Best way to make synth Youtube vids? Digital Camera?

Been thinking of possibly putting together some demos of various synths I have and Youtube them. I have been looking at buying a digital camera since I need a new camera, so I was thinking ( and I haven't even begun to look into what cameras offer ) to get one that can take long videos and just plug my synth's outputs into the camera direct.

Does this sound like a good way to go? I don't want to get too involved, just something straight-forward and simple to setup. And I would like to get something (I'm thinking a camera here) that is small and portable...almost to where I could put it in my coat pocket. Suggestions?

Sound quality is important too, so I don't want to accidently get something with bad quality.

mate.. im in the same predicament. it seem a very little talked about topic..strange innit?

i have a sony hd camcorder but id love to know how to record live audio direct from the synths ouput along with the video without having to sync it all up seperately...surely theres a way?

I know there are boxes such as the canopus firewire box, but is there nothing for usb camcorders?

mystery!

I think keybdwizrd would be able to help.

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1938254

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1944812

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1906471

digital camera is a little bit overkill, use analog/film old fashion one.

I always record separated video and audio and as I am sound freak, I keep audio quality as primary thing. I record video with my mobile and record audio thru my mixer into professional sound card and then after the song, I just carefully cut the audio with editor until it is in good sync to video together and then just replace video's audio track with it.

Just right tools and it's easy...

This is maybe not the answer you're after, but, some of the latest digital cameras are capable of capturing high-definition video. This is just a random video, but it was shot with a Sony DSC-T90 camera. If you watch the video in its

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I'm sure it will look horrible in low-light situations (ie everwhere inside) with that small lens.

If you're referring to cameras with mic [XLR] inputs, they won't be cheap.

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AnalogGuy is right if the primary objective is audio quality. It's the best cheapest solution.

What you need is:

1. A decent camera: digital camera with decent video resolution [at least 640X480]. It doesn't have to be a camcorder, but that would be even better.

2. An audio interface.

3. A video editing program. Sony Vegas is excellent and easy to use. I've done several videos [unrelated to synth usage] and the audio-video synchronization can be achieved very precisely.

If you talk during the video, recording directly through the camera's onboard microphone should be fine. The advantage of this is that you won't have to sync voice to video since they'll be recorded simultaneously. The disadvantage is obvious: a digital camera's onboard mic can't beat a real mic.

And Sony Vegas is also an audio editor, so you can use volume envelopes to decrease the music volume when you're talking.

If you have some footage and audio that need to be sync-ed with precision but you have no video program that can do that, you can send them to me if you like, as an experiment. I'll sync them in Vegas so that you see/hear for yourself and decide if that's the route you want to opt for:)

GAS-inducing route:

Another solution [second best, but more expensive] is to buy a camcorder that has a 1/8" mic input, then buy an XLR camcorder adapter [pictured below]. This device upgrades your camcorder from its onboard 1/8" mini jack to 2 XLR mic inputs. Now I don't know how good the sound will be since the audio interface is basically the camcorder itself. The other issue is hooking up a synth with unbalanced outputs to the XLR inputs of the adapter [you'd need some kind of DI box, unless you'll be using a mixer that has balanced outputs]. There's a switch on the adapter that you can use to select between Line Level and Mic, but I don't know what kind of cable you'd use between your synth and the camcorder if you put the switch on Line Level [i never heard of unbalanced XLR cables].

You could also use this and save yourself the cost of the XLR adapter. It's an insert cable. You'd go direct synth-->camcorder. But only experimenting will tell what kind of audio results you'd get if you do that.

The adapter is $144.95 on this website. Add to that the cost of the camcorder. Just remember that if you do choose to go this route, you must make sure the camcorder you'll buy has that mini audio input, otherwise the XLR adapter will be useless.

This vid is about using that adapter:

[YOUTUBE]O6vrvatMz4k[/YOUTUBE]

P.S: the max video resolution on my Canon PowerShot S60 digital camera is 640X480 at 10 frames per second. Here's a 22-second-long footage I just shot that shows you what that looks like.

Ok this is very useful stuff. HOWEVER...if you have one of the new hd camcorders by the likes of Sony, Panasonic, etc most of them dont have an audio in, most cant even stream over usb either.

The best solution ive found is the ads technologies Pyro AV LINK..

This box will do hight qualit component video input from my sony xr105 and convert to firewire, slightly less than full hd but not far off..means i can record my keys in stereo direct into imovie with synced almost hd video..! Result!

