Fair point Jpro600k, there are a lot of effects in the video. However even one low price effects unit can deliver a lot, the Zoom MS-70 CDR alone can deliver pad type sounds, or perhaps the old Boss SE70? The thread starter didn't take to any of the synths I consider good at pads, so just suggesting a slightly different approach. Some feedback on our suggestions from the thread starter would help

Considering the cost, I think multi-effects is a good choice.
In synths, chorus, delay, and reverb are used frequently, so I think it is the most cost-effective to connect them within one effector.
If you have a preset with delay and reverb set up, it's easy to use without worrying about it.
Personally, if you're buying a multi-effects unit, it's a good idea to use individual effects to see all the effects before combining them internally. Using the combined effects from the beginning can be difficult to learn.
It's an extreme story, but it's also an advantage to be able to use multi-effects with just chorus, only delay, or just reverb. If you have several of the same items, you can change the order without changing the connection method.
The content I wrote may be for beginners.

Even Sequential Prophet now has built-in effects.
Of course there are exceptions.

I don't think it's really common to tell someone who has used that many synths.
From the name of the equipment, a synth with a built-in effector may match his consciousness.

Minilogue's envelopes make it impossible to have slow attack/long release pads because of voice stealing causing the releases to get chopped off if you play more than two notes. Drove me nuts...needs analog-style EGs and more voices. That's not going to happen. It's a shame because the motion sequencing is great for pads.

The Waldorf Streichfett fits the description well.

It would probably get mentioned more if it was easier to spell.

I imagine this is getting annoying for you, OP, and I’m truly sorry (not sorry), but ..

Almost any polysynth. Plus learning some real basic synthesis techniques. Seriously, pads are some of the easiest sounds to program, and yes, you can discover how on many a site.

Looking at that list of "synths i have owned and not understood" i think perhaps a wholly different instrument than a synthesizer may be the ticket for you?

Having owned a bunch of synths, I would suggest Prologue 16 if you want a simple and easily programmable pad synth with a very lush sound. It was not my cup of tea, being relatively limited featurewise, but it sounded really good to me and was super easy to program. Massive sweetspot unlike Blofeld or Summit, which take effort to sound lush.

I also have Wavestate that has been already discussed here. In my opinion it is the best pad machine I own at the moment (besides Summit, Analog Keys, and Ambika), but it is also way more complicated to program than the Prologue was.

digital-z1
analog-jx8p

Ditto to S t r e i c h f e t t

Could I suggest the Studiologic Sledge. It is essentially a Waldorf Blofelt with knobs

Perhaps you need Omnisphere.

If you're not going to program then get a Wavestation SR - 1 Rack unit module, and pick a pad from that. It's cheap, and has a lot of sounds in it.

Well, that’s not true. I didn’t claim they didn’t have good, or perhaps even, stellar sounding pads - what I merely claimed was, that none of those fitted my workflow.
Think what you want about it, but if something tales more that a couple of minutes to produce what I need, then I’m WAY past it in the creative process. The interface has to be intuitive to use. If not, it will not get used at all. THAT is what happened to those forementioned synths. Allthough I must confess, that I do not understand why the Juno-Series of synth are so popular. Not my cup of tea I’m afraid.
The SUB37 on the other hand turned out to be somewhat of a soulmate for me. It gets used ALL the time! Lead, bass - and stacking for pads, which just is too time consuming and flow killing.

I have now ordered the Reface CS and expect it to get a lot of use around here.
Thank you SO much for all your suggestions.

I know I could get tons of sample libraries for next to nothing, but I don’t want sample libraries. I want a synth with 10-12-15 (or so) physical knobs, that is easy and intuitive to access. That’s all. If my Moog was polyphonic I’d just use that - but it isn’t.
I’d use plug-ins for everything if it felt right, but it doesn’t. If I have to go through drop down menues and have to slide the mouse to turn up the ratio on whatever comp, I’d rather die than make music., Although I find much of the analog gear I use to be basalt superior to plug-ins, it’s not about the sound. It’s about the workflow - and about the joy of doing it. Like going to the bakery for bread sunday morning in a Ferrari. It’s probably not much faster, and definitely lead cost effective, than doing it in a Fiat, but it’s a hell of more joyful way to do it ? It’s all about the pleasure of creating. For me at least.
And as to what the cost of the thing is, I don’t really care. If the thing that did what I wanted it to do was 2000 USD I would get it - and if it was 50 USD I would get it. If it gets the work done, then that is the price worth itself.

