A system for detecting a key with key debounce including a circuit for detecting a key activation; a first counter coupled to the circuit and a clock for testing the key activation for a first user definable number of clock cycles; a key debounce buffer for storing a key index identifying the activated key, if the key activation is valid for the first user definable number of clock cycles; a second counter for testing the identified activated key for a first user definable number of hardware key scan cycles; and a key event buffer for storing a key activation event, if the key activation is valid for the first user definable number of hardware key scan cycles.