Heres the PYRO AV link http://www.adstech.com/products/API-558-EFS/intro/API-558_intro.asp?pid=API-558-EFS

Now if i could just find one in the uk..looks like will have to buy from the states..

Its the answer to all my problems. The canopus advc 110 box is no good as only does standard analogue..

Was trying to do some research and 2 stood out. The Panasonic Lumix ZS3 and Canon Powershot SX200 IS. Here's a ZS3 video which looks pretty dang good (granted there is a bunch of lighting):

The Panasonic doesn't have Aperture and Shutter modes, but everything is tops.

There is also the Sony Wx1 looks pretty good too. Still searching. But not many cameras nowadays seem to have audio input. You guys know of any?

Seems like I might have to the record video and audio seperately if I can't find cameras with decent audio inputs.

I've had good luck w Canon Elyphs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120330&cm_re=sd1200is-_-30-120-330-_-Product

This is supposed to be the {censored}e for doing what you're wanting to do. I don't have one but am considering. Anyone tried one yet?

http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=2020

Good idea - $249 here...

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-ZOO-Q3-LIST

Midinut,

Nifty piece of equipment, but it can only record live sound [it has no audio inputs other than the onboard stereo microphones].

I'm wanting to grab one myself. I work with a guitar player (yeah I know) that wants to post free lessons up on YouTube. I was thinking about doing the same for my Motif ES and Korg M3. Maybe even Cubase. Seems like as long as you're putting it on a tripod and recording live it should do the trick very well. I just don't wanna be the guinea pig here... LOL

If you like you can go to my YouTube page :

http://www.youtube.com/shaft9000

there's a column on the homepage ['About Me'] describing how I use direct recording and edit using Moviemaker (iMovie would do as well)

Nice tutorial! I'm guessing I'm going to go with the Panasonic ZS3 since it's a camera and camcorder combined in a small design with Dobly sound.

It's Cyber Monday, so I'm still trying to find the best deal on this camera.

I don't necessarily plan to use the recording of audio through the mics in the ZS3, but it would be good for bootlegs at concerts and I can achieve my objective of recording video and then audio through my soundcard.

I would probably go for that Samson Zoom Q3, but I'm really hoping to get a camera since I don't have one. I guess if I'm not satisfied with going with the camera to record video and doing the conversion and audio/video combining, then maybe I'll go with a video recorder sometime down the road.

I'm actually surprised that no company has a decent video recorder with quality audio inputs. Oh well, I'm happy to get a camera and hopefully I can learn some video editing in the process.

I know this doesn't pertain to cameras, but as far as editing and doing weird video effects stuff, is iMovie good for this or is other software better to use?

Also, that Zoom Q3 looks very very easy to use and make a Youtube vid with. I'm wondering if I go the other route of syncing my video with audio seperately, if it would get frusterating and time consuming. Or maybe it would be fun and I'd learn how to compose music vids... Not sure how to look at this.

I'm thinking of going with the Panasonic ZS3 and wanting to pull the trigger on it, but am also now thinking about all the composition and file compatibilty that is going into this process.

About the option of using the Zoom for your youtube projects:

In your original post, you mentioned the importance of audio quality [which my reply above pertained to]. The Zoom wouldn't cut it [again, unless your music is recorded live, through quality speakers]. Your studio/room acoustics will be the other big variable.

Also worth remembering: the Zoom is an all-in-one device. Meaning you can't be walking around with it [for example to show the gear used and from which the music is coming, etc] and expecting the music to sound continuously good. In other words, it would have to be setup in a single and optimal location [sweet spot], namely between your speakers [triangular pattern] to get a good stereo image. Otherwise the sound will be boucing all over the place in the video. For jamming around, doing Youtube tutorials, video blogging, recording family events, concert recording, travel, etc, it sounds like a great solution.

I am not trying to dissuade anyone from buying the Zoom. It will probably sound a bazillion times better than what the average youtuber uses [cell phones, crappy digital cameras, etc]. But what I noted above is, in my opinion, a significant limitation for what you want to achieve.

As for its video quality, I don't know how good it is.

The only technical disadvantage of going the sync-audio-to-video route I can think of is losing that natural element of "presence" in the video [talking, laughing, the sound of moving things around, etc]. You can still do that, but you'd need a microphone [video and mic are recorded simultaneously. Music sync-ed later].