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Software
For
me, the real power of the Razer Tarantula has to be Razer Synapse, the
system that we’ve seen before on the Razer Copperhead. The Tarantula also
has 32kb of onboard memory, and can store up to five profiles directly on
the board. With the software, 100 profiles are possible, and primary and
alternate configurations are available within each profile. The Software
will enable you to remap the entire keyboard however you would like, and can
change configuration automatically when you load a specific game or program.
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The Main screen for the Tarantula Configurator
is where all the action takes place. Just click on any of the items, and
you’ll get a submenu that will allow you to reconfigure the item in
question.With Imaging Options, Media Player Options, and Application Key
Options, the list of options is limited to a select number of programs. For
example, Media Player Options has iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, and
Real Player. If you want to use another program, you’re out of luck.
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Another thing to remember is that the main keys can only be mapped to a
single keystroke. The ten Macro keys can have up to eight keystrokes mapped
to them, and adding a delay counts as a keystroke.
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The
Synapse Profiles, numbers 1 to 5, are stored on the Tarantula and can be
used without the software. The rest, 6 to 99, need the Configurator to work.
Performance
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I
spent the better part of two weeks using this keyboard on my main system.
First and foremost I loved the responsiveness of the keys. They’re light,
quick, and feel great. Layout is also well done – I personally hate when I
get a small backspace key because I tend to hit the left side of that key
when typing. Scroll Lock has been moved away from the Page Up, Page Down
group, so as to fit in a double sized Delete key. There is also a Razer logo
key next to the Right Alt key, and it can be used to open the standard menu
popup window or the Razer Configurator.
The only game that I found a lot of use for the macros was with Mechwarrior
4. Especially when working with multiple Lances, the ability to macro out
the series of keystrokes to order pairs of your ‘Mechs to engage a single
opponent across eight friendlys is a very useful tool. Macros are only
really valuable when you find yourself repeating a sequence of keys
regularly, and so most FPS games don’t really have much of an application
for them. For the FPS fan though, What the Tarantula can do is map the
various default layouts of all your games into the same keys and then load
that profile up automatically every time you load that game.
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I
found that I really miss the backlit keys of the Saitek, although the
Tarantula has much better response. The Tarantula does feature a large
pulsing Razer logo, pictured above. The BattleLight will not work with my
setup because of the tight fit between the keyboard tray and the desk top.
Still, it’s a reasonable attempt to cover for an obvious shortcoming, so at
least they’re aware it’s a problem. I’m also not so sure about putting a
webcam on the keyboard…I think a Microphone might have been the better
choice.
Pulling the keys off the Tarantula is a little concerning at first, because
you don’t want to break a key on a nice keyboard like this one. All that is
required is to push the removal tool onto the key until it clicks on, then
pull the key right off. To put the keys back on, you just place them in the
slot and press down until they click home. This also makes cleaning out the
junk that can accumulate in-between the keys a breeze as well.
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