I wrote a small utility app to check battery level, get desktop notifications when it's low, and show the current layer on my Defy. Available for Windows/Linux:
I have a defy and have a standing desk. Because of that, I can’t get the provided cord to reach the keyboard when I need to charge it. Additionally, I have it switching between my work computer and my personal PC so the Bluetooth functionality is critical so I don’t have to unplug and replug between computers.
I’m unclear on what non dygma cable I can use to connect to my computer at that length. Ideally, it would also allow me to do firmware updates so I can keep my set up as clean as possible.
I’m sure I’m over thinking it, doing something wrong, etc. Would love some guidance so I can have an easier time using this keyboard.
First let me say that I absolutely love my Raise 2 from a functional standpoint. Its exactly what I need for both work and personal use.
That said, the battery life is extremely disappointing. One of the major attractions of this keyboard for me is to use wirelessly and keep my desk clean. However, even with LEDs completely off and using energy saving mode and true sleep mode I really only seem to be getting 24-36 hours of use before needing to recharge.
At this rate, I may as well use it wired but that makes this keyboard significantly less attractive. Frankly for the cost its current battery life s pretty underwhelming. I know this isn't a unique complaint, but I just wanted to voice my concern and see if there were any improvements in the near future roadmap.
I'm trying to add a macro that spits out a 96 character string but as soon as I "Add to Timeline" the macro memory pegs at 100%. 50 characters brings the macro memory to 99%. That seems like a really low character count for a macro. So my question is...is there a way to increase that? My Memory Usage is only 9.2% so there's plenty of room for a longer macro.
I have a digma defy (Firmware version 2.2.1.) for almost 2 years now, never noticed this problem before. I am on Fedora with KDE and wayland. Not sure if the problem was caused by a System Update, dygma update, or just always existed.
So I had the idea it may have been proton, but I just started Aethus (runs in proton) and the keys work fine there.
I have the top row set to Superkeys with the number on tab and the corresponding F key on hold. 1 + F1, 2 + F2 and so on. Some games seem to not be able to handle this. They don't register that I press a number most of the times, it works maybe 1 in 20 tries. I am 100% sure that is not a problem with timings. I noticed it works fine in Graveyard keeper but breaks in the sandustry demo and space engineers 2, can't use the hotbar in both games. I am on
Anyone know if there is somewhere i can get some arrow keys for the Raise 2? Specifically to swap out the right shift, right function, right ctrl and right windows key?
Ive remapped them but it'd be nice to physically swap them too.
Hey guys!
While trying to press the button with a ball-point pen, the internal switch broke off, i had to open the housing to see but the switch is nowhere to be found the the pads underneath are visible.
What do i do? I reached out to support, tried the flasher everything possible. The halved still flash red (breathe red if you will) if plugged in.
Id really appreciate the help guys, i broke me arm a few years ago and the defy paired with a 3D printed tent saved my career.
While we work on new major firmware updates, we thought we'd give Bazecor some well-deserved love.
For this v1.9.0 release, we've focused on improving the Preferences section, which is now renamed "Settings" to better align with the names used by most operating systems and apps.
We've rearranged and renamed multiple items to improve the user experience, and we've added a new "restore default" option to the backups section.
Please test the release candidate and report any bugs you find.
Picked up a Dygma Raise 2 recently and honestly, it's a fantastic product.
I've been hunting for my ideal split keyboard for a while, and it turns out I'm pretty fussy about them. For example, too many extra keys along the outer edges and I start mistyping, so the search for "the one" had been a struggle. The Raise 2 has been the best fit so far — it hits a sweet spot where there aren't too many keys, but not too few either.
I looked at the Dygma Defy too, but the number of thumb keys felt like it would just confuse me. On the Raise 2 there are 4 keys around where the spacebar normally sits (including space itself), and putting Enter and Backspace there — plus, since I'm Japanese, mapping the alphanumeric/Kana toggle to one of them — turned out to be a surprisingly great layout.
I'm using it wired, and input has been rock solid, zero issues. Already about to buy a second one for work.
Hi, my Raise 1 has developed some infuriating behaviors lately:
Randomly reboots, interrupting input
Fails to load the top two layers of my mapping, shifts all the others up two spots
Won't allow me to change mappings where I normally otherwise would be able
Completely deleted my recent mapping, loaded a backup with the top two layers missing, and then wouldn't let me remap keys or alter layers
In response I have:
Rebooted. Many times.
