A 34-key Colemak-DH layout for the Ferris Sweep, designed around per-key Tap Dance Home Row Mods, frequency-ranked symbols, and a Dead Key Hub for German + US-International completeness.
Cadence is a daily-driver keyboard layout for Ferris Sweep hardware running Vial firmware. It is the descendant of Cadenza (36-key Corne) — adapted to the Sweep's four-thumb form by encoding layer access as Tap Dance triggers on the alpha keys rather than dedicated thumb keys.
The full design specification with per-layer rationale lives in docs/index.html. The version history is in CHANGELOG.md.
-
Build the Vial-QMK firmware with
TAP_DANCE_ENTRIES = 64. The default Vial-Sweep build ships with 48; Cadence uses 52 of 64 slots so a custom build is required.In
keyboards/ferris/sweep/keymaps/vial/config.h:#define TAP_DANCE_ENTRIES 64
-
Flash the firmware to your Sweep via QMK Toolbox or
qmk flash. -
Load the layout from
configuration/Cadence-FerrisSweep_v1_12_3.vilinto Vial. -
Set your OS keyboard layout to US International (with dead keys). Cadence's German and other accent support relies on US-International dead-key behaviour at the OS level.
| # | Layer | Access | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| L0 | Base | always active | Colemak-DH alphas with Tap Dance Home Row Mods |
| L1 | Overflow + International | Hold Tab | The Dead Key Hub — direct ä/ö/ü, all five US-Intl dead keys, ß, €, Esc |
| L2 | Symbols | Hold Bsp | Frequency-ranked operator and bracket layout |
| L3 | Numbers | Hold Ent | Numpad on left, ASCII operators on right, Tab on Tab-thumb |
| L4 | Navigation | Hold Spc | Arrows, word-skip, page-nav, CapsLock, Insert, Delete, ScrollLock, Pause |
| L5 | Mouse | Spc tap+hold | Pointer (NEIO), scroll, mouse buttons on thumbs |
| L6 | Fn + Media | Hold F or U | F1–F12 numpad-spatial, media controls, PrintScreen |
| L7 | Code & CLI | Hold W or Y | Shell operators, path navigation, expansions, comparisons, arrows |
| L8 | Tiling WM | Hold Z or / | Workspaces 1–10, focus, window-move, Kill / Float / Fullscreen |
| L9 | Brackets | Hold X or . | Tap-open / hold-close pairs, bilateral mirror |
| L11 | Firmware Control | Long-hold (500 ms) Q or ' | QK_BOOT and QK_REBOOT only — safety-gated |
L10 (Clipboard) is in firmware without a trigger by user choice. L12 is empty (Vial format placeholder).
For the per-layer design rationale, the Tap Dance and Macro tables, and the cross-cutting design principles, see docs/index.html.
- Per-key HRM tipping terms via Tap Dance — 250 ms on pinky/ring (A, O), 200 ms on index/middle. Departs from Miryoku's single global term.
- Spc Tap-Hold-TapHold —
tap = Space,hold = Navigation,tap + hold = Mouse. Three layer functions on a single thumb position. - Tab Tap-Hold —
tap = Tab,hold = International. Tab remains a normal character; umlauts via thumb hold. - Bilateral layer access — Fn+Media (F+U), Code & CLI (W+Y), Tiling WM (Z+/), Brackets (X+.). Same finger on both hands, same row — symmetric muscle memory.
- L1 Dead Key Hub — all five US-International dead keys (
`,',",^,~) plus direct umlaut Tap Dances, plus ß and €, all centralised on one layer. - L7 Code & CLI — Tap Dances for path navigation (
//~//../), pipe with optional spaces, shell expansion, comparison, arrows; macros for||,&&,2>&1,$?.
Cadence keeps Miryoku's core insight (layers via thumb holds, HRM on home row) and replaces parts that don't serve the use case:
- Miryoku's
MT()HRM has one global tipping term; Cadence's per-key Tap Dance terms reduce false-trigger pressure on weaker fingers. - Miryoku's symbol layer mirrors numpad positions for mnemonic value; Cadence's L2 ranks symbols by frequency × finger strength so the most-typed operators land on the strongest fingers.
- Miryoku has no native German or US-International support; Cadence's L1 covers it natively.
- Miryoku has no dedicated Code & CLI, Tiling WM, or Brackets layer; Cadence has all three with workflow-specific Tap Dances.
The trade-off: Cadence has more layers (11 reachable vs. ~6) and a higher learning curve. The bet is that the additional structure pays off after muscle memory is established.
A more thorough comparison lives in docs/index.html.
| Resource | Used | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Tap Dance | 52 | 64 |
| Macros | 20 | 32 |
| Layers (firmware) | 12 | 16 |
| Layers (reachable) | 11 | — |
| Combos | 0 | 32 |
| Key Overrides | 0 | 32 |
Combos and Key Overrides are unallocated — reserve capacity for future iteration.
docs/index.html— full design specification with per-layer rationale, TD/macro tables, design principles, appendicesCHANGELOG.md— version history and design-process recordROADMAP.md— open items and planned workVERSIONING.md— semantic versioning policy and release workflowCONTRIBUTING.md— contribution guidelines
Cadence is one of four related layouts maintained by the same author:
- Cadence (34 keys, Ferris Sweep) — this layout, the daily driver
- Cadenza (36 keys, Corne) — the parent layout, frozen at v1.0
- Sonata (28 keys, no inner column) — sister project, shares the L2 Symbols specification
- Coda (22 keys, three columns per hand) — minimal concept
