Review: ROCCAT Isku illuminated gaming keyboard - Hardware - HEXUS.net

Program up to 180 macros

Plugged in via a 2m USB cable, the Isku can be illuminated with six levels of brightness. Unlike some boards you can't change the colour, but the ice-blue glow is a pleasant and soft one that lights up the keyboard subtly when you're playing in darker conditions. With the ROCCAT Kone + sitting next to it - and its two light strips that run down either side of the scroll wheel and pulsates and glow blue (or whatever colour you like) with various actions - it's a stylish and striking look to your gaming set-up.

The Isku stands out with a chiseled and sharp design that makes the standard rectangular frames of some gaming keyboards look way behind the times. In a dip at the top-centre of board sit eight media keys and a button allowing you to switch the brightness up and down to your preference.

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Sporting the standard QWERTY line-up and twelve function keys that run across the top of the board, the Isku is divided into three sections that aren't immediately obvious - the option to highlight sections of the board in a different colour would have helped. You can assign macros to buttons 1-5 and moving down the keyboard the three rows of four below them. Similarly, the M1-M5 keys running down the left hand side of the Isku can also be programmed.

These two sections are ideally located close together giving you a lot of freedom to customise and jump into between macros with minimum movement of your fingers. On top of that, another three buttons can be found under the space bar and can be reached really swiftly with a quick-tap of your thumb, allowing you to open up the driver or switch user profiles on the fly.

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Overall, there's the possibility of programming a staggering 180 different macros, all of which can be can be done from within the software or via the 'record' button which sits just to the left of the media keys. ROCCAT makes things incredibly simple by guiding through creating your macros via an audio tutorial whenever you press the 'record' button. Thankfully, you can turn it off, because the voice does begin to jar after the first couple of times.