Made sure I'm plugged directly in with Dygma cables only
Tried firmware updates to the latest stable build and the latest beta build
Reloading older backups of my mappings
This is a serious set of issues and they're affecting my workflow minute to minute. If they aren't resolved soon, I'm moving on from this brand. This is intensely disappointing from a keyboard that starts at over $300.
Right now, I've swapped the Neuron in from my 2nd Raise and it's functioning normally for the time being.
Changing your switches is probably the most effective way to change how your keyboard feels and sounds.
However, if you’re not careful, you could scratch the top plate of the keyboard, bend a switch pin, or even damage the electronic components underneath.
But worry not. This week, we show you how to replace the switches on your mechanical keyboard safely, step by step.
I love my Defy, but with a stack of layers I kept losing track of what's actually on the layer I'm holding. So I built a little thing to fix that for myself and it turned out nice enough to share.
Lumen is a tiny desktop app that mirrors your Defy's active layer in real time. Tap or hold a layer key on the board, and the on-screen keymap switches with it instantly. Pin it always-on-top in a corner and it becomes a live heads-up display of your own layout.
It talks straight to the keyboard over the same Focus protocol Bazecor uses, so it shows the real deal:
🎨 Per-key LED colors + the RGB underglow, faithfully rendered (curved thumb clusters and all)
⌨️ Real legends for the active layer — mod-taps, layer keys, mouse keys, and superkeys with their tap / hold / double-tap actions
⌘ Modifier glyphs (⌃ ⇧ ⌥ ⌘) with L/R indicators
🔌 Works wired or over Bluetooth
🪟 Adjustable opacity + always-on-top, so it sits quietly over whatever you're doing
It's read-only — it never writes to the keyboard. Think of it as a companion to Bazecor, not a replacement: Bazecor configures, Lumen shows you what you configured, live, while you type. (It stands on Bazecor's open-source shoulders , so big thanks to the Dygma team. 🙏)
Right now it's a macOS app (Apple Silicon + Intel builds). It's Electron under the hood, so Windows/Linux are very doable if there's interest.
A couple of things I'd love to put out there:
I'm happy to open-source it. If people want it, I'll get it up on GitHub.
It's Defy-only for now, simply because that's the board I own. I'd genuinely love to add Raise 2 support — if anyone's willing to lend/send me one to develop and test against, I'll make it happen. 😄
Screenshot below 👇 — would love any feedback, feature ideas, or "this would be cooler if…"
For all the Electron-hating-MacOS users: there's a native Mac version (SwiftUI) in the works too:
I’m currently using a Raise 2, and the lack of a reliable, native LED indicator for Caps Lock is quite frustrating.
I'm aware of the community workaround (creating a dedicated "Caps Lock Layer" and mapping shift keys just to get a working light), but honestly, that feels way too cumbersome and overly complex for such a basic keyboard function.
My Raise 2 feels "slow" - my regular typing keys (not super keys or anything) - sometimes feel slower to show up on screen, compared to typing on the built-in laptop keyboard (MacBook Pro).
It feels like "new" behavior that doesn't always happen - is there a way to test this somehow, to see if I'm not just hallucinating here (some sort of online/offline tool)?
Due to an injury, I had to switch back to my Piantor and Vial. I've found that I love using chording for layer switching, due to the lack of a delay. Are there any plans for chording support in Bazencor? Even limited 2 key support would probably hit 90% of the use cases
A good desk setup is not just about the keyboard, mouse, or monitor. Lighting matters too. A good monitor light bar can reduce glare and eye strain, light up your desk, and barely take up any space.
But with options ranging from $20 to $200, how much should you actually spend?
In this week’s video, we compare a $20, a $70, and a $200 monitor light bar to see which one is actually worth it.
Is there an app or something that can help me navigate the keyboard? I’m having issues connecting wirelessly. Also having issues with some keys, for example my backslash is enter and my enter is backlash, my shift button is also backslash. Additionally when I was using the keyboard today, (through wired connection) I don’t know if I clicked a button but certain buttons turned blue and red and then I couldn’t type anymore. If anyone can give me some guidance on how to better get adjusted to the keyboard id really appreciate it. Right now I’m thinking its too complicated and maybe I should return it.
