Corsair CH-9000227-UK User Manual

CORSAIR GAMING KEYBOARD

SOFTWARE QUICK START GUIDE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

UNDERSTANDING

PROFILES AND MODES

CUSTOMIZING

THE KEYBOARD

BACKGROUND LIGHTING

OBTAINING SUPPORT

1

4

5

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Introduction �� 1

Installing Corsair Gaming hardware and software �� 2

Updating Firmware ��3

Understanding Profiles and Modes ��4

Overview ��5

Assign Background Lighting ��6

Assign Foreground Lighting (Effects) �� 7

Foreground Lighting (Effects) Details �� 8

Clear Default Lighting Assignments �� 14

Obtaining Support ��15

Help ��16

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to your Corsair Gaming keyboard� The following quick start guide will help you get your Corsair Gaming keyboard and Corsair Utility Engine software up and running right away� You’ll find more in-depth information on advanced features in the full User Manual�

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INTRODUCTION

INSTALLING CORSAIR

GAMING HARDWARE AND

SOFTWARE

• Turn on your computer�

• Connect the USB cable on the keyboard to your computer�

– Connecting via USB 3�0

» Use one connector (the one with the

keyboard icon) when connecting via USB 3�0

– Connecting via USB 2

» Use both connectors when using

USB 2� Important Note: Plug in the

connector with the two arrows icon first, and the connector with the keyboard icon second.

• Install the Corsair Utility Engine software�

• After installation, start the Corsair Utility Engine�

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INTRODUCTION

UPDATING FIRMWARE

Keeping your Corsair Gaming keyboard’s firmware updated helps make sure you have the latest features from Corsair�

To update your firmware,

1� In the Corsair Utility Engine, click Settings and

then click Device�

2� In the Device Settings section, click Update

Firmware�

3� The Firmware Update dialog box appears�

Click Please download the latest firmware by clicking this link and saving the firmware.

4� Your browser should download the firmware

as a zip file� Once the firmware zip file has been downloaded, extract the contents of the zip file to a location on your computer�

5� In the Corsair Utility Engine, click Browse�

6� The Select firmware image dialog box appears�

Browse to the location of the firmware file, click Open, and then click Update�

7� When the update is complete, verify that the

new firmware version appears in the Device tab�

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UNDERSTANDING

PROFILES AND MODES

UNDERSTANDING

PROFILES AND MODES

To get the most from your Corsair Utility Engine, it’s important to understand how profiles and modes work�

When you install the Corsair Utility Engine, a default Profile with a single default Mode is created� The default profile is active when no custom profiles are� For example, if you have a custom profile linked to Call of Duty®, when you launch the game, its profile starts� When you exit the game, the default profile becomes active again�

PROFILES

• A Profile is group of settings usually linked to a specific game or application�

• You can set up a Profile to be activated when a particular game is launched, or you can switch between Profiles using the System Tray�

• You can define a Default Profile to be the one used when there is no game-specific Profile active�

settings that can be created for a profile� You can have multiple Modes for each Profile�

• Modes allow you to customize your keyboard to fit your style of play at the time� For example, in an online multiplayer fantasy game, you may have two different characters, a Warrior and a Mage, and you may want to have different keys lit, different lighting effects, or different macros or key mappings for those characters, even though they’re tied to the same game�

• You can assign a keyboard key to cycle through each of the Modes in a Profile� (See “Mode Switching” in the User Manual)

You can get started right away, customizing the default profile by changing key or button assignments, changing performance settings, and adding lighting effects� For more information about profiles and modes see the User Manual�

MODES

• A keyboard Mode is a set of macros/key assignments, lighting effects, and performance

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

OVERVIEW

You can configure several different types of lighting for your Corsair Gaming keyboard� One of the most common tasks when getting started is to change the background lighting� You can apply a single color to a single key or multiple groups of keys at once� You can also apply color animations known as foreground lighting as an additional layer of colors over any background lighting you’ve configured�

By default, your Corsair Gaming Keyboard has 6 predefined groups with specific type(s) of background lighting assigned to them (see last page for more details):

• All – All Keys have SOLID background lighting in RED�

• WASD – GRADIENT lighting in WHITE (foreground

lighting) with SOLID background lighting, so the color changes from RED (background) to WHITE (foreground) for the W, A, S, and D keys�

• Arrows – Arrow keys have same animation as WASD keys�

• G-Keys (K95 only) – G-Keys have SOLID RED background color and SOLID WHITE foreground lighting is assigned�

