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DARKBEACON GUIDE

Configure Dynamic Key Switching (DKS)

Assign actions to visible press and release phases, test a conservative two-stage example, and recover an ordinary key safely.

On this page

Applies to: Supported Hall-effect keyboards shown in the App

What you will accomplish

Configure Dynamic Key Switching (DKS) (A key behavior that assigns different actions to different stages of one press and release) on one harmless test key and verify each visible phase independently.

Applies to

Steps

Steps
  1. Export or duplicate the current profile and choose one harmless test key.
  2. Open Advanced Keys, choose Dynamic Key Switching (DKS), and select the key.
  3. Review the four visible phases in order: Press Start, Press to Bottom, Release at Bottom, and Fully Released. The App shows each phase position in millimetres and opens at 1.0 mm, 3.0 mm, 3.0 mm, and 1.0 mm.
  4. Find the white DKS marker on the assigned key. The highlighted marker is the assignment you are editing, and dimmed markers are other active assignments.
  5. In the grid at the bottom of the page, select a row's input box and press the key you want that row to output. Right-click the box to clear it. One assignment holds up to four independent actions.
  6. Begin with two actions placed far apart. For example, place one harmless action at an early press phase and another near the deeper press phase. Treat this as a test layout, not a recommended game setting.
  7. Select a single + when an action should run once at that phase. To hold an action instead, drag the white dot between two or more + marks, and the key stays pressed across that range. To move and sprint from one key, for example, bind the sprint key to a movement key's second row and drag the white dot across the second and third marks.
  8. Press slowly through every phase, pause at full travel, and release slowly through every phase. Then repeat at a normal speed.
  9. If the App offers Rapid Trigger for the same key, test DKS first without it. Then compare a shallow press and rebound with a full-depth press and release, using the phase-specific explanation below.
  10. Test the layer boundary while a harmless action is active. Changing layers cancels active DKS actions; return the key fully to rest before pressing it on the destination layer.
  11. Select Save to keyboard after all four phases, ordinary release, and layer recovery are predictable.

Combining DKS with Rapid Trigger

DKS keeps the actions you assigned to its phases; RT does not add an ordinary key output. The first DKS sequence starts at Press Start, not at the ordinary key's separate actuation point.

During a shallow press that has not reached Press to Bottom, sufficient upward movement with RT can end the sequence early. Held actions release and the Fully Released phase runs, even though the key has not physically returned to rest. The deeper phases you never reached are not inserted into that shallow sequence. Another sufficient downward movement can start a new shallow sequence. With Continuous Rapid Trigger off, the key must also reach the DKS starting threshold again; with it on, re-activation can occur higher in travel while the RT cycle remains active.

Once you have reached the deeper press phase, the normal deeper DKS release-phase positions still matter. Do not expect RT sensitivity to replace all four phase positions or make every stage repeat in the same way.

Test with two harmless actions: first press only past Press Start and rebound; then fully release, press through Press to Bottom, and release slowly. Compare the actions actually reached before adjusting any distances. See Configure Rapid Trigger for sensitivity and layer cautions.

An empty row produces no action, not the key's printed letter; other configured rows still work. To disable the entire key's configured behavior, use Disable in Remap where available. To give the key an ordinary remap or macro instead, remove its DKS assignment first.

Confirm success

The intended action starts or stops at each visible phase, one-time actions do not remain held, held actions release at the intended phase, and a layer change returns the test to neutral.

Save result

Editing changes the current working configuration. Save to device (Store the current settings on the device so they remain after the App disconnects or power is restored) through the App's Save to keyboard action only after the phase test succeeds.

Limits and cautions

Recovery

Release the key, remove the DKS assignment, restore one ordinary mapping, and test press and release before using Save to keyboard. If a phase is merely misplaced, move only that phase back to the prior value and retest.