Ballpoint

What it sounds like

The retractable pen you click through every meeting. The press is a tight plastic snick with a trace of spring, and the release is a quick double tick as the mechanism resets. It is small and dry and strangely hard to stop doing.

Good for

• Restless hands during long calls and reading
• Note-taking and outlining
• A click with real mechanism feel but no bulk

How it is made

A burst of white noise around 3.8 kHz, a 1.9 kHz sine with light FM for the spring, and a low sine from 700 to 450 Hz. The release repeats its noise burst twice, 18 ms apart, for the reset.

Every qliqr sound is synthesised from a small text recipe, so the version you hear here is the same one the Mac app plays, with natural variation so no two presses are identical.