Well said Ed. There are sooo many good softsynths for pad sounds. My favs include: Lin Plug Albino
Atmosphere
Absynth 3
Sytrus
RGC Audio Z3ta,
FM7
several other good ones out there as well.


There are even some very good freeware ones to get you started :

Synth 1, but... be sure to d/l the extra banks available on the 'net as the presets don't do it justice.
Green Oak Crystal
Superwave P8
GalactiX

Good Luck with them ...

AJ