This is an expert beginner digital piano that is available at an affordable cost from the Donner brand. The piano features sustain pedal with Bluetooth MIDI connectivity and connect exceptionally well with tablets, cell phones, and PCS for expert audio output. This digital piano is a great choice for beginners and features an 88-key half-weighted hammer action keyboard, that is highly responsive to touch. Like any other acoustic piano, its full-sized keys have a touch response feature, that suits the different playing styles of the pianist. There are a lot more features to discover about the Donner DEP-45 and let us discuss all of them here.
Donner DEP-45 Review 2023
| Features | Rating |
| Performance and sounds | 9.4 |
| Connectivity | 9.1 |
| Portability | 9.3 |
| Build Quality | 8.7 |
| For Beginners | 9.6 |
| Value for money | 9.2 |
Unique Features of Donner DEP-45
- The piano offers amazing sound features with 2 *10W woofers and 2 * 10W tweeters in its electric keyboard
- Its 128-note polyphony gets the piano performance a lot more natural and fluent.
- The DEP-45 is a powerful piano when it comes to teaching the instrument.
- It features dual playing mode and Bluetooth MIDI function to connect the piano to external devices
- It holds silent mode and supports multiple devices.
- Its USB MIDI interface connects with computer and other external devices for music recording and editing
- The piano comes with one sustain pedal and we can use the interface to connect with the three-pedal system
- The piano is lightweight, portable, and easy to carry.
Another Review: Donner DEP-20 Review 2021: Best for Beginners?
Table of Contents
Features and Review of The Donner DEP-45
DEP-45 is a portable and cabinet-style digital piano with high-quality features, at a reasonable price. The piano serves as a comprehensive unit, that includes almost everything that we could expect from a piano of this price point. This piano is much preferred by piano teachers as it is suitable for teaching and is easy for beginners to learn piano lessons as well. Let us discuss the unique and special features of this piano in detail here.
1. External design of the piano
The external design of this piano is very pleasing and there is absolutely nothing to complain about. The piano features a standard and minimalistic design, with absolutely no clutter. The piano doesn’t have a standard backlit LCD screen to show the voice that has been selected the metronome speed etc. the rest of the controls on this professional piano are been laid logically and pleasingly. When we rest this piano on the table, we could find that it stays a little higher from the ground and the piano is also noticeably thicker at about 7.5 inches.
The control panel of the piano is located above the key set, but it is not very complex and includes the volume knob and some important buttons. These buttons and certain key combinations are a must to access to play the piano tunes. There is a sheet music stand that comes with this piano, and it is sturdy enough to hold the tablet computer. There is an included pedal unit, with the base of the pedal made of plastic and the pedal is made of metal.
The piano features its connectivity panel at the rear and it holds several connection capabilities such as the USB, headphone jack, pedal jack, etc. The piano is lightweight, easily portable, compact, holds all the fundamental functions, and above all, it is available at an affordable price.
2. Keyboard
The keyboard of the piano is the most important part of the entire set. It is the part of the piano that enhances the entire piano playing experience. The Donner DEP-45 has a full-size keyboard with 88 keys, similar to any other acoustic piano. The piano features a semi-weighted keyboard, and this is not close to the completed weighted keyboard as found in an acoustic piano. It is thus possible to adjust the touch sensitivity of the pianos and it becomes easy for the pianist to play fast trills and other passages with advanced expressive functionality.
3. Sound and polyphony
There are two ways in which this digital piano plays sound and the most important method is the sampling method. The manufacturers will take samples of each of the unique keys of the acoustic piano at different velocities. The Donner DEP-45 takes the samples from the acoustic grand pianos to reproduce the piano sounds.
The sounds that are produced from the Donner DEP-45 are very clear and crisp and there are no unwanted voices on this piano, even when we turn the volume up. Though the piano doesn’t sound like an acoustic piano, considering the cost of the piano, its sounds are very realistic. The sounds from the Donner DEP-45 will please the ears and we may have to tune in the piano regularly to keep the piano sounding right.
One of the main characteristic features of the digital piano sound is polyphony. Polyphony is the number of notes that can be sustained at any one point to enhance the expressiveness of the digital piano. the Donner DEP-45 features a 128-note polyphony to play diverse music notes easily.
4. Speakers of the digital piano
The Donner DEP-45 has built-in speakers that help in producing high-quality sound and music easily. The total power output of this digital piano is about 20W. This is enough to fill even a bigger room with high-quality music. Though its in-built speakers are good enough to fill a moderate room with high-quality music, when we are performing with this piano in front of large crowds, external amplifiers are a must.
5. Connectivity features
Like most digital pianos, the Donner DEP-45 has its connectivity feature located at its rear end. In the connectivity panel, we can find several useful connectivity options such as headphone port, USB port, pedal port, etc. The Donner DEP also features a Bluetooth MIDI feature and helps us to connect the digital piano with the laptop or tablet wirelessly. The piano doesn’t connect with any dedicated apps that have been developed by Donner, but we can still use it with several music apps.
Pros & Cons of Donner DEP-45
Pros
- The speakers of this piano are really impressive and way too good.
- The piano makes use of the latest technology and is loaded with 128 polyphonies to reproduce the sounds of the acoustic piano
- It is compatible and connects with external devices and software for exceptional music production.
- The piano features a dual keyboard and double tone settings.
- Its zinc alloy sustain pedal is of very high quality.
- The piano is extremely light and portable.
Cons
- There is no screen to learn the functions at work
- We have to memorize the button and the key combinations for a hassle-free piano playing experience.
Alternatives of Donner DEP-45
These are the best alternatives for Donner DEP-45 in 2023.
You can check more options in our lists of best digital pianos under $500 and pianos for learning.
Bottom Line
The Donner DEP-45 digital piano has the best sound and has an impressively high polyphony limit and multiple sounds to choose from. The keyboard of this piano is semi-weighted to offer a more realistic music interaction. We can adjust the touch sensitivity in this piano and its built-in speakers are powerful enough to fill any room with high-quality music.
The piano has several great additions such as a music rest and high-quality zinc alloy pedals. The best feature of this piano that surprised the users is its Bluetooth connectivity. The Donner DEP-45 has several impressive features that most of the pianos in this price range don’t possess.
