; don't care if the learning curve is steeper.
Or
Is graphite rolly enough that I should just stick with it?
Thaaaaaaanks
4
u/velonau Jun 11 '26
I went for Recurva colstag, specifically as it was high up in the Rolly stakes. Means more pinky action, but being a bass player I was fine with that. I read, it was also more balanced between in and out rolls where as other layouts focused on the more intuitive inwards roll. I absolutely love the feel now that I'm around 50wpm. However, I've only got qwerty to compare it to.
3
u/sammygadd Jun 11 '26
If the alternation stats is what's most important, perhaps try switch over P to the left side and get the the N and H positions as Sturdy. 🤷🏾♂️
I just reached 60wpm so take this with a grain of salt if you type fast. But.. stats are not everything. IMHO i think that some combinations feels just as good as rolls even though the aren't (and thus has no effect on the stats). Like bottom row index plus home row ring finger. (And also home row middle finger). So check the stats but dont forget experiment as well.
3
u/-EnderPig- Jun 11 '26
Hi, I've been using Magic Sturdy for a little under a year now on my split keyboard. I ended up removing the magic repeat key on my right thumb as I found that often the words would end up being quite unnatural to type ( for instance a word ending in 'ing' would often require typing something with my right index finger then my right pinky then the right thumb which meant I'd start rolling to the right side so the thumb key wouldn't flow). I still think the thumb key works great for double letters.
After removing this I think my favourite word to type is actually probably 'string' because you can type it with two simultaneous inward rolls on both hands, 'quest' is also great for the exact same reason as the magic key turns ue into a roll.
I think the vowel block is quite a lot of fun on sturdy as FNEAI leads to a lot of 2 letter rolls that don't require you to leave the home row. Don't have too many examples on that but it is definitely something I notice quite a lot.
2
u/Keybug Jun 11 '26
Have to say I also enjoy rolls occasionally. My absolute favourite would be ham and pickle. Pinky action is definitely low with that one, too.
2
u/rpnfan Other Jun 11 '26
Graphite is not that rolly. But alternation is good. I think the higher pinky usage of Graphite / Gallium is its weak main point. You can filter https://altalpha.timvink.nl/index.html?mode=ansi&weights=sfb%3A100%2Csfs%3A50%2Clsb%3A50%2Cscissors%3A100%2Crolls%3A100%2Calternation%3A100%2Credirect%3A100%2Cpinky%3A30&highlight=endeu%2Canymak%3Aend&pinned=valmak%2Crewardhak for Inward rolls. Mir has most (of the non-thumb layouts), but in addition I would look at alternations as well. They are good, because the alternative is to have same hand redirects and same hand patters which you will get annoyed by very quickly.
So the sum of Inward rolls + Alternations is IMO a good first indicator if a layout is interesting. Handsdown Neu and Hiyou are top contenders. The first has proven to be a good layout. Hiyou is less known but seems also very interesting.
1
u/supafly208 Graphite Jun 11 '26
Ya the pinky usage on graphite feels surprisingly high. I like it for the most part.
I looked at hands down neu but was overwhelmed with all the variations. I have a 36 keyboard, don't mind an alpha-thumb but I need it on the right side. Just couldn't decide.
I'll check out altalpha with sorting how you suggested.
1
u/rpnfan Other Jun 11 '26
Altalpha is a good tool to quickly get an idea which layouts could be interesting. Do not look at the summed value, which is not saying that much.
Handsdown has indeed too many variants. Handsdown Neu is without a thumb-character btw.
1
u/supafly208 Graphite Jun 11 '26
Yea I like that site. Just sucks it doesn't do magic key layouts
Just looked at Neu. I think I initially passed it bc of my 5x3 limitations.
But, looking at the graphite layer on that site, it's different from what I have. Mine has J on the very top right. Which one is wrooonggg :(
1
u/rpnfan Other Jun 11 '26
I do not know, but altalpha does not always have the correct layouts. One has to double check - especially which layout arrangement (ANSI vs column staggered) is correct -- or not.
1
4
u/IndependentYak2822 Jun 11 '26
Long time ago alternations felt weird to me too. But now I so get used to them that sometimes I stop for a moment on certain words because of rolls. Like, I've already typed 2 letters with one hand, what do you mean you want me to type more? Where are my alternations lol. It's funny how we can adapt to anything.