Multisteno Review

[@AerickSteno]

I realized I never answered "what I think of the keyboard". Really, I haven't had any major issues with it and I think it's a wonderful steno keyboard. I've used it as my main board for a while and I think I am going to make it my main keyboard, in fact. I can't say it's objectively better than any other board I've used, but I certainly prefer it. My advice is still the same if you're wondering which keyboard you should get: whichever one is in stock is your best bet!

[@longiusaescius2537]

@Aerick I'd like to know if the multisteno dictionaries plugins and mods work on Mac os?

[@AerickSteno]

@@longiusaescius2537 Which dictionaries are you referring to?

[@longiusaescius2537]

@@AerickSteno Emily's and the ones you mentioned here basically

[@AerickSteno]

@@longiusaescius2537 Yes, they work with any steno machine.

[@ma.amortansuping3213]

How can I get that uni steno keyboards? Thanks for the response.

[@yannc76]

I gave in and just ordered my early Christmas gift 🙂

[@xtdycxtfuv9353]

I was undecided on which stenotype to get as my first, and likely only, one for a while. This video was what I needed to make up my mind. I will be the proud owner of a Multisteno soon! I'm very excited to get learning to chord. I felt bad for giving this video another view, since it had a view count that was a power of two, and I didn't want to ruin it.

[@zackrobat]

Another highly entertaining and informative video. Thanks!

[@MB-yw7up]

Could you review the Uni Polyglot?

[@davidbcg286]

As always, great content! Will keep this in mind. Do you type steno most of the type for school?

[@AerickSteno]

I haven't had a lot of essays or other assignments that were very writing heavy, but I do take notes with steno especially when I don't have to draw any graphs. I also try to write my coding assignments with steno for fun!

[@lollycopter]

Not High School™! 16:22

[@JLarky]

Hi, do you plan to make a review for CharaChorder Lite and how does that compare to plover?

[@AerickSteno]

The CharaChorder Lite is different to steno. While in theory I could import my current dictionary to it, the layout is far from ideal for steno chords. Its main use is for mixing regular typing with occasional chords (aimed at long words) and that's not something that appeals to me. Steno has a greater potential, albeit at a steeper learning curve.

[@JLarky]

@@AerickSteno cool, thank you for the answer

[@xxbatat4xx]

Did you tried the new Polyglot Keyboard?

[@AerickSteno]

I haven't, but I don't expect it to be vastly different to the Uni because it uses the same switches and keycaps. It is a fair bit less expensive than the Multisteno, but I think I would still prefer the latter.

[@himbeertoni08]

Both Nulltronics keyboards are strait, on other videos you're using one, where both sides are angled. Is a straight steno keyboard getting inconvenient over time?

[@AerickSteno]

I've used a Uni, Splitography, and a Georgi in the past. Only the latter had vertical stagger (and it was very slight at that); all other boards I've used are ortholinear with absolutely no stagger. I'm not too particular about this. Both work just fine with me.

[@himbeertoni08]

@@AerickSteno I see. Most standard keyboards are also ortholinear as well, which works fine for most people. I think, a staggered keyboard may be useful if you prefer to have it closer to your body without overstretching the wrist.

[@AerickSteno]

​@@himbeertoni08 Ortholinear means keys aligned in a grid with no vertical or column stagger; most keyboards for regular typing (like the vast majority on laptops) aren't ortholinear -- they have row stagger.

[@himbeertoni08]

Ah, sorry for the confusion. I was referring to ergonomic or even split keyboards, not to the key layout. 😅

[@hav5n]

first :)

[@gonzalomanavella4685]

Hello, good video. Thanks for the content. Excuse me, I have a question to ask you. You see, I am a Spanish speaker, and for some time I have been practicing steno. I can see that in English the system is really very optimized, but perhaps I couldn't say the same for the system in Spanish. So far the most complete dictionary I found is the "system eo variant" but I think it has a small error. You see, I feel that the strokes are not optimized, for example for "así" I have to press "A/SEU", or for "trabajado" I have to press "TRA/PWA/KHA/TKO". Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I want to know your opinion, is this method efficient? Do you think I should make my own dictionary with my own rules from scratch? So far I just followed the rules of this system and expanded the dictionary, but maybe I need to make a new one. In case you recommend me to make my own dictionary, do you know of any program where I can put my rules and make entries more efficiently? Because the truth is a very late process, I am only one person and there is not as much interest in steno in Spanish as in English, so making a complete dictionary would only take me about a year to maybe just be able to use it, but if there is no other option , I guess I will. Also if you have any advice to make my system more efficient I would appreciate it. I have seen almost all your videos, but being in English it is a bit difficult to adapt the rules to Spanish.

[@AerickSteno]

From what I know, Eo's system seems to be focused on a consistent theory for writing out every single Spanish word. In fact, the dictionary was autogenerated through a system of rules. In some ways this is better than English steno theories since they are more focused on speed; one common complaint about Plover theory and main.json (the default dictionary with Plover) is that it's difficult to learn write-outs. Of course, the issue of having a theory that's not as short is that it can be slower and requires more strokes for each word, as you have mentioned. It's really up to you if you want to try and create your own theory for Spanish. But personally, I think starting with a very extensive and systematic base is a better path. Some of the rules in English steno that allow you to shorten words don't really apply to every single word and therefore it would difficult to create a theory that's short from the beginning. Most English steno theories aren't very short to begin with; they start with a phonetic base that allows one to write any word (regardless of how many strokes it requires) and then it's up to the stenographer for which briefs they want to use or add to their dictionary. There will probably be some sort of phrasing system as well. I'm not familiar with Spanish, so there might be some rules applicable to every single word that allows you to shorten every outline but I would still stick to a theory that allows very simple and straightforward phonetic write-outs. The examples you've mentioned seem very reasonable and are actually quite similar to my English Lapwing theory when it comes to syllable splitting. As for a program to create a dictionary, there does not exist any such thing. Most people who have generated their own dictionaries (including me) have just written some code to do so. Many of us in the Plover community would very much like to have a program that will allow anyone to come up with their own dictionary and theory with different tweaks, but it turns out (at least a language like English) this is an incredibly difficult challenge that no one has been able to solve yet. Spanish is a lot more consistent than English and so creating a dictionary would be comparably easier. I know of one person in the Plover Discord server trying to generate a English dictionary for her theory and she's been working on the code for the last several months. On the other hand, I believe Eo managed to generate his dictionary in a much shorter period of time (within a few weeks, I believe). There is also the option of adding entries to your dictionary one by one manually, which is actually what most professional English stenographers have to do in steno school; they are often not given a dictionary at all and are following a theory textbook that will tell them how to define each word. Personally, I would recommend this option. Since you already have a starting place with Eo's variant, it shouldn't be difficult to just add briefs gradually when you come across words that you think should be shortened.

[@danilopiz6338]

Where to buy multisteno.keyboard