Cadence (n.): the rhythm of a movement, the measured fall of a phrase — the same musical lineage as Cadenza, condensed.

Cadence is a 34-key split keyboard layout for the Ferris Sweep, built on Colemak-DH and configured in Vial. It is the Sweep adaptation of the Cadenza layout (36-key Corne Choc) — same design philosophy, same muscle memory, two thumb keys less.

Cadenza without compromise — minus two thumbs.

Cadence inherits the entire Cadenza design philosophy:

• Per-finger Home Row Mods via Tap Dance (200 ms index/middle, 250 ms ring/pinky)
• Frequency + Strength symbol layer — = on T (strongest left index), $ on N (strongest right index)
• Bilateral layer access — L7/L8/L9/L10/L11 reachable from either hand
• No inner column for layer content — G/M never carry layer content
• Vertical movement only for layer access — no lateral stretches
• NEIO = ←↓↑→ convention on every directional layer

Cadence diverges only where the Sweep's reduced key count requires it.

The Ferris Sweep has 34 keys (30 alpha + 4 thumb) versus the Corne Choc's 36 (30 alpha + 6 thumb). The two missing thumb keys force three structural decisions:

Everything else — Colemak-DH base, Tap Dance HRM, all 13 documented layers, Frequency+Strength symbols, bilateral layer access, the Code & CLI macros, the International dead-key layer — is identical or preserved.

The Sweep adaptation is not a downgrade: it removes redundant features (RGB on a non-RGB board, two near-identical WM layers) and replaces dedicated thumb keys with chord-based access that costs nothing in muscle memory.

• Home Row Mods via Tap Dance — per-key tipping terms (250 ms ring/pinky · 200 ms index/middle)
• 13 active layers — alpha, media, navigation, mouse, symbols, numbers, F-keys, clipboard, brackets, code/CLI, international, workspaces, firmware control
• Frequency + Strength symbols — most-used symbol on strongest finger, identical ranking to Cadenza
• Bilateral layer access — L7/L8/L9/L10/L11 reachable from either hand
• Code & CLI layer (L9) — || · 2>&1 · && · | (tap) / | (hold) · / / ~/ / ../ · $() / ${} · != / == · => / -> · $? · ` · ~ · \
• International layer (L10) — " dead key for ä/ö/ü, ß (RAlt+S), € (RAlt+5), ' literal — bilateral access
• Tiling WM (L11) — WS 1–10 tap=go / hold=move (numpad memory) · focus and window-move on right hand · Kill / Float / Fullscreen on thumbs
• Firmware Control (L12) — QK_BOOT and QK_REBOOT symmetrically placed, accessible only via deliberate long-hold pinky-top combination
• Layer-6 chord activation — Bsp + Spc → F-Keys, no pinky-top hold required
• Mouse settings tuned — QMK mouse acceleration / scroll behaviour configured in the .vil

Access keys are assigned by usage frequency × ergonomic quality. The right thumb middle (Bsp) earns L4 Symbols because it requires no lateral movement. D/H (strongest index pair) earn L10 International because German umlauts appear in every sentence. F/U (middle fingers, top row) earn L11 because workspaces are reflex-frequency. G and M never carry layer content. The outer pinky-top positions (Q and ') are deliberately reserved for the rarely-used Firmware Control layer — a position that is uncomfortable enough to prevent accidental activation, paired with an unusually long 500 ms hold term.

Layer-6 via thumb chord: The Sweep adaptation has no spare thumb for L6 access. Holding ' (right pinky top) was rejected as outside the Cadence philosophy — pinky-top holds are uncomfortable. Instead: Hold Bsp (→ L4 active) then hold Spc-position (which on L4 is MO(6)) → L6. The order matters: Bsp first, then Spc. The reverse order produces a literal Backspace, which is acceptable.

Frequency + Strength (L4 Symbols): Symbols are ranked by daily usage frequency in German IT writing, then assigned to fingers in strength order. = (rank 1) sits on T (strongest left index). & (rank 8) sits on O (weakest right pinky). Identical to Cadenza.

