Atmospheric Pads - Hardware

[Resodeus]

Good day!

I wanted to get an idea of various hardware synths ideal for creation of atmospheric pads , sound effects and the like.

I have used the Absynth VSTi and was really impressed by the plethora of high quality pads , and would like to find some hardware that can come close.

Thanks in advance!

[otto]

If you want it all in one box, get a synth with built-in effects. Effects are a big part of atmospheric pads. I think the Virus series is a great modern digital synth for that application. If you lean towards analog I would suggest buying a fairly capable analog synth and some decent effects.

[Gregor Samsa]

The Wavestation is a standard for pads, and the Kawai K5000 does very cool pads as well.

[Mr Knesh]

This thread should be in the buyers guide, but hey! Lets fan the flames!

D-50
MKS-70/ JX10
Access Virus (Any)
JP-8000
V-synth

$.02

[Yekuku]

My top atmospheric pad machines are :

Roland D-50
Korg Wavestation
Yamaha AN1X

They all produce fantastic complex soundscapes but unfortunatelly they are "a pain in the a*s" to program.

[Stab Frenzy]

Pads need polyphony, complex waveforms, lots of modulation and effects, so look for something with all those. With the right effects though you could use anything really to get great pads IMO.

[clusterchord]

atmospheric pads, first choice:

Roland JD990
Roland D-50
Roland MKS70
Wavestation AD
Yamaha FS1R
Kawai K5000

also u might like:

Triton - no im not kidding. in a sparse arrangmenet, its good for layered sounds with ton o sht goin on. fanastic polyphonic arpeggiators (that output midi) add animation. with some tweaking its very useful in this niche.
Virus C and higher
Nord Lead 3


cept nord n mks70, they all have on-board FX. some nice, some undaquate like kawai. but it would definetely round the package if u were to get some kind of Eventide to go with. doesn't have to be a high end model. Eclipse, or used 4000, 3000dse etc. or a PCM81 at least.


many of these synths are rather cheap, and since one is not going to cover all situations, u should grab a few boxes that complement each other. for example, im using mks70+jd990+fs1r. they never step on each other toes.

[Yoozer]

Pads need polyphony, complex waveforms, lots of modulation and effects, so look for something with all those. With the right effects though you could use anything really to get great pads IMO.

This can not be repeated enough times, and it's far more useful advice than the list of Wavestation/D-50 that gets trotted out every time.

Who'd guess you'd actually have to do work for it! (unless you go the Omnisphere route, and that doesn't come in hardware - and why should it?).

[HideawayStudio]

Pads need polyphony, complex waveforms, lots of modulation and effects, so look for something with all those. With the right effects though you could use anything really to get great pads IMO.

This can not be repeated enough times, and it's far more useful advice than the list of Wavestation/D-50 that gets trotted out every time.

Who'd guess you'd actually have to do work for it! (unless you go the Omnisphere route, and that doesn't come in hardware - and why should it?).

I'd go with that - and add that layering can really make the difference - you might be tired of the "usual" list of pad kings but layering Wavestation, D-50 and MKS-70 together with care into an nice reverb with stereo delay sounds awesome - especially if you can generate some movement in levels/panning/envelopes between them. I'd add the SY77 to the list too.

[shaft9000]

V-Synth + A6 = eargasms

V-Synth + A6 + Kurzweil Rumour = multiple eargasms

V-Synth + A6 + Kurzweil Rumour + analog delay = multiple eargasms that can go on forever....

[gcoudert]

Roland JV1080 : 4 parts per patch, effects, LFOs, several filter types including high pass, lots of modulation routings. Patches can be further layered in Performance mode by setting the various parts to the same MIDI channel, delayed, panned, etc. LFOs are MIDI syncable, mod sources can be routed to FX parameters, etc.

[futureworlder]

Blofeld.

[Raiven]

Blofeld
Blofeld
Blofeld
Microwave XT
Wavestation
JD-990
Blofeld
8)

[mao]

V-Synth is the best for atmos pads. If you like absynth the v-synth is its natural hardware evoultion.

[rhino]

still on the old and forgotten list, but my offering to this post would be the Casio VZ-10m. Kinda like 4 DX7's layered:
four parts
8 (sorta) FM operators per part
8-stage envelopes on everything.
programming is a b***h ON WHEELS