Looking for a solid ‘pad synth’ under $50

[Distorted Horizon]

Pad's are all about processing too so it may actually be better to spend $50 on something like ValhallaDelay or Vintage Verb.

This.

Tantra is also a great tool for pads. Just feed any sound to it, even your fart, and listen tantra to do the magic.
Warmverb is another but bit limited when compared.

Synth for pads? Guess nothing can beat the pure amount of oscillators in Dune..

[dakkra]

Say I were to increase my budget to $75, do things get better at this range?

At this price range I'd recommend Mutools MUX

It being modular with wave table, wave shaping, unisono, modifiable reverb and many other effects, a giant and super customizable suite of modulation options, this was my budget synthesizer for a long time. Oh not to mention it's an awesome sampler as well with time stretching. Also MUX supports audio rate modulation so FM, PM, PD, RM, AM, you name it, MUX can almost certainly do it.




Go ahead and give it a demo and see if it's something you'd like.

[Mac Hine]

Little over limit but Ana 2 is on sale for 54e. One of my best purchases from last year:

https://www.sonicacademy.com/products/ana-2

[EnGee]

Little over limit but Ana 2 is on sale for 54e. One of my best purchases from last year:

https://www.sonicacademy.com/products/ana-2

+1

This is an incredible synth for the discounted price now! It would be my number 1 if I want to spend $50ish

[GRUMP]

All you need...Xpand2...

Also Pad's are all about processing too so it may actually be better to spend $50 on something like ValhallaDelay or Vintage Verb.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... 60-Xpand-2

I´d rather use IRs (Convolution Reverb). Even the good old Lex 480L is free/cheap this Way (go signaltonoize.com) and add awesome Weight and Depth with AAs Basstard (free). AA Freebies anyway. It´s all about Frequency Balance

[GRUMP]

Freeware:
https://www.thewavewarden.com/odin2 (looks good...)

Sounds pretty good too. I missed this one, thanks for the heads up. Still in Beta but worth a look.

I didn´t find the Time for it, but it looks promising to me. And it is a good Chance to save 50 Lives and get the Real Thing later on

[chk071]

Well... if ANA 2 is available for a bit over 50 € now, I'd also recommend that. Don't think it gets much better than that for that price.

[Echoes in the Attic]

How about Zero dollars? Surge is actively developed and more powerful than most paid synths.
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/

And don't forget about all the other great free VSTs: U-He Tyrell, Cobalt, Synth1, Charlatan, PG-8X, Dexed, Oxe FM etc.

Otherwise ANA 2 is a great deal right now.

[e-crooner]

TAL-U-NO-LX is hard to beat for what you are asking.

Its an emulation of the Juno 60 which is still used by lots of new and old bands.

Great pads, bass, arps, etc....

I think the Tal Mod might be much better value, it is the same price and can do everything the U-NO-LX does, and then some because it has many more features and much greater flexibility.

[dellboy]

Greenoak Crystal VST - a blast from the past.

Can do endless permutaions of evolving Wavestation like pads.

Free.

https://www.greenoak.com/crystal/about.html

[functionform]

Everyone always says zebralette but tyrelln6 is probably pad king imo. Beautiful filters on it

[classic]

STS 24 from H G Fortune.
Fantastic. Not 64 bit but runs flawless under j Bridge and Cubase and other DAWs.

[Halma]

If you can spend a little bit more (like approx. 65 $) then take a look at Vaporizer 2 from VAST Dynamics. Pretty deep and complex synth.

https://www.vast-dynamics.com/

This one will keep you busy for a very long time. Unfortunately most audio demos are showing off only the EDM possibilities of it but it can do so much more.

And it already had lots of free updates since release. Very busy developer.

On the other hand (and if you are tight on budget right now) grab the izotope music maker bundle which comes with Iris 2 synth and lots of other stuff. They are running a sale right now for 49$.

https://www.izotope.com/en/shop/deals.h ... kersbundle

Iris 2: https://www.izotope.com/en/products/iris/features.html

[GRUMP]

The best and most unique Pads I have ever heard came from Samplers btw... not that skinny Diva-Stuff.

TAL Sampler (40 Lives), suck the Web and do whatever you want. 90s Flavour guaranteed!°

[dune_rave]

get a secondhand absynth
or try surge