Reducing button noise

Tech Talk
1

I searched and didn’t see anything on this topic.

I wanted to know if anyone has ever tried to reduce the noise hitting the buttons makes? Like, I live in an apartment and my wife goes to sleep before me - I have to switch to pad or she can’t sleep. If I were to place a tiny slice of batting between the parts of the plastic that smack together, would that be feasible? The buttons I have now are the stock Sanwas in the Madcatz SSF4 TE-S, for reference.

Surely there’s some way to accomplish this, right?

2

What you could do is stuff the inside of the stick with some foam.
That works for some people as it absorbs and stifles some of the noise.

3

I’ll give that a shot. Just, like, egg-crate foam?

Is what I was talking about even feasible though? Just to sate my own curiosity. Like a little washer cut out of felt - or some other padded material.

4

people were talking about this before actually
the thing is, it gets in the way of actuation and reduces the button throw

the noise is mainly from the echo inside the case
Its easier to stifle the echo rather than the click.

egg crate foam wont’ work well
stuff like sponges work i think

5

Sound proofing the case should help a bit. I also know some people use blankets or a towel over their hands.

Also in my experience Seimitsu buttons aren’t as loud compared to Sanwa buttons, but just ever so slightly.

6

The other thing is - some people swear by not tapping the buttons so hard - I don’t know how to do that, as I’m a-tappin’ like I was digging to china…

7

Take a blanket or quilt or large towel, fold it up in layers bigger than the stick’s footprint, then drape it over the stick. Slide your hands under this cover.

Not a perfect solution (covering hands and buttons, needing an extra, somewhat thick blanket), but can be more or less soundproof.

8

I don’t recall by how much but I’ve read Seimitsu buttons are quiter than Sanwa’s. (I have a Hori EX-SE somewhere. I dunno where but I do.)

You may also want to switch to a Seimitsu joystick and swap in some zippy microswitches. Either that or buy one of Toodles’ Sanwa Flash clones when they come out. I mean, quieter buttons are fine 'n all but what’s the point if you’re still going to wake up your other half with constant quarter circle fireballs or double tap dashes?

Granted this doesn’t help if your really wanna use your Sanwa Denshi parts but I’d imagine using the Seimitsus will be closer to an authentic arcade feel than dampened Sanwas, since y’know, they’re actually used in the arcades.

Edit in response to the post just below: Looks like my source link about the Zippy replacement microswitches was incorrectly pointed which is now fixed. Hopefully that video clarifies what I meant.

9

seimitsu sticks still click you know?
just because its a levered microswitch doesn’t mean it won’t click…

10

I don’t think it’s the joystick that really bothers her.

I’m just kind of violent with my button pressing.

11

Most switches are actually 2 switches (normally open and normally closed), so they click 2 times (when pressed + when released). You can open the micro-switch itself and put paper or a piece of tape in between the normally closed switch, this pretty much removes the secondary click. It also makes it non-conductive so won’t work on putting it on the normally open end. So just by this you reduce the amount of clicks by half.

Then as people mentioned, cover your case with some sort of dampening material to keep the noise from leaking out of the box.

12

You can pad the inside the stick case in sound dampening foam. Try Online PC part stores, especially ones with aesthetics or performance enhancements.
There is this foam for PCs that goes inside the case and is self adhesive, reasonably easy to cut with scissors and easy to install. Just cut to side and shape and apply inside the stick case it self.

Here is an example of different foam padding that I am talking about
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g33/c117/list/p1/Ultra_Quiet-Computer_Case_Silencing.html