RGB Lighting

The Split72 has a per-key RGB LED under every keycap — 72 in total, 36 per half. Because the keycaps are transparent and the OLED sits inside them, one key shows both a legend and a colour at the same time.

Note

This is a Split72 feature. The Split42 has no LEDs fitted, so none of the controls below do anything on it — see Keyboard Variants.

Controlling the lighting

The lighting controls live together on the settings layer of the default keymap, in the right-hand block. You don’t need to memorise them: when that layer is active every keycap shows what it does, so the controls read themselves.

Control	What it does
On / off	Toggles the matrix. The status display shows RGB Off while it is off
Previous / next effect	Steps through the enabled effects
Four direct effect keys	Jump straight to a plain, breathing, rainbow or swirl effect
Hue − / +	Shifts the colour
Saturation − / +	From washed-out to fully saturated
Brightness − / +	Dims or brightens the LEDs
Speed − / +	How fast an animated effect runs

There are 41 effects compiled in, including reactive ones that light the key you just pressed and splash effects that ripple outward from it.

Your choices are stored on the keyboard and survive a reboot, and the on/off state is shared with the other half so both sides stay in step.

Note

RGB brightness is separate from the keycap display brightness. The displays are what you read; the LEDs are what you see around them. Display brightness — including the automatic daylight and light-sensor modes — is covered in Display Brightness.

Colour as a status signal

The keyboard also uses the lighting to tell you something the keycaps cannot, because during an update they are busy: whether it is safe to keep typing.

What you see	What is happening	Can you type?
Breathing cyan	A font pack or a firmware image is being written to the keyboard	Yes — the keyboard is still running normally
Breathing orange	A staged firmware image is being applied, or a half is in its bootloader	No — a reboot is imminent

The rule is worth remembering on its own: orange means the keyboard cannot accept input right now. Cyan means a transfer is in progress but nothing is interrupted.

When the update finishes, your normal lighting comes back exactly as it was — including staying off if you had it off. The keyboard turns the matrix on only for the duration of the signal.

Tip

Both halves show the signal, so you can tell at a glance whether an update reached the second half — which is the half that has no USB connection of its own.