Synth pads? Which synth or software synth ?

[Yoozer]

There is no such thing as a "best synth" and "pop/rock" spans so many possibilities that it's not even possible to pin down a single sound. Post some examples.

If you have Logic, you already have a boatload of good plugins. RedOne (Lady Gaga) used these - but that requires you to learn synthesis.

On the other side, there's ReFX Nexus - pretty popular, especially if you don't want to put any time in building your own sounds.

What kind of sounds are you looking for - synthetic or realistic?
What's your budget?
What do you already have?
What DAW are you using?

[karljohnson]

Thanks for the reply...... I'm going for the rockier side of pop .... So pads with electric and sometimes acoustic guitars...... I'm thinking omnisphere ?
I run an intel mac and pro tools 10 hdx
Cheers
Kj

[Calis007]

Omnisphere has lots of nice pad presets but it's not cheap.
If you want to experiment a bit, get any sound source (free VSTs or even a guitar sample) and play around with valhalla shimmer (demo is free)..

[Demokid]

Korg Wavestation and the Andromeda A6 can create nice pads.

Regards
Demokid

[tehlord]

You can get Alchemy Player for free and then buy Himalaya Pads for about €30 (or whatever the $ is)

It's really rather good.

You can also buy any of the other soundpacks as well, they're usually excellent.

[Analog Prophet]

One more vote for Omnishere - the pefect pad machine regardless genre. Yes, it's pricy, but it is definitely worth the extra money compared to other synths regarding pads and atmospheric sounds

[apartment dog]

I love the pads on;

-RP Blue
-TubeOhm synths (about 50 bucks)
-Synapse audio Dune

and for a bit of edge;

-Tone2 synths

and I'm also interested in;

-Refx Vanguard (70 euro)

check out demo's and see what makes you stay playing in stead of preset searching!!

Have Fun

[RobJB06]

On the cheap the Juno 106 or 60 are hard to beat, the chorus is great and with a little reverb they sound great, the Juno has a HPF too, so you can roll off some bottom.
Many digital synths like Wavestations and Jd800's are great, not tried any of the new digital offerings from Roland recently, but im sure any of the new digital Junos and Jupiters would be OK.
Plugins, Korg Legacy for some Wavestation stuff? Maybe Omnisphere, just about any VST synth will do nice floaty pads, but if you want something nice and organic (analogue) and cheapish maybe look into a Juno 60.

Originally Posted by karljohnson

Any advice for best synths/software synth for pop/rock ?
Kj

[karljohnson]

Cheers - just noticed all the replies when I was asking about omnisphere in a post....
Kj

[shponglefan]

Omnisphere is definitely a great pad source, but as others mentioned, pricey.

A cheaper option would be the Korg Wavestation VST; literally a 10th the price of Omnisphere.

[keybdwizrd]

Another vote for Omnisphere.

There are lots of Omnnisphere demos around, including ones by me, such as this one.



and this one.

[zerocrossing]

Originally Posted by karljohnson

Thanks for the reply...... I'm going for the rockier side of pop .... So pads with electric and sometimes acoustic guitars...... I'm thinking omnisphere ?
I run an intel mac and pro tools 10 hdx
Cheers
Kj

Omnisphere is fantastic and nothing quite touches it in the hardware world, but you might try to add something like a DSI Tetr4 to get some nice analog goodness in the mix. If you can swing it, the Prophet 08 is really nice as well.

[kpsiegel]

Omnisphere is definitely all you are going to need for software. If you want to mix in piano and guitar sounds with synthesized sounding pads in hardware you probably want a workstation rompler type of keyboard like a Kurzweil. I would start with Omnisphere though. You will be very happy. It really is an incredible soft synth.

[keybdwizrd]

For pop music the Roland JV and XV series instruments have lots of great pads as well. I just picked up a Roland XV-5050 unit on ebay for super-cheap - it has 1,024 presets including all of the ones from the 5080 (which was, of course, the successor to the 3080, 2080, and 1080). I've been playing it for the past couple of days and am really impressed with the quality of so many of the sounds. Gobs of pads and synths that can be layered in Performance mode to create some awesome textures. Some of the sounds (especially the pianos) sound like half the pop songs recorded during the 90's, but what's old can be new again. A great arsenal of sounds for a couple of hundred bucks.

[Antn]

Zebra by U-He

[karljohnson]

Thanks guys..... I'm seriously impressed with omnisphere and zebra so I think I'm going to bite the bullet on them! Has anyone tried analogue monsters by pinknoise for kontakt? Also any good hip hop loop samples/loops for that linkin park production style ?
Cheers
Kj