Bazecor is the official desktop configuration app for Dygma Raise and Dygma Defy split keyboards, letting you remap every key, build layer stacks, and fine-tune RGB lighting without touching a config file.
What is Bazecor?
Bazecor is a native macOS application that puts a full visual editor between you and the firmware of your Dygma keyboard. Instead of hunting through JSON files or memorising QMK keycodes, you click a key on an on-screen replica of your board and choose exactly what it should do — tap, hold, dual-function, macro, or layer shift. Your layout lives on the keyboard itself, so it travels with you to any machine.
I have been running it daily alongside a Dygma Defy, and the thing that keeps me coming back is how faithfully it mirrors the physical split. Every thumb-cluster key, every underglow zone — it is all right there on screen, laid out exactly as it sits under your hands.
What does Bazecor do best?
Bazecor excels at layer management and tap-hold customisation — the two things that make a programmable split keyboard worth the investment. You can stack up to ten layers, each with a different colour coding so you can glance at the underglow and know instantly which layer is active.
- Superkeys: a single physical key can carry up to five distinct actions — tap, hold, tap-then-tap, tap-then-hold, and tap-then-tap-then-hold. This is where Dygma's firmware shines, and Bazecor's timeline-style editor makes it approachable rather than daunting.
- Macros: record keystroke sequences with custom inter-key delays. I use one to fire my terminal shortcut, switch to a specific app, and type a project path — all from a single thumb key.
- Per-key RGB: paint individual keys or paint by layer. The colour picker is fast and the palette history is genuinely useful when you want consistent colour language across layers.
- Backup and restore: layouts export to a local file, so you can version-control your keymap or share it with a colleague who owns the same board.
How much does Bazecor cost?
Bazecor is free to download and use. There is no subscription, no feature gate, and no premium tier — you get the complete configurator when you own a Dygma keyboard. The cost is entirely in the keyboard hardware itself, which sits at the premium end of the split-keyboard market.
Who should use Bazecor?
Anyone who owns a Dygma Raise or Dygma Defy needs Bazecor — it is the only first-party way to program those boards on macOS. Beyond the obvious audience, it particularly rewards developers and writers who have already explored layer-based workflows on boards like the Moonlander or ErgoDox EZ, because Bazecor's Superkeys concept pushes dual-function key design further than most firmware exposes in a GUI.
If you are new to programmable keyboards and coming from something configured via Karabiner-Elements or the built-in macOS modifier remapping, Bazecor will feel like a significant step up in expressiveness. If you are a veteran QMK user who prefers config files, you may find the GUI occasionally slower than editing JSON directly — though the backup file format is readable enough that you can script around it.
How does Bazecor compare to other keyboard configurators?
The closest GUI competitors are Via and Vial, which target QMK and KMK boards respectively. Via is more austere — it covers remapping well but its macro editor is barebones and it has no Superkeys equivalent. Vial adds real-time editing without flashing, which is genuinely faster for iteration, but it requires the keyboard's firmware to be compiled with Vial support. Bazecor is hardware-specific, so it can afford to expose every capability Dygma's own firmware offers rather than presenting a lowest-common-denominator interface across hundreds of board types.
Karabiner-Elements deserves a mention because many Mac power-users reach for it first. Karabiner is brilliant for system-wide remapping and complex rules that span apps, but it works at the OS layer, not the keyboard layer. Bazecor's changes follow the hardware; Karabiner's changes stay on the Mac. For a travel keyboard or a shared workstation, that distinction matters enormously.
What are the best Bazecor alternatives?
If you do not own a Dygma board, Bazecor is not an option — it only communicates with Dygma firmware. The practical alternatives depend on your hardware: Via for most QMK boards, Vial for Vial-enabled builds, ZSA Oryx if you own a Moonlander or Voyager, and Karabiner-Elements for software-layer remapping on any keyboard. For Dygma owners, there is simply no substitute.