• Symbol Keys (K95 only) – Preset group of keys to highlight the middle of the keyboard�

• QWERDF (K95 only) – Preset group of keys for multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) gaming�

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

ASSIGN BACKGROUND

LIGHTING

1� Open Corsair Utility Engine

and click PROFILES�

2� Create a new profile (or select Default)

from the drop down list�

3� Click the LIGHTING tab�

4� Make sure you are on Standard Settings�

5� An image of the keyboard appears in

the Lighting tab, you can select key(s) by:

a� Clicking on any single key

b� Or hold left-click and drag across

the keyboard to select a group of keys

c� Or you can handpick keys by

pressing CTRL while clicking on any key(s)�

6� Selected keys will be highlighted in

CUE� Click on any color on the Color Palette or the Color Wheel at the bottom of the keyboard to assign that color� If you edit the color by right clicking the palette, it will save your new color there�

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

ASSIGN FOREGROUND

LIGHTING (EFFECTS)

Please note, FOREGROUND

lighting is applied on top on

background lighting

1� Open Corsair Utility Engine

and click PROFILES�

2� Create a new profile (or select Default)

from the drop down list�

3� Click the LIGHTING tab�

4� Make sure you are on Standard Settings

5� A number of foreground lighting effects

are predefined under EFFECT� Click on the drop down menu and select an effect to be applied� Please note, all foreground effects are applied to all keys with the exception of single key type lighting�

6� To edit an effect, click on icon next to

the effect and choose from any of the pre-defined options�

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

FOREGROUND LIGHTING

(EFFECTS) DETAILS

The following is a description of all available pre-defined foreground lighting effects

Rainbow Wave – A rainbow pattern (Red, Orange,

Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet colors) are splashed across the keyboard while giving the user basic controls such as speed and direction�

a. SPEED: Three speed settings are available and

each represents time it takes for a given color to travel across the keyboard� Travel time are approximations and may vary depending on keyboard type and CPU load�

• Slow – is around 7s to for a color to travel across the keyboard�

• Medium – 4s (approx�)

• Fast – 2s (approx�)

b. DIRECTION: Options represents the direction of

travel for the wave

• Left – Pattern will move from the right to left�

• Right – Pattern will move from the left to right�

• Up – Pattern will move from the bottom to the top�

• Down – Pattern will move from the top to the bottom�

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

FOREGROUND LIGHTING

(EFFECTS) DETAILS

Color Shift – Transition from one color to another� For this effect, the user can select colors as well speed of transitions�

a. COLORS: There are two option on colors setting:

• Random – Randomly displays a color�

• Alternating – which alternates between color 1 & 2� By default 1 is and 2 is � Click on or to customize�

TIP – If a background color is assigned to the keyboard, please

select high contrasting colors for 1 & 2, to get vivid effect�

b. SPEED: Three speed settings are available� Similar

to Rainbow Wave, it represents the time it takes to transition from one color to another� Transition time, given below, are approximations and may vary depending on keyboard type and CPU load�

• Slow – is around 7s to transition from one color to another�

• Medium – 4s (approx�)

• Fast – 1�5s (approx�)

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

FOREGROUND LIGHTING

(EFFECTS) DETAILS

Color Pulse – This is very similar to color shift, but instead of gliding from one color to another, it pulses on sinusoidal curve from one color to another�

a. COLORS: There are two option on colors setting:

• Random – which randomly select any given colors from color palette�

• Alternating – which alternates between color 1 & 2� By default 1 is and 2 is � Click on or to customize�

TIP – If a background color is assigned to the keyboard, please

select high contrasting colors for 1 & 2, to get vivid effect�

b. SPEED: Three speed settings are available� Similar

to Color Shift, it represents the time it takes to pulsate from one color to another� Pulse time, given below, are approximations and may vary depending on keyboard type and CPU load�

• Slow – is around 8s to transition from one color to another�

• Medium – 5�5s (approx�)

• Fast – 3s (approx�)

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

FOREGROUND LIGHTING

(EFFECTS) DETAILS

Color Ripple – Steady flow of color(s) ripple across the keyboard from one end to another as defined by user�

a. COLORS: There are two option on colors setting:

• Random – Randomly displays a color�

• Alternating – which alternates between color 1 & 2� By default 1 is and 2 is � Click on or to customize�

