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Donner DDP-80:

Is that pedal on the floor connected via bluetooth or something?

Looks more like the keyboard is just out of the box unplugged. In another review blog found a picture with black wires behind the keyboard to satisfy our curiosity...
picture

The wires do look a bit messy. Guess by adding a vertical board hanging down in the middle would hide the wires behind.

Thanks TP416! Interesting! Hopefully that block is heavy enough - otherwise, they might need to do something to stop it from moving around when somebody uses the pedals. On tiled floors, double-sided tape would work nicely. On carpet floor, they probably need to add a plastic mat or something ----- if they need to use double-sided tape.

Having a portable pedals unit would be nice for busking in public but playing at home people would want the pedals secured. The designers should put a vertical board hanging down to secure the pedals to the keyboard so that it wouldn't move.

Interesting find. I ordered one immediately. We're moving and there's no room for my NV5 in the new living room. But since my wife wants a piano there, this is almost perfect. It also fits in with the rest of the furniture. Whether the sound is good or it plays well is incidental.

I'll try it out when it arrives and report back on how it plays.

There is one comment against that video that makes me pause:


Jeremy has put a on that comment.

But Jeremy also talks about "multi-samples" -- which usually means different samples of the same note, played at different velocities.

The legs look spindly, and there are no videos, yet, of someone attempting the Hammerklavier to test them. EDIT - the legs are metal, not wood.

The power adapter is rated at 12 volts, 3 amps. So it _cannot_ support 2 channels @ 25 watts per channel, which is what Jeremy says the amps and speakers will achieve.

As a departure from established norms of low-priced DP appearance, it's really nice.

They suggest a hammer action similar to the VPC1 or MP11 . In fact, it is a folded plastic action.

https://donnerde.com/products/donner-e-piano-88-tasten-ddp-80

that image looks like roland's pha4. I doubt they'd even clone that action, probably just borrowed that image for advertising.

They're probably using peak instead of rms, it's likely in line. The adapters are also likely not 12v, they're probably 14-15v, but dip to 12v on high load

Hmm, one should not expect too much of such a cheap digital piano. The built-in piano sound does not convince me at all. And there is no possibility to add reverb (see review). The guy in the video says, it might serve as a VPC. How good is the action, then, and what is the quality of the MIDI output? There is a detailed review of this instrument: Review Donner DDP80

according to az, it's an ~18cm key, the design honestly looks pretty ok, az's opinion is biased against the off brands though, they're really hating on the action, even though most other pianos have uneven weight between black and white keys.

The donner website seems to be down?

The guy in the video is being far too nice. The foot unit is color-matched? Really?
What he means is that it's uniformly [censored] colored. Even Noctua's polarizing beige/brown color scheme is better than that.


Perhaps I'm overly focussed on one particular point, but I experienced a full-body shudder when I saw an image of that food pedal unit.

The keyboard looks great when the wires at the back are not plugged in. There are Roland keyboards you can close the cover half way to hide the buttons. Roland is a more reliable brand. Paying less means the company have to cut corners somewhere.

A year ago bought a cheap folding keyboard for traveling. The online description claims the action is similar to a real piano with a picture of metal weights on the keys. Once unboxed, the key action feels like cheap plastic. Don't think the keys are touch-sensitive either.

Can't comment on something I haven't tried at home or in a store besides going by online reviews. It's possible Jeremy See has a friend who is a dealer for Donner and he is helping to promote them to his students.

If JS put the Donner keyboard next to an acoustic piano or a high-end keyboard for comparison, some of the claims would be more credible. Just hearing him play a few songs would bring up more questions.

are you saying JeremyS is compromised and selling out ? his playing skills in his reviews do sound a bit like he didn't practice, not terrible, but rusty.

Very unlikely. You are probably thinking of transformer based supplies, but these days switched power bricks are very cheap and very accurate, voltage wise. They may even meet safety and EMC requirements without extra cost, if properly designed.

True. The ac/dc adapter will be the voltage-regulated type of supply. It is designed to maintain 12 volt dc under normal operating conditions.

Also ..... true. That 25 watt per channel is likely the marketing pmpo quantity. Eg. 25 watt peak music power output per channel. Halving it should give maybe an approximate value for rated average power .... such as 12.5 watt per channel.

As an ex keyboard and software reviewer I can say that JS fits my expectations for honesty and diplomacy. The brown Donner unit with matching pedal and temporarily hidden cables doesn't fool me either, but I think JS is still right in implying that this is enough piano (and aesthetics) for many people's needs. Mischeivously, I imagine a scenario with parent and child squabbling over whether the cables should always be tidied away, or the pedal unit wandering off while nobody is watching.