For pads I can recommend OPX-II, plenty of preset banks for it, interface is slightly fiddly but doesnt put me off using it, excellent sound imo

hard to disagree with the shouts for Omnisphere, dont use it myself but if the quality is the same as Trilian then it's a no brainer

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quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler What VSTi would you guys recommend for the best possible evolving pads? I just demo'd Icarus by Tone2, and whilst there's some great sonic capabilities, the pads and soundscapes did not impress

korg wavestation VST... legendary synth can't beat it for evolving pads and atmospheres only 50 bucks no need to spend £££ on omnisphere's boring variations of mallet sounds.

quote:

Originally posted by rubez korg wavestation VST... legendary synth can't beat it for evolving pads and atmospheres only 50 bucks no need to spend £££ on omnisphere's boring variations of mallet sounds.

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don't listen to these slavish numbskulls. if you are looking for pads this delivers in spades... take a look at how it makes its sounds. each patch is made of many layers and lots of modulation between them.

woody piano shack on youtube had 5 videos up on it. designed by dave smith for korg, costed 2 grand back in the day now 50 bucks... no brainer. some stock patches can sound dated but individual elements in patches can easily be swapped out changing the patch up. slap on a compressor or your own effects and many small details in the patches are brought to life... also many 3rd party patches floating around for free that sound modern.

if you are looking for standard synth pads maybe get the TAL 106.

Last edited by rubez on Nov-08-2018 at 10:40

Nobody is arguing about Wavestation being decent, it's the moronic comments about Omnisphere that elicited the ridicule.

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how many mallet sounds can you listen to before they become boring? complete overkill.

i had it for a while and it felt like it was more suited for film scoring than music. not sure why it is worshipped so much. it's the soft synth equivalent to the bigsky reverbs... a showpiece that everyone has to have for some reason.

When you say 'had it', do you mean tried it at a mates house for 5 minutes?

And for the record, I just checked and mallet presets of ALL variants total 81. Out of 14,500 presets. So about 0.5%

And as far as I'm aware, film score IS music.

And, you have 60GB of sampled waveforms as well as standard VA oscillators and a comprehensive synth and FX engine.

Actually, did you even try it for 5 minutes?

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14500 presets? enough said! who is even using 1% of that across ALL of their projects?! omnisphere is just bloatware. who really needs 60GB? or 81 fucking variations of mallets... seriously? what happened to sound design?

definitely seems geared towards for film scoring, creating atmospheres and soundscapes. no need for it creating music though, unless it's incredibly pretentious... then you could run it through a bigsky for good measure

wavestation weighs in at 50MB, does the job.

quote:

Originally posted by rubez no need for it creating music though, unless it's incredibly pretentious...

See previous GIF

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Yo, instead of using pads conventionally, try intricate layers of lots of overdubs. Each time you record a sequence restrict yourself to a monophonic phrase. Then add another layer and another layer until you have a complex orchestration.

Here's another option for pads. Dronar for around $50.

Last edited by Mel David on Nov-10-2018 at 08:09