i know it’s not built for pad sounds, but has anyone got tips on getting some background noise/pad sounds out of the MD?
liberal use of the reverb and delay usually works, but you still have that percussion attack.
I have this vague memory of a MD demo with two MDs and it had a lot of melodic content without fast attacks. I think it was ‘valve machinedrum’ or somethin. (going back a lot of years in my broken memory here)
what’s your recipe for non-drums on the best drum machine?
Using the RAM-machines, sample something with a long decay, reverse it and pitch it down on playback.
With a few ram-recorders/players going on at the same time, you will soon have something interesting going on.
It’s not very efficient or predictable - but the process is fun, and the result is unique.
With the regular machines, I think maybe some of the EFM-drums have a few sweet spots where you can get a longer attack.
/thomas
I wish I hadn’t cheaped out on the non UW and non +drive back in the day. RAM-machines would solve all my problems (mostly)
LFO set to single trigger and point that at the volume or filter for attack.
Delay for layering and boom instant pad territory.
that has got me pretty damn close to what I wanted. SHMIX is all to the right and pointed at volume. speed is low as it goes, and depth is just past midnight. SHP-2 is default.
thanks 
You can also try using the rom/e12 machines w very fast retrig speed and very high retrig amount. + the lfo trick described above
But yea now that youve got the envelopes figured out its just a matter of putting tones underneath that
Happy to help
Retrig is working great. Good tips here