One-shot modifiers and thumb cords

[argenkiwi]

I just wanted to share a pattern I have recently adopted and I have found very useful: it consists of assigning a one-shot modifier to a chord that involves a home row key and a thumb key (e.g., space bar). What I have observed is that:

• It offers a timeless alternative to to home row shift.
• It can make many one-shot modifiers available without extra dedicated keys.
• If combined with the home row mod pattern, it preserves the motor memory for the position of the keys.
• If the home row key is released but the thumb key is held, it can be used to anchor a modifier or layer while keeping fingers of both hands free.

The main limitation for the pattern is that the chord threshold has to be below the fastest key-roll between the keys involved in the chord. Considering that on a standard keyboard one of them would be the space-bar, I put together a small tool to measure rolls to and from it: https://github.com/argenkiwi/spaceroll (turn off kanata if you intend to try it).

After a bit of practice the pattern quickly became natural to me. I use it both on my ANSI keyboards and my split keyboard with thumb clusters. I only use it for Shift and for my numbers and symbols layer, for which the pattern adds the most value. I still use HRMs for everything else as I don't find I need them while typing at speed and they get skipped automatically during a typing streak.

You can find a config sample here if interested.

[brandonbeaumia]

I can not stand the latency introduced by home row mods and have never been able to implement them in any way that works for me. I can already tell this is way better. I've set my chord timeout to 24ms, which is an average of just 1.5 frames of latency at 60hz. I can not feel the difference.

Something else that I'm exploring now is putting layers into the pairs of matching modifiers. So spc f and spc j both perform a one-shot mod ctl, but spc f j can be e.g. another layer since the thumb can hold it on via spc. Thanks for posting this, I'm excited to explore this new direction for my layout!

[brandonbeaumia]

(deftemplate hrm (mod)
  (one-shot-press $hrm-oneshot-timeout $mod)
)

(defchordsv2
  (spc a      ) (t! hrm lmet) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   s    ) (t! hrm lalt) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc     d  ) (t! hrm lsft) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc       f) (t! hrm lctl) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()

  (spc a s    ) (multi (t! hrm lmet) (t! hrm lalt)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc a   d  ) (multi (t! hrm lmet) (t! hrm lsft)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc a     f) (multi (t! hrm lmet) (t! hrm lctl)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   s d  ) (multi (t! hrm lalt) (t! hrm lsft)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   s   f) (multi (t! hrm lalt) (t! hrm lctl)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc     d f) (multi (t! hrm lsft) (t! hrm lctl)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()

  (spc a s d  ) (multi (t! hrm lmet) (t! hrm lalt) (t! hrm lsft)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc a s   f) (multi (t! hrm lmet) (t! hrm lalt) (t! hrm lctl)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc a   d f) (multi (t! hrm lmet) (t! hrm lsft) (t! hrm lctl)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   s d f) (multi (t! hrm lalt) (t! hrm lsft) (t! hrm lctl)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()

  (spc a s d f) (multi (t! hrm lmet) (t! hrm lalt) (t! hrm lsft) (t! hrm lctl)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()

  (spc j      ) (t! hrm rctl) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   k    ) (t! hrm rsft) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc     l  ) (t! hrm ralt) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc       ;) (t! hrm rmet) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()

  (spc j k    ) (multi (t! hrm rctl) (t! hrm rsft)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc j   l  ) (multi (t! hrm rctl) (t! hrm ralt)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc j     ;) (multi (t! hrm rctl) (t! hrm rmet)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   k l  ) (multi (t! hrm rsft) (t! hrm ralt)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   k   ;) (multi (t! hrm rsft) (t! hrm rmet)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc     l ;) (multi (t! hrm ralt) (t! hrm rmet)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()

  (spc j k l  ) (multi (t! hrm rctl) (t! hrm rsft) (t! hrm ralt)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc j k   ;) (multi (t! hrm rctl) (t! hrm rsft) (t! hrm rmet)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc j   l ;) (multi (t! hrm rctl) (t! hrm ralt) (t! hrm rmet)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
  (spc   k l ;) (multi (t! hrm rsft) (t! hrm ralt) (t! hrm rmet)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()

  (spc j k l ;) (multi (t! hrm rctl) (t! hrm rsft) (t! hrm ralt) (t! hrm rmet)) $hrm-chord-timeout all-released ()
)

[argenkiwi]

That's a cool take on the concept, I have not pushed it that far myself yet. I will also try reducing the chord timeout to see how low I can get while remaining accurate.

Keen to know how it goes for you after you've spent some time getting used to the motions.