TIP – If a background color is assigned to the keyboard, please

select high contrasting colors for 1 & 2, to get vivid effect�

b. SPEED: Three speed settings are available� Similar

to Color Pulse, it represents the time it takes for the ripple to travel across the keyboard� Ripple time, given below, are approximations and may vary depending on keyboard type and CPU load�

• Slow – is around 6s to for a color to travel across the keyboard�

• Medium – 3s (approx�)

• Fast – 2s (approx�)

c. DIRECTION: Options represents the direction of

travel for the ripple

• Left – Pattern will move from the right to left�

• Right – Pattern will move from the left to right�

• Up – Pattern will move from

the bottom to the top�

• Down – Pattern will move from

the top to the bottom�

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

FOREGROUND LIGHTING

(EFFECTS) DETAILS

Type Lighting (Key) – When a key is pressed, the chosen color will be applied to and stay lit for the selected duration�

a. COLORS: There are two options under colors:

• Random – Randomly displays a color�

• Selected – which assigns a given color when a

key is pressed� By default, the color is � Click on to customize�

TIP – If a background color is assigned to the keyboard, please

select high contrasting colors to get vivid effect�

b. DURATION: Three duration settings are available and represents the time duration for which the effect is applied to a key� Duration time, given below, are approximations and may vary depending on keyboard type and CPU load�

• Slow – is around 5s to for a color to travel across the keyboard�

• Medium – 3s (approx�)

• Fast – 1s (approx�)

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

FOREGROUND LIGHTING

(EFFECTS) DETAILS

Type Lighting (Ripple) – When a key is pressed, a ripple in a given color sets off across the keyboard originating from that specific key�

a. COLORS: There are two option on colors setting:

• Random – Randomly displays a color�

• Selected – which assigns a given color when a

key is pressed� By default, the color is � Click on to customize�

TIP – If a background color is assigned to the keyboard, please

select high contrasting colors to get vivid effect�

b. SPEED: Three speed settings are available, same as Color Pulse, it represents the time it takes for the ripple to travel across the keyboard� Ripple time, given below, are approximations and may vary depending on keyboard type and CPU load�

• Slow – is around 6s to for a color to travel across the keyboard�

• Medium – 4s (approx�)

• Fast – 2s (approx�)

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CUSTOMIZING THE

KEYBOARD

CLEAR DEFAULT

LIGHTING ASSIGNMENTS

The default mode for the profile will also have these key-groups and lighting assignments� In order to remove the default lightings or to add your own customizations, perform the following steps�

1� Open Corsair Utility Engine and click PROFILES�

2� Create a new profile (or select Default) from the

drop down list�

3� Click the LIGHTING tab�

4� Make sure you are on Advanced Settings�

5� An image of the keyboard appears in the

Lighting tab� In the bar above the keyboard image, click All�

6� All the keys on the keyboard image in CUE will

be highlighted� Right-click one of the keys and then click Clear�

7� The background lighting for all the keys will

turn off, although the WASD and ARROW keys will still change gradually from OFF to WHITE because they have a foreground lighting effect�

10� To remove the foreground lightings assigned

to WASD, in the bar above the keyboard, click WASD to select the group�

11� WASD keys on the Keyboard image will be

highlighted� Right-click on one of them and select Clear from the list�

Any of these groups can also be deleted� Left click on the icon to delete it� To restore any of the default groups, right click in any area above the keyboard image and select Restore Defined Group and choose the group you wish to restore�

8� To remove the foreground lightings assigned

to Arrows, in the bar above the keyboard, click Arrows to select the group�

9� Arrow keys on the Keyboard image will be

highlighted� Right-click on one of them and select Clear from the list�

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OBTAINING SUPPORT

Within the Corsair Utility Engine, you can gain access to Corsair’s online library of documentation, support forums, and downloads� You can also get system information and submit support requests�

• To obtain support, in the Corsair Utility Engine, click Settings and then click Support�

The Support tab has many options for you to obtain help online and by contacting Corsair� For more information about the support options available, see Support in the User Manual�

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OBTAINING SUPPORT

HELP

Help for the Corsair Utility Engine is available in the bottom bar of the screen� You can click the triangle in the lower left to show or hide the Help bar�

Figure 4 - The Help Bar

The help bar contains links to the online version of the user manual and Corsair’s user forum, as well as links to Corsair’s Facebook page and Twitter profile, so you can stay in touch with the latest news and announcements from Corsair�

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