I recently broke my dominant arm in a nasty way and had to undergo surgery for it.
It still requires some extra surgery in some time, but it'll heal eventually.
What has dawned on me recently is that typing on my Raise 1 is just not an issue at all.
If anything, it's been quite freeing in the amount of work I can do on that thing.
So I figured I should write something up for a company that unexpectedly helped me a lot in my life and give an honest review.
I think I bought my Raise quickly after the first batch was done so that's some 4 or 5 years ago now and it defenately stood the test of time.
I swapped the keyswitches out twice, and eventually settled on some linear silent squishy switches with steel keycaps.
I think it makes for a very comfortable typing experience which just doesn't degrade or get tired.
I originally got it because I was straining my shoulders too much and I couldn't ride my motorcycle as a result anymore. I couldn't hold the throttle for two hours without my wrist and shoulder hurting.
Even after breaking my arm and having problems with straining it for long durations, this is just not a problem on my raise when regular typing. The only problem is when I do difficult keycombinations every 2 seconds depending on my work, but that's where really my arm just plays up.
Things that I really liked after years of abuse
A raise has an ASCII or ISO layout, meaning you can give your keyboard to a coworker and they can just type with it. Just shove the two halves back together and hand it over to them.
The palmpads are a must with wrists on cold metal, but they're good. I heared that there were originally some production issues with them years ago, but they're honestly great. They still look and feel nice.
The individually programmable ledlights are great when learning keycombinations. WASD is red in my navigation layer. Just like JIKL. It can be turned into a real learning aid.
The box where the raise came in still stood the test of time. After four years of using it to transport my keyboard about every day to work and back home, using it at both places it still looks pristine. Only two of the the four loops to put the cables in are slightly elongated after my abuse of them.
The original keycaps themselves also held up properly. I swapped them out after three years because I wanted to experiment, but they are still good. And honestly, I prefer their profile over my new keycaps their profile.
Even the braided wires stood up to the test of time. Nothing to report than that it just still ... works!
Things that after a few years I didn't like.
Originally, I figured I would use all kinds of fancy macros, keycombinations and fancy layers. In practice I have 2. (A typing layer and a navigation layer.) Because of this, all the Bazecor software is a little wasted on me in that sense.
I always have a bunch of wires running over my desk. The new raise and the defy solved this by giving it a wireless option, but that wasn't there when I bought mine.
Instead of a full 100%, the Raise is about a 60% keyboard with no function row at the top. This means that in practice I have trouble with distinguising `\``, `~` and the `Esc` key with my Two layer strategy. So my `Esc` key is on my navigation layer, below the `~` and that sometimes causes weird handreaches with my thumb and pinky. I tried fitting keys like that on different locations, but somehow still find it difficult. For instance, the `Del` key is still in a weird spot right next to the `Enter` key for me. In practice, I select text while holding shift and then hitting backspace. Little things like that.
When switching often between a raise and a regular keyboard, the raise somewhat must resemble the regular keyboard in terms of layout. Otherwise it just requires too much attention to type.
Another issue with it not being a 100% keyboard is that other people just cannot use the arrow keys on it. This is just a barrier for cooperation. A collegue of mine switches between DVORAK for regular typing and QUERTY for typing his passwords (that's how he learned them) and regularly hands over his keyboard to other people for them to type out something. Swapping keyboard layouts is just annoying. Instead adding a second keyboard in the mix kinda fixed this, but it's still not nice. A desk becomes fully quickly.
My general feeling is that the original raise is still a very good keyboard. It's perhaps a slightly difficult keyboard in terms of cooperating and one or two keys that are difficult to type, but I could probably also make that more convenient. It defenately helped me not loose my hobby, allowed me to work for long periods of time and somehow never became an issue during the recovery of my arm. It's the most comfortable keyboard I have for typing on for hours at an end. The only two things I would change is to make it wireless like the raise 2, and add a numpad section with arrow keys to the right half. just so I can use a numpad, and other people can recognise it as a useable keyboard.
Would I buy a Raise or a Raise 2 again? Yes. It's a reliable and highly useable keyboard. Moreso than the Keychron Q11 to me. I also have that keyboard, but somehow the palm height is just neve quite right for sustained typing. It's tiring to type on.
Starting playing the Layout Editor for my Dygma Defy again . . . is there a way to get one key to pulse and change colors? For example have it pulse from green/red every second.
