A few days ago, Cooler Master released information about a new product that they’re working on. A keypad that utilizes Aimpad technology to bring pressure sensitivity to the tip of your fingers, literally. They are calling it, ControlPad. Using Aimpad tech, they will be the first to create analog keys for whatever your heart desires. In my case, that’s gaming.
“Designed as a passion project from the ground up, ControlPad aims to change the way we interact with our most used programs and applications on a more intuitive scale,” says Bryant Nguyen, Peripheral General Manager. Cooler Master gives us a better understanding of how this will help several demographics.
Who Is It For
In terms of gamers, they state “Enabling analog control in digital inputs, Aimpad™ allows users to control speed, yaw, adjust pitch, creep, and roll. During driving games Aimpad™ can be utilized to make smooth turns on the fly or ease into gentle curves by simply changing the distance of the keypress”.
As for creative professionals, they state “ControlPad can be used to make production and editing applications more intuitive and useful on-the-fly. Apply presets, switch tools, adjust brush opacity, thickness, or size during brush strokes with pressure sensitive inputs on ControlPad”.
So what more can we expect from this ControlPad? Well, here is a list of features they plan to include:
- 24 mechanical keys
- Cherry MX Red or Gateron Red switches
- Fully programmable with Cooler Master Software
- 2 precision scroll wheels
- Full RGB lighting
- Macro presets
- Hotkeys for entire Adobe Suite
- Magnetic wrist rest
- Aluminum build material
Console controllers have long had pressure sensitive abilities. It is finally happening for the PC realm outside of steering wheels and flight sticks. I’m excited to see what games I can utilize this the most. The macro presets they mentioned say that it will be for “several notable video games and popular applications”.
The Kickstarter
Cooler Master has always been HUGE on community engagement. Most of their products over the last few years have been inspired purely off community requests. So it comes to no surprise that a Kickstarter was announced to help support this new product. It’s only been live for a few days, but has almost reached their goal of $50K. As of right now it is sitting at $45K, and rising fast. There is still 42 days left to reach their goal, so there is little chance of this not happening.
There are nearly 100 comments on the Kickstarter. Many of them are people excited for this product, while others are providing critical feedback and requests. If you have any ideas or requests, this would be the place to do it for now. As for now, I am just happy to finally get an analog keypad. It will come in handy when editing videos. The backer rewards are amazing and totally worth it if interested in purchasing one. Still no information on a release date or pricing, but we hope to hear more soon. Stay tuned.
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