Shutter

What it sounds like

A film camera: mirror up on press, curtain back on release. The press is a sharp clap followed 12 milliseconds later by a duller mechanical thump; the release is a lighter, brighter two-part clack. Together they feel like a shutter cycle, not a button.

Good for

• Photo editing and culling, obviously
• Screenshot-heavy workflows
• Anyone who likes a click with a distinct release

How it is made

Two bursts of white noise on the press, one centered at 3 kHz and a lower one at 1.5 kHz starting 12 ms later, plus a sine dropping from 300 to 180 Hz for the mirror. The release is a second pair of staggered noise bursts, pitched brighter.

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.