W/Y for Media (L1): Ring fingers, top row. Leaves both thumbs free for PrtSc (left) and Mute / Play-Stop (right). The full Cadenza rationale (no thumb conflict on the access layer) holds.

D/H for International (L10): Index fingers, bottom row. Bilateral pattern — " dead key on both T (left, hold via H) and N (right, hold via D) for umlaut input regardless of which hand triggers the layer. ß and € use direct RAlt keycodes — no macros.

F/U for Workspaces (L11): Middle fingers, top row. Replaces the Cadenza split between L11 (Quick) and L12 (Full). Cadence merges them: F/U give the full WS 1–10 numpad map. The L key carries no hold function — it is a plain letter.

L12 Firmware Control — deliberate exception to "no pinky-top hold": The Bootloader and Reboot functions need to be reachable but must never trigger by accident. They sit on Q (left pinky top) and ' (right pinky top) with a 500 ms hold term (more than double the standard 200 ms). The combination of an uncomfortable position and an unusually long hold serves as a safety mechanism. Within L12, both QK_BOOT and QK_REBOOT are placed on home-row middle positions, mirrored on both hands — requiring two deliberate steps (hold to enter the layer, then a separate key press) before the firmware command fires.

Path-navigation TD on L9 (TD29): Tap = /, hold = ~/, double-tap = ../. A complete filesystem path can be typed without leaving the layer.

Pipe TD on L9 (TD45): Tap = |, hold = | (with surrounding spaces). Both pipe variants on the strongest left index position.

Backtick on L4 and L9: Backtick is reachable on L4 (left pinky bottom) and on L9 (left middle bottom), with ~ on the same row right side. Sufficient access for Markdown code-fences, JS template literals, and shell command substitution.

No inner column for layer content: G and M require a lateral inward index stretch — the same problem Colemak-DH solves for B and H. Cadence preserves Cadenza's extension: G/M only carry their letters and App/Menu on hold, never layer content. No exceptions in v1.5.0.

• Ferris Sweep (any RP2040-compatible variant)
• Vial-compatible firmware
• OS keyboard layout set to US International (required for dead keys and RAlt combinations)

The default Vial-Sweep firmware supports at least 48 Tap Dance slots — Cadence v1.5 uses 46/48. No custom firmware build is required as long as the Sweep firmware was compiled with the standard Vial defaults. If a custom build is needed:

# Clone Vial-QMK
git clone https://github.com/vial-kb/vial-qmk.git
cd vial-qmk
make git-submodule

# Verify keyboards/ferris/sweep/keymaps/vial/config.h
# Should contain: #define TAP_DANCE_ENTRIES 48 (or higher)

# Build
qmk compile -kb ferris/sweep -km vial

Flash via RP2040 drag-and-drop:

1. Double-tap the reset button → RPI-RP2 drive appears
2. Copy the generated .uf2 file to the drive
3. Repeat for the other half

1. Open Vial desktop app, connect keyboard via USB
2. File → Load saved layout → select configuration/Cadence-FerrisSweep_v1_5_0.vil
3. Confirm all layers loaded correctly

Set your OS keyboard layout to US International. This is required for:

• RAlt+S → ß
• RAlt+5 → €
• Dead key " (Shift+Quote) → ä, ö, ü when followed by a vowel

Cadence follows Semantic Versioning — vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.

Cadence's version numbers track the underlying Ferris Sweep configuration version 1:1 — v1.5.0 of the layout corresponds to Vial config Cadence-FerrisSweep_v1_5_0.vil.

Full versioning policy and change log: VERSIONING.md

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Ports, language variants, and usage reports are welcome. Open a Discussion to suggest future features.

Designed by one7two99 · MIT · 2026

Based on Cadenza by one7two99 · Colemak-DH by stevep99 · Inspired by Miryoku

34 keys. Two thumbs less. Same rhythm.