Helpful ReplyLooking for USEABLE pads...

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LJB
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2015/12/15 02:36:51 (permalink)

Looking for USEABLE pads...

Hey guys, I am so tired of sifting through over complicated pads in soft synths that are useless in the mix (incl the ones we get bundled in SPlat). The best pads I've heard are in the new Roland Juno and similar synths. Good, wholesome, rich and simple stuff that works for gospel music etc. Anyone know who makes similar sounds in software?

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    stickman393
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 03:34:13 (permalink)
    I love Dimension Pro's strings. But this is probably hugely subjective. One persons over-complicated is another's bread-n-butter.
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    bitflipper
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 07:23:48 (permalink)
    The nature of pads is that they're fillers, audio spackle for making sure there are no holes in your music. Just as when applying putty to bathroom tiles, you have to scrape away the excess. That means brutal amounts of filtering and volume automation so that they fill the gaps without masking the percussive and melodic elements.
     
    There are two ways to approach this: subtractive and additive. You can either start with a thick pad and carve it to suit the mix, or you can create your own custom pad to more precisely fit the cracks you need to fill.
     
    Omnisphere is the king of pads, most of which are made from those Roland synths you admire, but they often require a lot of shaping and reduction. Dimension Pro has a few nice pads in that category, too, that aren't quite as opaque but sill need some filtering. Z3ta+ can do some decent pads, too, that aren't quite as gooey.
     
    More and more, I lean toward option #2, building pads to order with Zebra. I look to the patches of Joseph Hollo and Howard Scarr for inspiration and as a starting point.
     


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    Mesh
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 08:41:54 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby Fleer 2015/12/15 15:08:46
    Check out https://hideawaystudio.wordpress.com/ 
     
    Dan Wilson restores a LOT of vintage synths for the digital format (Kontakt etc..) and the sounds/pads are excellent.......inexpensive to boot.    

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    Starise
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 09:25:10 (permalink)
    I can certainly sympathize LJB. Sometimes the names of the patches help and sometimes they don't.
    For gospel I'm thinking you maybe want something like cleaner old yamaha DX patches? Other than organs I can't think of much that can happen well in that genre concerning patches.
    The old Oberheims and DX7 kinds  patches maybe with reverb removed from the patch. This is something I've noticed a lot...almost all pads seem to have some kind of reverb or the samples were made in a large space....and they take up a lot of low end.

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    #5
    Crowned One
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 09:26:16 (permalink)
    Mesh
    Check out https://hideawaystudio.wordpress.com/ 
     
    Dan Wilson restores a LOT of vintage synths for the digital format (Kontakt etc..) and the sounds/pads are excellent.......inexpensive to boot.    


    +1
     
    For the price there stuff is great and the pads options are very warm sounding but with lots of options to tweak.
     
    Also agree with Bit that Zebra is great for pads and there are plenty of people making patches to prove this.
    #6
    Bajan Blue
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 10:10:49 (permalink)
    Check out https://hideawaystudio.wordpress.com/ 
     
    Dan Wilson restores a LOT of vintage synths for the digital format (Kontakt etc..) and the sounds/pads are excellent.......inexpensive to boot. 
     
    +1 here as well for Dan's stuff
    Nigel
     

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    JonD
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 10:29:34 (permalink)
    Mesh
    Check out https://hideawaystudio.wordpress.com/ 
     
    Dan Wilson restores a LOT of vintage synths for the digital format (Kontakt etc..) and the sounds/pads are excellent.......inexpensive to boot.    


    +3
     
    I was just listening to some of the demos.  Great stuff, the strings and choirs in particular (for my taste). 

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    mixmkr
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 12:30:44 (permalink)
    Korg has a sale on their Legacy synths.  $24.99 each or $99.99 for the bundle thru December 28.  The Wavestation and M1 are especially good for these software versions.  BTW, they include all the cards that were made for the synths too.  I just got both, and they have a lot of great pads in the vein you're looking for.
     
    https://www.korguser.net/shop/software/index.asp
    post edited by mixmkr - 2015/12/15 12:42:57

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    MarioD
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 14:47:02 (permalink)
    Starise
    I can certainly sympathize LJB. Sometimes the names of the patches help and sometimes they don't.
    For gospel I'm thinking you maybe want something like cleaner old yamaha DX patches? Other than organs I can't think of much that can happen well in that genre concerning patches.
    The old Oberheims and DX7 kinds  patches maybe with reverb removed from the patch. This is something I've noticed a lot...almost all pads seem to have some kind of reverb or the samples were made in a large space....and they take up a lot of low end.




    If you are looking for those old Yamaha sounds NI's FM8 is the way to go.  FM8 will read DX7 as well as other Yamaha synths patches. There are 1000s of free DX7 patches out there.
     
    I hope this helps.

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    Richard Cranium
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/15 14:47:37 (permalink)
    Something which may or mat not be helpful to you, Groove 3 are having a 48 hour flash sale and one of the tutorials is 'Big Trance Pads' not quite 'Gospel' but may translate in helping you create your own if that is your thing.
     
    [edit] hmmmm, may not actually be part of the 48 Hour Flash Sale' but none the less
    post edited by Richard Cranium - 2015/12/15 15:00:26

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    SmokeyJ628
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    Re: Looking for USEABLE pads... 2015/12/16 16:52:02 (permalink)
    mixmkr
    Korg has a sale on their Legacy synths.  $24.99 each or $99.99 for the bundle thru December 28.  The Wavestation and M1 are especially good for these software versions.  BTW, they include all the cards that were made for the synths too.  I just got both, and they have a lot of great pads in the vein you're looking for.
     
    https://www.korguser.net/shop/software/index.asp




    I was thinking the Korg synths would be fantastic for this as well.  I'd recommend the Monopoly.  The interface is (unfortunately) very tiny, but the sound is fantastic.
     
    Many synths these days have lots of bells and whistles (in order to stand out), and so the sound designers attempt to use everything but the kitchen sink to design a preset.  My suggestion is to head toward some of the simpler synths and you'll get more useable, straightforward sounds.
     
    The Korg Legacy ones are good choice.  TAL's UN-O-LX V2 is another cheap, but fantastic sounding synth (and it emulates the Roland classic).  One of Arturia's emulations might be another great choice.
     
    If you have Kontakt, there are a number of good Kontakt instruments based around solid pad sounds.  CL-Projects Neutron would be one to check out.  CL-Projects also has a sampled JD-850 instrument if you want that 90's Roland pad sound.
     
    If you already have some major synths, then I'm sure I can recommend some good preset packs that are more focused on the useable (vs the esoteric).
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