Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Hemingway DP-701

Hello,

I've had a Diamond MC-68A keyboard for a long time now (it seems it was only sold in the area of Belgium, so if you don't know it: it's old, cheap and the sound isn't that great).
I'm not really good at playing yet, but with some practice I'm able to play songs like "Mad World (Gary Jules)" or "What I've Done (Linkin Park)".
So I have been looking around to buy a (digital) piano, to have better sound quality, more keys, and hopefully motivate me to play more.

I was wondering if there's anyone who has experience with the Hemingway DP-701.
It has 88 keys, it looks nice, it's relatively cheap and the size is ok, but unfortunately I'm having a hard time finding any video of it, or even a plain text review.
All I found was a German site (Google Translate ), where someone said that Hemingway isn't a very good brand.

Any comments are appreciated

Price is a pretty good indication of performance in
the digital piano field. I see this selling for
$900-$1000 (US) at Thomann, the big German online
retailer, depending on the country. At that price
you're going to get a good digital piano. Moreover,
Thomann is an established online dealer, and such
dealers stock only good quality digital pianos.
So this should be okay.

This of course is an Asian-made digital piano with
a catchy name on it. The intangible factor--things
like name, image, appearance, etc.--is not to dismissed
out of hand. Some people on this forum have tried, and
rejected, all the big-name brands of digitals, and have
instead bought digitals with catchy names, like
Adagio and Winchester, sight-unseen online. If you
buy from an established online store, like Thomann,
this should be no problem.

I did the same thing with my current digital. I bought
a Williams Overture for $600, sight-unseen online,
because of the catchy name. It's okay. The Hemingway
is more expensive, and so it should be even better.

One thing you might want to double check on is if
the Hemingway has record and playback. This is something
that you will probably want. It's not absolutely necessary,
because even a concert grand doesn't have it, but
it's very nice to have, especially if you're learning on
your own. Ordinarily, in the US, you need to see
the words "recorder" or "song recorder" or
"song memory", for the piano to have a recorder.
The Hemingway has a "2-track sequencer". I'm not
sure if this means a recorder in European terminology.

This is what I found in the description of another digital piano.

I guess that should do it.

Thank you very much for your opinion

Stijn, before you make a mistake, just type in 'Hemingway' in the Search-Box on top of this page, read the comments carefully and make your own conclusion ....

Stijn,

Better you go for a cheap type Yamaha: p70, p 80, arius 140, ydp S30. Or Kawai CN 25 or 35. Also Korg sp250 or Korg lp350 will be an option.

About Hemmenigway I always hear bad critics.

Succes

JohanB

Srijn,

Do not kow where you live in Belgium but surf to Piens.be

Succes
JB

Stijn,

My experience with PIENS in Deinze is not that good, in my opinion you are better off with KEYMUSIC. I bought my Yamaha CLP-240 in KEYMUSIC Gent.

http://www.keymusic.be/default.asp?co=benl

Copilot,

Can you tell some more about your bad experience with Piens? I'm curious.....

Greetz,

JB

Somewhat late reply, but I'm ordering the piano next week and thought I'd check back here.

From what I found with the search box, the Hemingway quality is somewhat lacking?

I'm now looking at the Roland F-110 WH.
It also has 88 keys, has 3-track recording, is slightly smaller and costs only slightly more. http://www.rolandce.com/products/product.php?prod_id=9440 for full specs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtYr3Gx4Oh0 is a HD video of it, it sounds nice to me :P

Would you recommend this one?

I'm ordering it at KEYMUSIC Roeselare as that's where I live.

If the choice is between the Roland
and the Hemingway, this is how
I see it.

The Hemingway has a more traditional
upright piano look. It's half the
price of the Roland. It has a catchy
name, while the Roland is just a bunch
of numbers, F 110, like a computer.
This would be a good piano. You can't
go by reviews online. The people
who pan Hemingway online have never
played one and don't know anything
about them. All they know is Yamaha
and Roland because it's easier like
that--that way you don't have to
think, or do any testing or research,
or even play the piano. An
established online retailer like Thomann
would not carry Hemingways if they
were bad pianos.

The Roland has better technical specs.
It apparently folds into a table-like
structure--great for small apartments.
Some people like the compact look
(but it will occupy the same amount
of floorspace as the Hemingway because
the dimensions of the keyboard are the
same), although I prefer the
more traditional look of the Hemingway.
It's white--I've seen a white Roland
FP 4, and it was the snazziest-looking
little piano I've ever seen. I don't
ordinarily go for white pianos, but this
would be an exception, a great
conversation piece and attention-getter.
But you're playing twice the price
of the Hemingway.


If it were up to me, I'd go for the
Hemingway, a good, traditional-looking
piano at half the price of the Roland.

The price is almost equal in the shop where I'm ordering.
900 euros for the Hemingway, 1000 for the Roland.

Maybe I should mention: the reason the Roland caught my attention, is because we have just finished repainting our living room. The color is pretty close to white, and the new furniture is also in that area. So a white piano would fit more than a black one.

If the Roland has better technical specs, the price is pretty much the same (for me), and it looks nice, then I'll probably go with the Roland.

Thank you very much for all the advice