software wise for classic pad ./ harmony sounds here
wavestation , vstation , omnisphere , largo , reaktor , loads of samples , roland and korg waveforms in particular
some synths are soft and some harder , some harder synths dont do soft well at all , even when you eq cut they sound hard , some hardware is the same , i go to korg synths for air sounds , novation or roland for warmer sounds
and for glassy / bell pads etc all of them do those well.
Soft sounds are the hardest , i like to sample pads as chords but thats to get an older harmonic effect that is effective still with listeners but not really trendy with producers.
You really want a nice pallette of sounds but then its about mastering them in the sense of knowing whats good for what and also being in control of choice and not lost in tomuch choice....knowing what you want maybe or a very fast work flow where you can a/b sounds into tracks and find that magic sound that was made for that track it seems.