Great, hope it works out for you. If you have the space and inclination to buy a reverb/multi fx pedal, it’ll take things to the next level. But you can still do a hell of a lot with just with the Reface. The built in fx have a really nice character.

Surprised no one had mentioned the Elektron Digitone Keys. For pads, depth, effects, sequencing....pretty much everything you could ask for in one tight package. Its a Pad monster....and with its midi sequencing capabilities, you can incorporate much more into your "pads" or "compositions". People have a tendency to equate Elektron with "groove box", which is the antithesis of a "pad machine". But Digitone Keys is an all in one ambient monster SYNTH. You couldn't ask for much more...and its a decent price-point too, for all you get. Also, with its 4 independent stereo outs for each track....you can add effects galore outboard and really beef up what you're making. I pair mine with a swath of pedal effects, and a PerFOURmer....and the "pads" I can make and compose with are untouchable!

I can also attest to the blessing that the Ensoniq TS is for pad-making. I like it better than the wavestation or wavestate. If for no other reason than its more understandable to edit......superior in many ways....and has some of the best effects ever put into any synth in history onboard.....plus sample import!

Those would be my two entrants for sure. In fact....they ARE MY two entrants in my studio!

Now tell me; why is it that you prefer a pedal to a multiFX rack unit? Make it a simple answer, please :-)

Pedals are easier to tweak, typically having a control layout that’s optimised for getting a hands on with the parameters that matter, often with no need for a screen. Rack mounts tend to have screens and nested menu systems that are generally slower and more cumbersome to get around.

The other key reason is that no one is really making rack multi fx and reverbs anymore. Effects tend to either be built into mixers, in the box or eurorack format (or pedals of course). The rack offerings are older models that in their second decade that are no longer really worth the cost unless you have some very specific requirements. What that means though is that you can pick up some very good value used gear, I picked up a couple of Lexicon PCM80s for very good prices for example.

Another reason for going for a pedal over a rack unit is that pedals tend to be much more compact than something like one of my PCM80s and can be easier to move around and change connections etc. If you have some spare rack spaces that are comfortably positioned for editing and have your whole studio wired up to patchbays, then rack mount is more convenient, if not it’s probably easier to manage the pedal format.

And that is EXACTLY why I don’t like to work with synth libraries, synths with tons of hidden features and what not.

I do have a t.c. G-Force and Fireworx, that doesn’t see much use at the moment. But I have used these extensively throughout the last couple of decades. Maybe they will get a new purpose in life now ?

I think the pedal is like a synth.
The pedals are as unique as synths.
You can use it clearly according to your purpose.
It's a very fun item.

Fair point barforama but what about midi controller/keyboard, you only have to set it up once save the settings, and ready to use every time.. giving you the hands on feel with the control you are asking for... anyway whatever makes you happy man cheers / Synthhead

Try creating a sound from scratch without using the mouse or screen and you’ll rapidly discover the limitations of a controller keyboard. Even something as simple as switching oscillator waveforms or LFO shapes is painful, let alone getting into modulation assignments. Controller keyboards are handy for basic tweaks, but even that is more painful than it should be.

Not necessarily depending on the controller or keyboard. I find it's pretty painless controlling most VSTs using an Ableton Push 2 as a controller. You can quickly map every parameter. Only eight are visible at a time, but the rest are just a click away in separate banks and most soft synths only require two - three banks to control everything. I just put the most common / frequently used controls on the first bank, and pretty quickly learn where everything else is when I need to access other settings.

The only issue I run into with this is when VST manufactures use less-than-obvious labels internally that are hard to interpret, since from my recollection I don't think you can edit the exposed labels of individual controls. But this has only been an issue for one or two soft synths.

That said, I definitely still do prefer working with a dedicated knob-per-function synth, but working with my VSTs has gotten a lot more enjoyable since I got the Push.

I’ve got a Push2 and have to agree it’s one of the least bad controllers, at least with the Live devices. You still have to do quite a lot of paging to get around something like Operator though. For third party synths it’s pretty awful still, unless you like your AD...... SR and cut off......rez (etc) parameters arbitrarily split across pages. No good for muscle memory either.

If you say creating a good enough template for use can take time, assigning parameters and finding the right one so on then yes i see what you are saying.. And yes it can take quiet some time to find a ergonomic setup.. But i wouldn't go as far as ruling it out completely..

It boils down to us not willing to spend the time getting it there, and picking spending extra money just to avoid that.. Which is fine really and i really understand what you are pointing at although i wouldn't go as far saying it's the controllers..

anyway clearly OP don't mind spending extra money so that's that. all the best / synthhead