Having reviewed and loved the Vulcan Pro in a previous review I was looking forward to seeing how I would get on using a TKL version. I’ve always had my number pad to hand so for the first couple of weeks I’d find myself going to press buttons that weren’t actually there, but once you get used to it there shouldn’t be a problem.

The keyboard isn’t cheap, it’s currently on sale at £120, down from £149.99 but you are getting a neat piece of kit. The artic white version looks fantastic, with a brushed aluminium frame on the board with bright white keys that create a clean, crisp look. The backside of the keyboard is plastic with several rubber feet and two height adjustment pop-up stands for raising the keyboard above the desk. 

The keyboard comes with a detachable 1.9m USB-C to USB-A cable with a braided rigid outer sheath. The cable is Roccat branded and features a black keyboard etching on the side of the USB-A plug connector, which helps identify the right side up. There is also a keyboard marking on the plug that also makes it easy to distinguish the Roccat cable, which is great if you have as many wires as I do! 

Roccat also equipped the keyboard with a volume knob, dedicated mute button and RGB backlighting that creates a bright atmosphere thanks to the Titan Switch Optical’s transparent housing

ROCCAT’s new Titan Switch Optical has a 1.4mm actuation, giving lightning fast reactions, perfect for FPS titles, although if you are using it for say to day use you might want to keep a spell-checker handy.

I’ve been testing the keyboard for over a month and it’s great to use. I’ve played Fortnite (badly) and even some Halo Infinite (slightly better), the keyboard felt quick to respond and light to the touch, the key caps feel great even after heavy use.

As with all of ROCCAT’s products they are supported by Swarm, the app that manages forward updates and various customisation. The showstopper for ROCCAT is the AIMO lighting engine which can react to you and what you are doing on the screen without having to customise the keyboard. I’ll be honest, I have never been a fan of the system and much prefer to customise the RGB to my own tastes. I particularly like the fact you can customise different zones on the keyboard or even individual keys to colours of your choice. The colours are vibrant and look really impressive in darker environments.

As well as colour customisation you can use Swarm to assign functions to keys, create up to five different profiles and record macros. The further you delve into these options the more impressive the keyboard becomes. My favourite feature is the ability to save all of the customisation onto the the keyboard’s memory, which is great if you travel to tournaments or work with it.

It’s hard not to love this keyboard, it’s well built, looks fantastic and performs excellently. The software can be a bit of let down at times but it’s not enough of a reason not to have this piece of kit proudly sitting at your desk.

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The ROCCAT Magma on first inspection feels quite cheap and when you first turn the keyboard on the RGB can be quite overwhelming, but it’s once you begin to use the keyboard those concerns.

The keyboard comes with a nice wrist rest that is easily attached and unattached depending on your preference. It feels cheap but once it has been attached to the Magma it looks great and provides the right amount of support while typing or gaming.

The keys are spaced out nicely enough that for day to day use while working, you are less likely to make mistakes, when gaming you won’t make mistakes while in your all important matches. The quieter keystrokes are perfect if you are a late night gamer who needs to keep the noise down and the bright RGB will help you allow you easily play in those dark conditions. This isn’t a keyboard for those who play competitive esports, despite the excellent advanced anti-ghosting technology. 

Using ROCCAT’s swarm software you can customise the keyboard to suit your needs. The RGB is split into 5 zones, they produce bright vivid colours under the Semi-transparent top plate. By default the keyboard is set to use their AIMO lighting system that reacts to what you’re doing on the screen to give an interactive experience. Swarm has vastly improved over the past year or so, it’s much more stable than it used to be.

If you are looking to customise colours to individual keys you are out of luck but you can’t make use of Swarm to customise what the keys surrounding the WASD zone can do. Holding down the designated Easy-Shift[+] button unlocks a second function that can help you whether you are working or gaming.

I was dubious about this keyboard at the beginning but once I began to use it i’ve discovered just how good it is. Considering the price, build and features it’s safe to say this is the best membrane keyboard I’ve used. You could safely spend a bit more on your next gaming rig and use the spare cash to buy this, because you should.

The ROCCAT Magma is available for £49.99 direct from their website.

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Roccat have released the Vulcan 121 AIMO Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, an excellent mechanical gaming keyboard m, it’s a well made live e of kit that looks stylish and feels premium but is let down by its supporting software.

The Vulcan is a gorgeous piece of kit, the body is made of brushed aluminium, giving a premium look to the keyboard. Without the RGB lighting this keyboard would look stylish with any gaming setup. The keys, look and feel fantastic too, all of the keys parts are exposed with the removable keycaps sitting on top.

When the RGB lighting is active the keyboard really comes to life. Depending on how you set up the keyboard the Vulcan has various options to suit any gamer’s needs, but more on that later. The Macro keys double up as the Insert, Page up/down, home, end and delete buttons while F1-12 act as switches between profiles and media keys when used with the function button. There are three media buttons and a dial in the top right hand corner of the keyboard that can control the volume and the brightness of the lighting on the back board.

It also comes with a magnetic wrist rest that attaches to the bottom of the keyboard. I started of using it but after a while I felt it got in the way.

The Roccat Vulcan 121 switches feel very similar to the Cherry MX browns, except there is a shorter difference on the Vulcan by 0.2mm. Whether you are gaming on working you’ll feel like you everything is responding faster thanks to the way the switches react to your touch.

I’ve played various games from Fortnite to Two-Point Hospital, with Fortnite you reactions need to be quick, especially when building structures and having tested the difference when using my standard keyboard you could really feel the difference (it didn’t make many any better however!). For the most part I really like the RGB options, there are various options to choose from including Roccat’s intelligent lighting that responds to the colours on your screen.

The biggest let down for the keyboard was the Swarm Software, this is where you can customise the different profiles, as well as any other customisation you require, whether its remapping the keys or setting up macros. My issues started straight away, having installed the software, I was notified that it needed to update, which then crashed. After much googling I managed to get the software updated, but it’s been buggy ever since, crashing often and not responding to the changes I request. One annoying issue involves switching users, I’ve set up profiles for each user but quite often the software ignores this and does what it feels like. It’s a huge let down for the keyboard as it’s a great bit of kit.

The Keyboard isn’t cheap, coming in at £149.99, however it’s an awesome keyboard that is well built and looks brilliant, Its hard going back to normal keyboards now…

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