What is your favorite pad synth?

[visceralvoids]

Roland JD-800
Korg Karma
Love the other fantastic synths mentioned

[Hybrid88]

Ok, of the ones I've tried -

- V-Synth (especially with D-50 Card)

- Access Virus (great pads)

- Jupiter-8 (the king of the old skool analog pad)

...and I 'm totally serious when I say that the Korg Microkorg XL makes some of the nicest modern pad sounds I've heard yet.

[pflosi]

Andromeda

16 voices with 2 OSCs per voice, 3 loopable 8-stage envelopes, 3 LFOs per voice (!), 2 filter (serial or parallel), poly portamento, ribbon controller, velocity, aftertouch, insane modulation matrix, awesome sound... any questions?

don't really like the internal effects though... better: CE1, RE201, DRS78 (in this order)

[MikeRochip]

Korg Wavestation, hands down.

I've only used the Korg Legacy softsynth, but I'm sure there's little difference between that and the hardware version.

[synthparts]

Voyetra-8. I like it for pretty much everything though. The magic combination of CEM3340 VCOs and SSM filters.

[Pro5]

Digital: D-50 or SY77 or JD-800

Analog: Polysix (or.. Jx-3P)

Software: FM8

go figure

[Barely]

Korg Wavestation, hands down.

I've only used the Korg Legacy softsynth, but I'm sure there's little difference between that and the hardware version.

I've had my Wavestation for centuries and know every bit by heart.
There is no audible difference between the Legacy and real Wavestations.

To answer the thread starter's question:

Wavestation
V-Synth
DSI Poly Evolver Keyboard
in that order

[philip]

JX-8P - classic

[DLovas]

Post, explain, etc.

Personally, mine is the Juno 60 if only because I grew up with early Enya recordings.

not to go off on a tangent - but that D50 pluck sound from Sail away... Phenomenal!

As for the thread - i have managed to get some very interesting pad like sounds out of my fizmo - which i still plan i recording a demo for anyday now - i've just been busy. Those transwaves and onboard effects allow for some seriously complex sounds!

[elmosexwhistle]

I've had a few brilliant pad synths pass my way the last few years so i'll say a little about each:

YAMAHA TG33 - Lovely vector goodness, 4 independant tones (2 sample, 2 FM) which can be mixed and faded between to get some lovely evolving atmospheres. The FM parts are very musical, and the samples add interesting texture, metallic clangs, the odd wavetable-like loop, it's all very intriguing and sounds lovely.

YAMAHA An1x - This thing can sound anything from very digital and cold to big and warm (it does lovely analogue stuff and DX7-like harsh sweeps equally well) the cross-mod, Fm, sync and near-modular routing mean your sounds can go from subtle, to really out there. and the free envelope generator means that things can evolve over a very long time.

Korg DW8000 - This one's got lovelye filters and a pitchable digital delay, meaning you can "roll your own" phaser/chorus/flanger and delay sounds by messing with the delay modulation amount and timings. I've got some big brassy CS80 stuff, some PPG like pads and even some radiophonic workshop-like creepyness out of it (if you set the delay modulation amount to high then the LFO of it to a really slow rate, you get this creepy sound that's awesome)

Alesis Fusion - The hollow sun banks are filled with all sorts of pad-dy goodness, however i'm going to point out one exciting thing the fusion can do. I managed to get hold of a zip file with all the d50's PCM data as WAV files, and then imported it into the Fusion's sampler. BAM, instant pseudo D50! Using the VA engine and these samples in a combi patch together, you can get some lovely stuff.

Kawai K1 - Sold it as it was way too limited, but did do very nice pads, very very cheap if you want something to play about with.

That's about it for now, i'm gonna go with the An1x as my fave i think, because of the interaction between the oscillators you can get alot of mileage out of it.

[Mino]

With only 2 synths, Q is my go to pad synth. Like Blofeld with added suboscillators.

[krzeppa]

I like making spacey pads on my Supernova II. It is probably my favorite synth for pads, but the Virus TI2 is a close seconds. Both are very versatile to me....

[garranimal]

I'll have to go with Matrix-12. It's slower attack-stage envelopes make it ideal for slow, sweeping, evolving soundscapes. Has the right ingredients for pads like repetitive modulation sources (ie multiple LFOs, envelopes, etc assignable to whatever) plus there are dozens of filter types available to achieve many kinds of pads, has some rudimentry FM capability. 12-voices means you'll have plenty of polyphony to handle the job without voice-robbing. The gritty filters aren't for everybody since it's not as smooth as other synths even some other Oberheims, but I think this is a desirable and defining quality that sets it apart from the rest.

[Nannerfan]

I say D-50/550 hands down.

Favorite pad preset has to be "Peaceful Pad" from the Roland Vintage Synth card for JD/JV series

As for the Juno 60, which has mentioned a few times, I never liked it as a pad synth. Tremendous bass, outstanding arps, phenomenal brass stabs. Great look, great sound, great machine. But for pads? Never worked for me in that area...

yeah, I never understood that either.. same goes for when people gush over the string sounds? It can make some good drones and odd sounds (personally I think any electronic instrument can if you know what ur doing).. but ain't a pad/string synth.

[iphoenix]

wtf does 'pad ' mean ? It is the most boring generic description of an instrument function / sound ..

actually I know what it means, but I still dont like it.

Mine : Prophet VS & Roland JX10 equal firsts

also Korg Z1, Wavestation, Waldorf XT , Kawai K5000, JD800.. close runners up