How come I write faster on a manual writer than on a CAT writer?

Am I the only one who prefers the touch and feel of a mechanical writer to that of a paperless writer?

BACKGROUND:

The development of paperless writers takes the evolution of the steno machine to another level, combining the familiar keyboard with the benefits of electronic controls. This advancement sacrificed the tactile response that court reporters have had with manual machines, for the purely artificial feel the paperless writers provide.

For years I have practiced my speed building on my trusty Stentura manual writer. I love it’s feel. When I started in the profession, I purchased a Stenoram III writer and found, to my dismay, that I actually wrote slower than on my manual writer. I have now switched to the Stentura Fusion (Stenograph) over it’s more technologically advanced cousins because it’s “feel” best emulates the mechanical resistance in my beloved mechanical machine.

I write faster on a manual machine, than on a paperless one.

When the feel of the writer is good, you can write faster. Why is this so? Efficient keying requires efficiency -- depressing the keys with the minimum required force to actuate the keys, and timing -- when to start the next stroke. Electric writers do not have sufficient tactile feedback needed to indicate that sufficient force is being used to initiate a stroke, and to indicate that the keys have rebounded to their rest positions in order to initiate the next stroke.

An exception to this is Stenograph’s Fusion. Fusion is a hybrid writer because that combines mechanical with electronic mechanisms, and it has a feel far superior to purely paperless writers, because there are various mechanical apparatuses that the keys push against that provide the resistance that is largely responsible for it’s superior feel.

Am I the only one to -- feel (smile) -- this way?

Interesting question you ask.   I recently read just the opposite about manual machines and gained a greater understanding.  Now I'm torn again after reading your information.

I do covet a shorter stroke, I guess, whether manual or electronic.  I currently write on a Stentura 8000LX but I use in without paper, which mentally or otherwise, speeds up the stroke -even if just a tad.  And it's greener!  Then I had my machine shimmed, which additionally shortened my stroke and I've felt great improvement in my writing.

The bottom line for me is the shorter the stroke, the quicker the write on it - whether via manual operation or mechanical/digital.  

To be honest, I got a little sea-sick on the Light Speed (although it's possible I could have gotten used to it...lol!)

If I get what you're saying, I think I have to respectfully disagree that the force of the stroke is what tells us to move on to the next stroke.

I think as we are sitting there and words are entering our brain, the next step is to write what we hear using our outlines - having those outlines ingrained in us like second nature is what keeps us up with the speaker (and over-speakers, for that matter) and it's automatic.  Hesitation with the outline AND/OR with the time it takes for that key to go down and come back up (the space between) is what causes delay, trailing, and drops.

If my stroke could be, like, 3 centimeters, I'd be on Cloud 9!!!   That truly would be "lightspeed"!

What do you mean when you say you got your machine shimmed?

How does that shorten the stroke?  How much does it cost to get that done?

There are two questions here:

Manual machines and Shimming an Electric mode machine

You are not the only one that likes to use their machine in manual mode.  20 years ago 5 percent of people used their electronic machines in manal mode, since it felt like the machine they learned on.  Now with so many people learning on electric machines we see two or three writers a year that are used in manual mode.

Shimming:

We can shim your steno machine, almost any steno machine.  It is done for no charge when we clean/overhaul your machine. 

Some machines you can shim yourself.  I can talk you through that over the phone. 

What writer do you have?

If you shim it yourself the number bar ends up considerably higher than the letter keys.  Some people don't like that.  In order to lower the number bar we need to readjust the whole machine.  That's why we do it for no charge during the cleaning.  We have it apart anyway and are readjusting the whole mechanism.

We can also make your machine, any machine, paperless.

A Stentura overhaul/cleaning is $265 and takes one day, as long as you let us know it is coming.

Thank You

Allan Dyer
OTEC in Seattle

206-284-7492

Stenograph Authorized Service Provider
 

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