Hi all.

Anyone know where I can find pad sounds that are similar to ones you would hear in Chicane or ATB music? Pads similar to ATB’s pads in When Angels Travel is the best description of what I’m looking for. Been looking for ages but every time I come across a sound set including pads I’m left cold. I have a flash card so I can install samples but I’m open to software synth suggestions too.

When Angeles Travel…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAHYdKMTESQ

Hi min3008,

Have you had a go at layering some voices together?

From my experience, the type of thing you’re interested in is layered over multiple tracks, often as many as 10 or more layers, and not as a single preset.

I was actually sent a 26 track kick drum a few weeks ago, so thinking big for a pad is fairly normal.  The sky is the limit.

The MOXF will give you some nice pads, but mostly raw ingredients you can layer together yourself.

Maybe have a go at tracking up several layers of pads (from other instruments too, if you have any) in your DAW, blend them and route them all through a filter, or try to make a 4 layer Performance on the MOXF itself.

Failing that, products like Omnisphere and reFX Nexus are very capable software synths for those big, evolving pads.

Thanks Philwoodmusic

I think you are right and I am thinking too simplistically with just one sound for pads. I have omnisphere but none of the presets were quite cutting it. Time to do some editing and layering I think as you suggested.

The first time I saw a famous multi track in all it’s glory, I was amazed at just how much layering goes on, especially with keyboard sounds, and it really is the key to some of the most beautiful sounds out there.  That’s also why a lot of people come on here and sling mud at the stock sounds on the Motif range, saying that they don’t sound like records and what not, when they’ve actually pinpointed a secret blend of who knows what?

Obviously, a lot of layering pushes your track count up drastically, but it’s really worth doing.

You don’t have to use pad sounds exclusively either. Try filtering off strings and choirs and tucking them under pads.

I suggest using a filter because it enables you to dehumanize and smear away the very things that make a real string sample seem real or a real choir sample seem real.